Kabota v/s Massey

I have been looking at small tractors in the 25 hp range. Loader, belly mower, and 3 point. Massey has a lower price but the Kabota guy seems to know what he?s talking about. Opinions?

I have an older Kubota. 20 hp. , belly mower, 3 pt, 4wd, and rear pto. I love it, and think it is a quality tractor. I would not be afraid to buy one again. I would choose the Kubota over the Massey, but honestly I have never had a massey, so my opinion is biased.

I looked for years, finally bought a Kubota. Very happy with it, not a single problem. Kubota makes all their own engines, transmission s, many other companies contract the parts out and are simply sales organizations.

I have three Kubota's. The last one I brought I replaced a Massey I had and I like the Kubota allot better. Even though the Massey was a good tractor and good to me the 10 years I owned it. I usually trade my tractors every seven years or so and you will get the extra money back you paid on a trade in. In my area Kubota is much more popular and allot more Kubota dealers around making them easier to re-sell.

They are both good tractors. I would have bought a Massy but up this way there is only one dealer and that is 60 miles away. Massy is made by Iseki. It is a heaver trac than the Kubota. The tractor I traded in was a White FB 31 which was made by Iseki and I bought it new in 1988. When I figured up what it cost me in repairs in that length of time I would have bought another one made by Iseki. Kubota was a local dealer so I went that way. I like the tractor but I got R 4 tires and that was a big mistake for my use. It is very easy on fuel also

Our dealer handles both brands ,so we tried both out. My wife and I both felt the massey had a more solid fell to if . In addition the hydraulics were faster on the MF. We also got a backhoe so had to get an industrial model 1720. Like the little hoe and loader a lot. Not as crazy about the mower deck.Ok for field lane but not yard. My dealer sells more kubotas and I wouldn't be opposed to owning one.Another factor for us was another agco dealer close by.Don't think you can go wrong on either. Had our's 3 years and no problems. Amazing how much them can do even on our 300A farm.

I have looked at both brands. Kubota usually has a better finish and quality of control levers an such. The major difference is the parent company. I would NEVER OWN anything that I had to worry about AGCO for warranty or design. Especially the compact tractors. They are designed/built by Iseki under contract for AGCO. I personally know of two law suits on warranty related issues on these tractors. AGCO and ISEKI both tried passing the buck back and forth on who's fault the troubles where.

A Man was killed on the one tractor. The steering failed while he was going down the road. He went off the end of a 20 foot tall culvert. It flipped completely over on its top before it hit. He was seat belted to the tractor. Even with eye witnesses stating the fellow was screaming that he had no steering AGCO stated the tractor was in working order. The roll guard folded forward and he was crushed under the roll bar/tractor. The tractor was assembled in the USA by AGCO. So Iseki said it was installed wrong by AGCO and AGCO said it was designed wrong by Iseki. The tractor had 45 hours on it.

Google MF/Iseki warranty troubles and you will get lots of hits on hydraulic issues and weak steering with loaders.

In 2007 I bought my first new MF tractor. I had issues with it both within and beyond the warranty period.

In 2013 I bought another new and larger MF tractor at the same location. I would not have done this had not the dealership changed ownership. At the time, I believed that most of my dissatisfaction with the 2007 tractor was due to dealership issues and that the issues had been resolved.

Subsequent to buying the second tractor, previously addressed issues with the 2007 tractor returned. Neither MF nor their dealer would help. I also had issues with the 2013 tractor both within and beyond the warranty period.

This was a lengthy, complicated and frustrating ordeal, which I will not relate here but the bottom line is that neither MF nor either of their dealers (same location, different owners) treated me well.

The MF dealer's salesman and mechanic were ordered off of my property the last time that they returned my 2013 tractor in 2014. Both MF tractors were sold and replaced with Kubotas in 2015. FWIW, the dealership has closed its doors. I will never again do any business with MF or AGCO.

In 1994, I bought my first new Kubota, a B1750HST. In the nearly 24 years that I have owned it, it has needed nothing. Absolutely nothing, not so much as a fuse, fan belt or light bulb. Yes, like the two MF tractors, it does receive excellent maintenance, is not abused, and is kept inside.

BTDT.

Dean

I should mention, that most of my complaints with MF had to do with the people (both dealership and MF) rather than the MF tractors that I owned, both of which were small farm tractors rather than Iseki made CUTS.

In the late 1980s, I owned a Bolens 17 HP hydro CUT made by ISEKI but with a Mitsubishi engine. Though I owned it for only a short while, I had no serious issues.

