Good day everyone, needing help with a departed piece of essential equipment. I have a horse farm with 32 horses and we have had two John Deere Gators over the last 20 years. The first one lasted 15 years, and our current, second one, lasted less than five. When we got the new Gator, it was clear that the workmanship and vehicle quality was not what it used to be. It is not even quite paid for yet! Nothing but problems, and now it needs a new motor which is over $5k. Not going to do that! The Gator’s parking brake also died about one month after the 2 yr warranty ran out, as did the front end differential. Lots of costly headaches, I am so done with John Deere! I am in the market for a new farm utility vehicle, and many of the COTH forums on this topic are old, so looking for some updated reviews. Of most interest is farm utility vehicle reliability and frequency of repairs/breakdowns. Golf carts likely are not enough for us with our seasonal mud issues. Core needs are 4 wheel drive and a nice dump bed to haul small hay bales. So far in the running are Honda, Kubota, but we are open to other lesser known brands such as Toro, New Holland Rustler, and others. Not sure about Kawasaki or Polaris, have heard mixed reviews on those. We have access to many dealers in our area, so can go in just about any direction with this. Thanks for your honest assessments!
My neighbor bought a new Kubota UTV, diesel. He doesn’t work it hard but really likes it. He went all out with the full cab, in-cab heating, and other accessories. So far no issues but it’s still pretty new so can’t speak to longevity.
I will cry when our Polaris ranger dies
Having had three Gators in the past and then giving up on those, I moved to a Polaris Ranger. Couldn’t be any happier with it! Going on 12 years with it now, and love my Ranger.
Love my new Kawasaki Mule!
One big advantage is they come with a 3 year warranty instead of the typical 6 month.
Around here, everyone is complaining about the Ranger. I originally was going to bug one, but got talked out of it due to reliability issues (and availability).
Ditto the Kawasaaki. When our diesel Gator died, my husband bought a Cub Cadet Volunteer which worked great for a little while, but once it had issues, it never stopped. We researched again and this time went with the Mule. The deciding factor was the three year warranty. We added the auto lift 9 (way slower than the others we had). The mule itself is great, but I do wish they had made the tailgate smooth for ease of dumping manure, but instead it has little indentions or pockets that catch everything. We keep a littlle brush behind the seat to get that out.
Kawasaki Mule (but not what they were years ago)
Love my Polaris Ranger, but it is only 3 years old so not enough history. It’s been tough and reliable though. I use it to plow my very long driveway of snow, drag my arena, drag my gravel driveway (different implement), drag the pastures, and seed and weed my pastures, as well as some general chores.
Kawasaki Mule was great. My problem with it was the carriage is a little too low to make it over some of our terrain. Just traded in our first gator about two months ago at 190 hours. Still running good but i wanted a new one before the coldest of winter hit. New gator is first year on a new model, and so far so good. Well, the diesel fuel congealed and it died in the mustangs’ corral and they eaten the seat because the diesel in both my tractors turned to wax too and i couldn’t haul it out… I mean, zero degrees and i didn’t have any fuel additive around. I’m too covid fearful of the maskless rednecks at the farm store.
Two Kawasaki Mules in my extended family, one over 25 years old, I think – late 80’s or early 90’s. The other almost 20 – DH’s and mine. They don’t die, even when (oops) you neglect their maintenance. Love them. Agree with eightpondfarm, though – they don’t ride especially high. We looked hard at the Polaris when we got our Mule, but went with the Kawasaki, because they had a smaller model that would fit our narrowest woods trails, and because of liking the one at the family tree farm.
