Likes:
Being my firstish tractor, overall I think its a great machine to own. I'm still amazed at how much weight that little engine can handle. Love the cab for its heating and air conditioning.
Dislikes: (pour yourself a drink now)
The HST whine. From the kubota website: "New Integrated Cab Design- for an environment that minimizes noise" Yeah. Right. Its louder WITH the cab. Also, how it gets even louder when I engage the cruise control. No warning stickers for hearing protection with dB levels at or near 120DB. Potential lawsuit.
Shifting the gears. Annoying at its best, despite holding down the brake, sometimes I need to shift it to M and drive it a bit before I can drop it fully to L.
The windshield isn't top notch glass. Scratches too easily, no UV protection. The windshield wiper is poorly made.The front one broke (the motor) in a medium winter storm. My 1974 dodge dart has better windshield wipers.
I wish I could "roll down the window" during the summer. I like the visibility factor but don't think a door made completely out of glass is a good idea.
It gets awful hot at times even with the rear window open. I need to blast the air system. Would be nice to just have natural air cool the cab.
Inconsistencies. The manual is hard to follow, vague, and conflicts with information in other manuals. For example, The LA534 FEL manual states on page 11, "run the tractor engine below 1200 RPM until the oil temperature exceeds-1C (30 f)..." The 2650 manual states on page 23, "Set the throttle lever to about 1/2 way. Insert the key into the key switch and
turn it ON" How is it one manual says to raise it to half throttle to start it (1800 RPM) where one says keep it under 1200 RPM to warm it up?!
The website has misinformation where part numbers have been wrong. I've since had lots of stupid little things go wrong since taking ownership. Dry zerks, pins popping out, cables in the wrong places liable to cause damage, hydraulic hoses rubbing against metal frames and tearing, drain bolt and gear case getting stripped due to factory over tightening, and my latest one, mid pto shaft clicking, of which kubota shirks off. (begin rant)
It irks me being that my machine is the only one to have this problem yet they say its normal. After my complaint, Kubota corp said they would open the gear case and put a bore scope to take a look. My service manager said after a discussion with the Kubota rep, they decided against it and just gave it back to me. No paperwork, no documentation. Astonished, I spoke to another dealer and showed him my video, he called the rep for me to investigate (his 2650 also wasn't making the "normal noise") He said when he spoke to the rep he claimed he put a bore scope inside the case and it was normal. It was a lie. The service manager told me the truth. The gear case sealant hadn't been touched.
Kubota customer service. Definitely lacking, and they don't take any responsibility for their, or their dealers actions. There's a motto that comes to mind. "Lets see what we can get away with."
At one point, I actually had the opportunity to get all my money back and go green. I chose to stay with Kubota purely for the reason that my father owned one, without a hitch, for 23 years. Of course, that was then and this is now. I'm hopeful that once I get over my learning curve, and get all the kinks get worked out, my expereince will improve.
Time will tell.