Several years ago, before things went to he!! with MF, I compared the Iseki made MF compact with the Kubota BX series for a friend. The MF machine specd-out a bit better as it had position control, a few more cubic inches operating at lower RPM, and a terrain following deck rather than the currently popular suspended deck as used on the BX and most (all?) others. (I will never buy a tractor, even a SCUT, without position control.) Fortunately, my friend bought the Kubota. Had he bought the MF, he would now be driving over 80 miles for parts and service.

Dean

(quoted from post at 09:40:24 12/10/17) I have looked at both brands. Kubota usually has a better finish and quality of control levers an such. The major difference is the parent company. I would NEVER OWN anything that I had to worry about AGCO for warranty or design. Especially the compact tractors. They are designed/built by Iseki under contract for AGCO. I personally know of two law suits on warranty related issues on these tractors. AGCO and ISEKI both tried passing the buck back and forth on who's fault the troubles where.

A Man was killed on the one tractor. The steering failed while he was going down the road. He went off the end of a 20 foot tall culvert. It flipped completely over on its top before it hit. He was seat belted to the tractor. Even with eye witnesses stating the fellow was screaming that he had no steering AGCO stated the tractor was in working order. The roll guard folded forward and he was crushed under the roll bar/tractor. The tractor was assembled in the USA by AGCO. So Iseki said it was installed wrong by AGCO and AGCO said it was designed wrong by Iseki. The tractor had 45 hours on it.

Google MF/Iseki warranty troubles and you will get lots of hits on hydraulic issues and weak steering with loaders.

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Interesting, I googled MF/Iseki warranty troubles (couldn't really find anything). I then googled Kubota warranty troubles, and bam, all I seen were Kubota warranty troubles, warnings about don't buy a Kubota, etc. I looked at both for my sister, and I liked the MF over the Kubota. Some of the controls on the Kubota are awkward, the loader only has one bucket dump cylinder, and to change the oil, and such it harder to get those things (having to take some of it apart to change oil is not very appealing). The MF the controls aren't awkward, the bucket has two dump cylinders, and to change the oil just flip the hood forward. Looked at John Deere also, I wasn't impressed with what they give you at the price they were asking.

Agreed, DonaldR.

Kubotas hold value and sell well just about anywhere.

MFs do not hold value well nor do they sell well just about anywhere.

Dean

Sorry, should be DoubleR.

Dean

The asymmetry on warranty issues might be because there are more Kubotas out there than Masseys.

Resale value is so high on Kubotas that they cost nearly nothing to own.

(quoted from post at 14:45:45 12/10/17)
Resale value is so high on Kubotas that they cost nearly nothing to own.

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I looked for used for years. I finally bought new, I couldn’t see paying almost new price for a tractor with a 1000 hours on it.

I normally do not comment on these type things because yes I am bias, in that I have been with KUBOTA for well over 30 years. First of all with Massey you are not buying a Massey . You are buying a tractor built for Agco sold with a Massey name. There in itself is the first problem or potential problem I see. What if say after 2 years Agco finds another builder for it,s small tractors. All that being said I think what I would look at is fact or what other people have decided. Under 30 hp Kubota sells about 9 tractors for ever one that Massey sells. That either speaks well of the product or the dealer. Over the years once we get a man in a KUBOTA he very rarely goes back to another brand, may change dealers but brand loyalty in KUBOTA dealers is something over 87%. I would tell you to tell him those small tractors with a mower deck AND loader are not ideal. First thing he will do is get in a rough place with the loader and have his mower decks sprung up.

Deere and Kubota do have one great thing in common,their Madison Ave ad agencies.Tell people something in an ad long enough they'll believe it.

(quoted from post at 23:35:18 12/10/17) Deere and Kubota do have one great thing in common,their Madison Ave ad agencies.Tell people something in an ad long enough they'll believe it.

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Very few of us would need any ad agency to point out that we just got 90% of our original purchase price back when trading our 12 year old tractor on a new one.

Kubota all the way. I have owned Deeres most of my life, didn't like the design of the 60hp mahindra Deere liked the 6040 Kubota. Had the Kubota for 6years only sold because of broken back. I paid $15,200 for it, sold it for 14,500. Cost $700 for six year use. Only problem had light switch got wet and corroded cleaned and put dielectric grease on it worked fine.

(quoted from post at 06:48:00 12/11/17) Kubota all the way. I have owned Deeres most of my life, didn't like the design of the 60hp mahindra Deere liked the 6040 Kubota. Had the Kubota for 6years only sold because of broken back. I paid $15,200 for it, sold it for 14,500. Cost $700 for six year use. Only problem had light switch got wet and corroded cleaned and put dielectric grease on it worked fine.

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Wow. Used it for 6 years, and got 95% of your purchase price back, essentially no repairs. They don’t need to advertise much!