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Why did you choose Massey Ferguson?

6K views 24 replies 14 participants last post by  kenmbz 
#1 ·
I was just curious as to why everyone else decided to go with a Massey Ferguson SCUT. I decided on my GC 1710 TLB for these reasons:

Performance - I did a lot of research on specs and watched tons of videos online to help determine capability

Value - Competitively priced compared to some other brands

Dealer - The dealer I purchased through has been really great. I have bought some other things and had some service work done there. Very knowledgeable, family owned and operated, honest.
 
#2 ·
I have several reasons.

- My favourite colour is red.

- Since I was a kid, most of the tractors that I saw on area farms were Massey Fergusons. I may be a city boy, but there have always been farms inside the city limits here, and you can't go east from here without passing by a multitude of farms.

- I was very happy with my two very different MF GTs and their performance over the 30 years that I used and learned from.

- I preferred the ergonomics of the GC over the comparable offerings of JD and Kubota.

- Dealer is not a critical reason. The nearest MF dealer is over 30 miles away in a foreign country. While I have a long (43 year) and happy history with the owner, I rarely see or do business with him, other than for MF specific parts. He's always done right by me and I do try to steer business in his direction.

- Performance. While the GC is adequate for my needs, I figured going in that I would have less performance on several fronts with the GC than I had with my GT, and some substantial improvement in capability on other fronts. A thousand hours of operating use has proven that I was correct in my suppositions. According to the listed specs on the various brands of comparable SCUTs, the GC shows a slightly greater capability for some operations. Not really enough to force a decision, but a higher base line is always easier to work with.

-
 
#3 ·
For me it was value (and I like red). I actually started out wanting a Deere but when I walked around the Deere dealership, it was like I wasn't even there. I felt like my money was no good there or they didn't take me seriously. Then I went down to the Kubota dealer where, while they talked to me, it felt like they thought they were doing me a favor in doing so. I must have that "I have no money" look about me. I felt the Kubota was priced way too high for what you got and I am not a fan of the treddle peddle. I know people who love it and that's great but it's not for me. I tried to look at the New Holland but they were never open when I got up there. So I ended up at the Massey dealer. At the time he sold both Massey and Mahindra so I was able to do a side by side. While the Mahindra was more capable, it was also more expensive. I talked to the dealer about both and he said that both were good machines but he has reservations about the longevity of the Mahindra. This only came from the fact that he hadn't sold them for very long and he was more familiar with the Massey. Besides, I think the Massey is about the best looking SCUT out there in my opinion. So, I bought the GC1705 along with a 5' power angle blade from him. Busy guy but will take the time with you. Great to deal with. Anyway, 5 years later I took my 1705 back and traded up to a GC1720 TLB from the same dealer. I looked around again but not for long because I was able to keep my snow blade and use it on the new tractor so...
Price (value)
Ergonomics
Dealer

We now have a Rural King in the area so I looked at those too. Basically the smaller tractors at RK are actually rebadged Mahindra tractors (which I also learned that the small Mahindra tractors are actually rebadged TYM tractors) at a much better price but I still kept with Massey.
 
#5 ·
We now have a Rural King in the area so I looked at those too. Basically the smaller tractors at RK are actually rebadged Mahindra tractors (which I also learned that the small Mahindra tractors are actually rebadged TYM tractors) at a much better price but I still kept with Massey.
I took a close look at the RKs and watched lots of videos as well. They seem to be very capable machines. Although they are made by TYM, I was concerned about the continuation of the brand. What if RK decides to get out of the tractor business? Plus, fit and finish just does not measure up to the Massey.
 
#4 ·
At the time, they had the best price and financing.
The Massey dealer is only a few miles from home.
 
#6 ·
We bought a SCUT for snow removal, moving up from a huge walk behind to a front mount blower on a small tractor. Other than farm tractors in my early adult years - many years past - I knew little about tractors and diesels. We started researching. It took months as we were in no hurry and wanted to do it right. We started with Kubota. We loved it. We checked out John Deere, nice tractor. We then looked at Kioti. Very nice tractor and a great small town dealer to deal with. Massey Ferguson was our last stop. I do know snowblowers, having lived here at our home in the Sierra Nevada for 30 years. I did not like the Kioti blower as I would have needed to retro fit a cutting bar. Kioti was out. The Deere blower was good, except I had reservations about the hard plastic impeller - there is a steel one available if I wanted to replace it. The Kubota and Massey Ferguson front blowers are made at the same factory and are excellent. It came down, for us, a decision between Kubota and Massey because of the snowblower. We liked the feel of the Massey a bit better so it went to the top of the list. We also felt it was easier to service and work on because the open hood offered easy access to the engine.

I should add that watching YouTube videos of the different snowblowers in action in various snow conditions helped greatly with confirming we'd get a good blower.

We are quite happy with "Little Red" as the wife named it.


 
#7 · (Edited)
I needed a tractor with a front loader before winter to do some dirt work around my house.

I went to tractor house and set the filter to

$7500 Max

Front loader

It was the newest within 50 miles with a front loader. I knew very little about Massey.

