The Kubota Tractor We Never Recommend

Neil from Messick's here to show you the Kubota BX tractor, we almost never recommend. This tractor is a little misunderstood around here, and with the changing market dynamics that we've seen in the industry here in the last year or two, I think it might be a machine that might be worth considering now. Take a minute with me here this morning, we're going to tell you why we almost never recommend this tractor, but it may actually be right for you.
As salespeople, we generally think of the BX Series tractor as a sub-compact, right? There's actually some cases here, where there are some stripped-down models in this range that we should think of as garden tractors. You notice right here on the fender, something is missing. Most every BX tractor is going to come through with a loader valve installed on it.
Now, that loader valve is going to operate the hydraulics for the front loader, but is also going to be used if you put any front attachments on the machine. Say, a front snowboard or front blade, those same hydraulics are used to operate those attachments. You can order these tractors though, in configurations from Kubota with no valve on it. There might actually be some sense in that.
If you're looking for a garden tractor, the options in the market for garden tractors today have become very limited, or those options that are out there have become very expensive. By de-optioning a sub-compact tractor, you can actually have a very heavy-duty garden tractor alternative. This valve adds about $750 to the cost of these tractors.
We will usually look at that, and say, "That's $750 well spent, because you're going to want that ability on your machine to operate all of those attachments," but if you're looking for a machine purely for mowing, you may not actually need to spend that money. Why do we not recommend this tractor without the valve? A lot of it comes down to the installation time. The cost to get this valve pre-installed by the factory, or to get it after the fact is, basically, the same.
This can be purchased as a separate add-on kit, but looking at the valve right here, it's pretty easy to see that this thing is a bare to install. It's very nicely integrated into the tractor. For us to go through and add one of these on after the fact, the seats, the floor pan, everything needs to be torn apart on the machine, in order for us to get down to the guts to install the valves, and all hydraulic hard lines, and everything to get it in place.
While this is about a $750 cost savings in not buying this on your machine new, if you decide to add it after the fact, you probably have a solid day's worth of labor in order to install it again. For that reason, that's made this the configuration that we never tend to recommend, because it is a good investment, good value in your tractor to buy it up front, if you're going to use it.
Now, I told you, some of these market dynamics have been changing lately, and we're starting to look at this tractor a little bit differently now. That's partly because we've been having availability problems with Kubota's GR series tractor. The GR2120, their four-wheel drive diesel garden tractor with Glide Steer has not been readily available to us here for some time now.
Now, getting in some pricing here this morning for all of this to make sense. Now, this pricing here is in the first quarter of 2023. Pricing changes, if you're watching this video years from now, this probably isn't current anymore, but at this time, a GR2120 with a 54-inch deck would have a manufacturer list price of $11,599. Now being that machine is unavailable, and is a little light-duty for some of the applications that we see it sold into, we've started to look at a stripped down BX1880 as a possible alternative to that.
Interestingly enough, if you go through, and you look at this tractor without the loader valve on it, and equipped with that same 54-inch wide deck, one of these is going to come through at $13,900. You basically have a $2,300 price difference between a GR Series garden tractor, and an entry level BX. An entry level BX is going to come with a bunch of features here that I'm going to point out to you, but it's also going to come through with better financing.
Today's financing for a GR is down in the 36 to 48-month range, where you typically find lawn equipment, but you're going to see BX Series tractors in that 60 to 84-month range are going to have much better financing options, and much better cash discounts as well that make this a lot closer financial comparison than even the numbers themselves make it sound like.
There's some pros and cons when we move from a garden tractor, into a little bit bigger machine like a BX. If we look at the back-end of the tractor here, you're going to see a lot more heft in the rear-end of this machine than what's going to be typical in a garden tractor. You're also going to see a standard three-point hitch and PTO. Some garden tractors can have, say, hydraulic PTOs, or add-on three-point hitches put on the back of their machine, but it's usually some pretty significant added cost, and the definition of a sub-compact tractor, usually includes this as standard equipment, so it comes through at a really good value.
You're going to have a little bit longer wheelbase, usually, a little bit larger tires, a lot more meat in the tractor. These are going to come through weighing more, as much as about 50% more base weight than what a mowing-oriented machine may. For that reason, it's not going to be quite as nimble. Garden tractors tend to be made a little bit more to stay in that lawn-type environment, and not do quite as heavy-duty work as what this machine is going to.
It's going to feel a little bit more clumsy maybe, not maybe mow quite as nice as a more purpose-built machine would, but for a little bit more money, you're getting a piece of equipment that's a lot more heavy-duty, a lot better built, and is going to handle a lot wider range of heavy-duty implements. Some months ago, we did a video entitled The Death of the Garden Tractor, and explained how a lot of the market for those machines has moved up into these sub-compacts.
Today, the models that are left in that garden tractor range, tend to not be the best value for your money, in my perspective. The biggest competitor that we would have here in this space is Deere with their X700 series. Some of these financial comparisons here are going to explain to you a little bit exactly how complicated this market has gotten now, just because there's not that much sales volume there anymore.
The cheapest Deere that we can get, that starts to compare to the price range that this thing sits in is their X730. Now, that machine at $12,189, $1,000 more expensive than what this machine comes through in its base configuration, is still going to offer a gas engine, not diesel. It's going to be two-wheel drive, not four-wheel drive, and still not even offer a three-point hitch.
You're paying $1,000 more money for a machine with very little standard equipment that cannot compare to the bulk of this thing anymore. Now, we all know Deere has gotten a ridiculous premium for their X700 Series machines for a very long time, but I would contend part of the reason why you're starting to see these machines become so expensive is because of their declining sales volume.
They just don't make that much sense on the market anymore. To start to find an X700, that's going to come close to the equipment that this has, you'd have to go up to the X750. That's their cheapest diesel right now. It's going to be $2,000 more expensive than what this is. To be fair, it's going to offer a little bit more horsepower. That's a 24HP machine, where this is 18HP, so it's not quite apples-to-apples there in the engine, but that's where you need to go to start to get a machine that's four-wheel drive.
At that point though, you're still lacking a three-point hitch and a PTO, all of which have to be added on at significant extra expense. For staying in Deere's product line, and even their salesmen would probably tell you to get these things, we need to go up to a sub-compact tractor, up to a 1 Series machine. Deere doesn't have an 18-horse power small sub-compact the way that Kubota does.
You need to spend an extra $2,000 more before you get into their entry-level 1 Series tractors. When you go and you look at this world of garden tractors, the garden tractor line has kind of died, but Kubota has got this stripped-down, low-end sub-compact here that really fills that niche really nicely. I look at this machine now and feel like, while over the years we have not recommended it for its lower price point, that the valve really, probably, should be included in many cases, if you're looking for a dedicated garden tractor and for a mowing-oriented machine, this thing actually makes a lot of sense, and that's why it's sitting in our showroom here today.
That's a little bit on the BX tractor that we never recommend. Markets continue to change, and today, I think this thing has a little bit more of a place than it ever has before. Yes, you'll start seeing them sitting around our stores here in the future. If you're shopping for a piece of equipment, and we can help, or you have parts or service needs for any equipment that you've already got, give us a call at Messick's. We're available at 800-222-3373, or online at messicks.com.