help me buy a RTV 900

I am looking at buying this week a new toy. Kubota, Ranger, or Mule.
60% pleasure riding, 30% farm use, and 10% hunting. In my mind the
diesel has to last longer than a 4 wheeler engine. Here is my hold
backs:

The diesel is louder than the other 2, how can I overcome this problem?

No storage to speak of on the dash or hood, I guess some sort of tool box could solve this problem

The orange paint is a little much for me, 1500 more for the camo which I prefer.

I think I can overcome items 2 and 3 but that noise thing is a tuff one.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.



Gary

1st timer to post.

There is an optional front boxand glovebox to address your storage concerns. As for noise, the diesel maybe louder at low speeds, but at travel speed I think its almost quieter. Some people have sprayed truck underbody coating (which is like $6/can) to the underside of the bed to reduce rattles and engine noise. That does help. </P>


I'd do some more pricing on the camo versions, its realy only about $400-600 more than the orange as I recall. </P>


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I have the camo and I use mine for everything. I put a rack over the hood and then built a gun rack that mounts to the rack. My rtv is not as loud as my father in laws rino.plusI have more bed space to haul morestuff.The fuel economy is also better than the gas rigs. Jon

Gary

I would try to get a "demo" of each machine out to your place for a day. By doing so, one will raise to the top.

The RTV is noisy but I would say it's no more so than the competition. It seems to have the same decibles (sp) across the board. My Dad's Ranger is relatively quiet at idle but much louder then the RTV at running RPMs.

Thanks for the input, keep it coming. Going to do another test drive on all 3 today.



Gary

I purchased one of the first Kubota RTV's that were delivered in August of 2004. I useit at the ranch, joy riding and at the deer lease. As others have mentioned is fairly quiet when running at full speed. It does rattle at idle. It gets great gas mileage and is almost bullet proof. I have done no repair to mine at all. If you use it for farm you pay no sales tax on purchase or fuel tax for the farm diesel. If nosie bothers you wait a while and buy the new model with the factory cab with heat, ac and stereo. With proper care it will last you a long time. The resale on Ebay for used units has been very high.</P>


Drive every model you think you like at your ranch. I really doesn't matter what the rest of us like.Which one do you like? Dont try and be to thrifty. buy the one you really want. Its much cheaper in the long run than trading in later to the one you wanted in the first place. </P>

Drove the Kubota again today, had my wife drive it, no problem
power steering great. Noise ok, we think we can live with it. Final
test on Saturday, will drive Kubota and Ranger side by side same
dealer. If only i knew what would be a good price for the camo version?



Gary

Gary,

I haven't priced them lately so I can't help with current pricing on a camo unit.
Here's a little heads-up on something I've found. I bent my front grill guard a couple years ago and wanted to replace. I like the darker grey that comes on the camo unit so my intent was to replace with that color. At the dealer, I got pricing on both colors. The price for the dark grey one was about double that of the silver one?!?! I obviously went with silver and picked up a can of paint.

Based on your usage (
60% pleasure riding, 30% farm use, and 10% hunting) do I assume correctly you're sticking with the ATV tires?

Brian

[quote user="bczoom"]I like the darker grey that comes on the camo unit so my intent was to replace with that color. At the dealer, I got pricing on both colors. The price for the dark grey one was about double that of the silver one?!?! I obviously went with silver and picked up a can of paint.
[/quote]</P>


There is a good reason for this, the gray guard is not available as an add on item since all the camo machine ship with one already installed, so it has to come though parts where you see a higher markup than wholegoods items.</P>


There is a few hundred dollar difference between orange and camo, and a touch more on the cab kits. Its not a dramatic difference. </P>


</P>

yes i am leaning towards the ATV tires, saturday the big day, I hope to make my decision then. Best price I have found 10,500 for the camo unit??????</P>


</P>


Gary</P>

As already mentioned, I haven't priced them lately but $10,500 for the rec (camo) model seems like a nice price.

Most dealers will go 10% off retail on these units. </P>

Hello; I wanted to put in my 2 cents worth of information. We live in a very rugged hilly and snowy part of western NY. My wife and I owned a Kawasaki 550mule with a cab on it that we bought new. I raise honey bees and travel all over this area in a 10 mile radius this our machine to get to our hives. We purchased the Kawaski based on price. Big mistake. It was grossly underpowered with a cab on it. We then purchaseda used 2 wheel drive Polaris Ranger. It served us verry well for the 5 years we owned it. It was used like a farm tractor, and it held up good. We just finished paying off the loan on our Case farm tractor , so we figured out that we will make our last purchase of a brand new piece of farm equipment. We ended up with a decked out RTV 900. Snow plow, cab, heater, etc.etc.We took delivery on it last month and just in time for a major snowstorm. This user group helped me to learn how to co-operate with the machine, its limitations and correct operation of it. WE now feel that we have spent our money wisely on this machine. Its fuel economy is fantastic. It is its much quieter than the Ranger. Louder than the Kawaski550 which had only a tiny 10 hp gas engine. The RTV is in a class by itself. Slower in travel speed, but super heavy duty built. We actually bent the frame a bit on the Ranger by towing our huge Bandit brush chipper. This machine weighs about 4000lbs. WE should have never tried this. My fault. However the RTV looks strong enough built so this won"t happen. I tested out the gas and diesel Cub Cadet units, and by far the best machine out there is the RTV. Strictly my opinion from a person who really uses these units on our bee farm. Thanks Terry

Hi, I bought my worksite RTVin Feb 05. I just love this machine. I have 1332 hrs on it and think it is the best arount. I had a gas Mule3010 before thatand it was really cold natured. I sold it and haven't looked back. The RTV cranks even when really cold.. just let the glow plugs work. Get the mud tires and get the hydraulic lift if you want to get to the engine to check oil etc. I keep my shopmade tool box full and it runs down the inside 12 "by the length of the bed.{ Sort of heavy}I use my RTV on our cattle farm to repair fences, catch and weigh calves carry sick calves, round up, spray fields and fences, and just about everything else . I keep spare fence insulators and other supplies in canvas tool bags under the hood. The collies also love to ride. I have one that will sit on the rtv all day ifI let her. Good luck!! Bordercollie[&]