It had 500ish hours. Paid $7500. GC2400.

now that I have one it would be my first choice even over Kubota.
 

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#12 ·
Kubota and Massey made the short list, the MF won primarily for the larger BH bucket (daylighting the basement was on the agenda) with the tiny little lcd tach and the foot pedals also weighing in.
 
#13 ·
It was the price and the dealer that really sold it for me. There are a few other reasons, though. I didn't care for the treadle on the Kubota, but I'm sure I could have gotten used to it. I couldn't find any bad reviews on the Massey. There were only a couple on the Kubota and a few more on the Deeres. And, I also like the red paint.
 
#14 ·
I just bought mine (GC2410) but carefully researched all the brands over 18-24 mo. My needs are mostly landscaping, materials handling and snow-removal. Ruled out the following early:
Mahindra - poor reviews after ownership
Kioti - not well enough known in these parts..
LS, Yanmar, etc - not sold/supported in Canada
JD - $$$$

That leaves Kubota and Massey. Went deep on the Kubota and then the Massey. Ultimately, the Massey won on the following:
BH: larger bucket, better leveler pads, float feature, operator ergonomics
Loader: dual tipper hyd/cyl
hydro pedals, 3-pt hitch hardware included, engine access, better revs/power ratio

To be sure there were areas the Kubota won (attachment price, hello!) but the above was enough for me.
 
#15 ·
LS is sold and supported in Canada, just maybe not in your area. We have a local dealer here, about 5 miles from my home. The dealer for my GC is 32 miles away in Michigan. The nearest one in Canada is almost 250 miles down the trail.
 
#16 ·
Pretty amazing thread..
I am seriously looking at a new GC1725MB and ran across this thread. Funny how that works out. I cannot say I am surprised by the consensus (?) here if there is one. The dealer network seems to be fairly well established and the value also pretty high on the list of reasons to own one. My main concerns are for reliability and service after the sale. Are any of those who have them despairing due to it being the wrong color or other concerns? The JD dealer isn't nearly as handy to get to, same with Kubota. I liked the New Hollands but the dealers don't seem too interested in making a sale. LS, Mahindra and Kioti when compared to the others didn't really do it for me so it is between a JD and MF for now. I am looking for reasons why one would be a better deal over the other brand.
 
#21 ·
Boom float on the Massey is very nice as well. I'm not 100% sure but I don't think anyone else offers that. I almost wish I had waited for the redesign though. The joy stick was moved back on the fender (not a big deal but nice) and the big thing is the quick attach coming standard which is really nice if you want to use forks of whatever on your loader arms. Wish I had that.
 
#22 ·
On my 2018, I opted to not add quick disco since it does decrease lift capacity some and it was a few hundred dollars more. There are some cool attachments that clamp on to the bucket these days too. The redesign is really nice, but I'm pretty sure that has something to do with why I was able to get such a good deal on a 2018 model. I really like the one piece floor mat that covers the total deck on the newer models.
 
#23 ·
My father in law was the ace mechanic at a Massey dealership. He said the Massey was more solid than the other tractors on the market at the time, specifically John Dere with weak front axle and aluminum rear end housing. I did miss some creature features and comforts that many other SCUTs of the same era, circa 2007, had... Tach, glow plug indicator light, etc. I only had one issue, though - leaky front axle seal, like one that I had replaced on a Kubota before so it was no big deal. Helped that I could get a very deep discount on Massey parts and occasionally harass my FIL at work. Kubota and JD dealers were just as close.
Much came down to price (used without a loader doesn't command a very high premium), including powerflow bagger, and timing. I had $5k burning a hole in my pocket. Lastly, nobody in my 'hood had a MF, so it was a nice change of pace.
 
#24 ·
I narrowed it down to Deere, Kubota, New Holland, or Massey, early on. Looked at Deere first, partly because I had a friend who sold them. I didn't like the cheap feeling 3 piece plastic hood or those "sure to break soon" plastic hood clips. Plus there were a couple newish tractors already in the shop for driveline problems, that Deere knew about and sold anyways! Counted them out. Next was Massey, really liked them and the dealer, price was better than the Deere, too. Looked at Kubota, closest dealer to me, but I really didn't like the foot pedal arrangement, and their price was higher than Deere. Never even made it to New Holland, local dealer has a not so good rep. Went back to Massey and haven't looked back. Dealer is great too. I had an electrical problem, (temp gauge quit) dealer went to bat for me with Massey and got an entire new harness and installed it under warranty.
 
#25 ·
I went with a GC1720. I have a lot of trenches to build for water management, landscaping and wood removal/restack. I wanted something small enough to work around the house and still capable of skidding trees. I did a lot of research. Every machine I looked at had a major flaw for me. The MF had everything I needed, good price point, great dealer. I liked the pedal layout. So price for features made it my choice and 8 months later, it is still doing every job I need it to do and saving me a lot of time. whether moving 10 tons of pebbles, or lifting trees so I can part them out.
My neighbor has a slightly larger Kubota and it is really nice too, but was out of my price range and no BH.
 
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