JD Gator or Polaris Ranger.... sorry!

[Bignor Farmer]

Without wanting to open a huge can of worms, I need to trade in my ageing Gator for a newer model.

Has anyone got any comments (good or bad) on the latest models? We would have full cab, road kit and work it hard off road.

Only really looking at the Gator and Ranger because dealers are close.

Thanks in advance

 

[paul&mandy]

Depends if you take yours up that hill? Working ours hard it gets hot. I suppose with full cab its quite a bit heavier.
Your love the cab, so quite compared to the old one.
Got 2100hrs now on our 865m full spec. PM if you need any info.

 

[Fendt516profi]

Ranger

 

[Bignor Farmer]

Depends if you take yours up that hill? Working ours hard it gets hot. I suppose with full cab its quite a bit heavier.
Your love the cab, so quite compared to the old one.
Got 2100hrs now on our 865m full spec. PM if you need any info.

Up and down the hill several times a day, it works quite hard! Worked out how much I’m spending on repairs today

 

[Fendt516profi]

Polaris is alot faster than gator on hills lot more towing capacity too

 

[hally]

You will be

 

[paul&mandy]

Up and down the hill several times a day, it works quite hard! Worked out how much I’m spending on repairs today

How many hours do you do? earlier on we fell into the sales trap of 2yrs warranty but it was capped at 1000hrs at the time but the didnt mention the hrs bit....
Now you can get upto 1500hrs or 5yrs but you have to have powergard service plan. Not worth it in my eye.

Do you take it up to the car park at the top? My pickup dont like that hill!!!

 

[Bignor Farmer]

How many hours do you do? earlier on we fell into the sales trap of 2yrs warranty but it was capped at 1000hrs at the time but the didnt mention the hrs bit....
Now you can get upto 1500hrs or 5yrs but you have to have powergard service plan. Not worth it in my eye.

Do you take it up to the car park at the top? My pickup dont like that hill!!!

I think we’re averaging about 650hrs a year. We go right over the top, most of the fields are steep as well and we usually have several bags of grub in the back.

Current Gator was second hand and I’ve always taken the view that repairs are cheaper than depreciation in the long run but not sure that’s true any more. Seriously considering new and changing every year and getting rid of the downtime.
Repairs have average £2,100/yr over the past 2 years and it needs considerably more than that to keep it reliable for the next 12 months.

 

[paul&mandy]

I think we’re averaging about 650hrs a year. We go right over the top, most of the fields are steep as well and we usually have several bags of grub in the back.

Current Gator was second hand and I’ve always taken the view that repairs are cheaper than depreciation in the long run but not sure that’s true any more. Seriously considering new and changing every year and getting rid of the downtime.
Repairs have average £2,100/yr over the past 2 years and it needs considerably more than that to keep it reliable for the next 12 months.

We were offered only half the new price at a year old. Serious depreciation.!
Yours might be worth a bit more with less hours.
Just turned 2 last week with 20k miles on it.
Trouble is cant do without it, lots of rappa wire and wet ground.

 

[Old Tup]

Neither....buy the best second hand Diesel Suzuki Vitara you can find......fit some good knobbly tyres..
Makes a mockery of the new Gator prices.......and annual repair costs.

 

[Lazy Eric]

Have had 3 jd gators over 10 years.. the depreciation has been criminal! And the maintenance bills eye watering.. I make sure they are serviced every 200 hours: but nearly every couple of months a massive repair bill.. I’m starting to hate the bloody things.

 

[Bignor Farmer]

Have had 3 jd gators over 10 years.. the depreciation has been criminal! And the maintenance bills eye watering.. I make sure they are serviced every 200 hours: but nearly every couple of months a massive repair bill.. I’m starting to hate the bloody things.

We have this conversation all the time but there’s nothing to touch them on slippery fields on a wet day or for a days slug pelleting. It’s a real love/hate relationship!

 

[texelburger]

Have had 3 Kubota's and barely spent a penny in repairs but have just ordered a Polaris Rander diesel as we need more top speed.Just hope it's as reliable as the Kubotas.

 

[Old Tup]

Sub £10k for a decent Suzuki......pay someone else to drive their gator around applying slug pellets.

 

[HarryB97]

On our second Polaris Ranger diesel here and will be upgrading to the new model in a few years. Apart from a few bearings and bushes every service and a new steering box and ignition barrel this year we have not had many issues in 4 years of owning our current model. It is used everyday but is owner driven so is not thrashed like most buggys.

 

[Timbo]

Neither....buy the best second hand Diesel Suzuki Vitara you can find......fit some good knobbly tyres..
Makes a mockery of the new Gator prices.......and annual repair costs.

This is the most sensible by far ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I don't know how anyone can justify £15,000 and then £1000+ / yr for repairs to sit in a noisy tin box that'll barely pull the skin off a rice pudding.

 

[Al R]

New Polaris here, always fancied a Gator but I was told by a lot of people don’t let them run out of warranty and even then their costing serious amounts to keep going.
My quads have a service once a year, I don’t touch/check oils or wash them apart from when the dealer does it when they go back for servicing. This is the policy the polaris will have to live under to.
I know plenty of telehandler’s that get greased during PDI and the next time they’ll get greased/oil change is when their swapped in at 24months old.

 

[paul&mandy]

This is the most sensible by far ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I don't know how anyone can justify £15,000 and then £1000+ / yr for repairs to sit in a noisy tin box that'll barely pull the skin off a rice pudding.

Over 20k for new gator now. My work spec doublecab similar money...

 

[Lazy Eric]

This is the most sensible by far ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I don't know how anyone can justify £15,000 and then £1000+ / yr for repairs to sit in a noisy tin box that'll barely pull the skin off a rice pudding.

Suzuki too heavy for us.. feeding sheep on our flat land in winter can be very wet indeed. The gator makes enough mess!
Thinking of going back to Honda Quad for the main work, they are so much cheaper to run.
Haven’t bought a new one in a while but I’m told about 8.5k.
A new gator would loose that amount in depreciation in less than 2 years.

 

[Old Tup]

Register it for Agri use....limited on road miles, run it on Red....
Air Con.....Stereo...comfortable seat..