Before choosing a 77 kilowatt, PX1052 Kioti tractor, Victoria’s Latrobe City Council buying team did a comparison with similar models from mainstream brands.
Council team leader Chris Daniel’s 18 years’ experience with different brands meant he knew what he wanted in a tractor.
“The Kioti caught my interest straight away,” Mr Daniel said.
“It’s got the Perkins running gear and that’s been well known and trusted for 60 odd years.
“We don’t need ear muffs with the low-noise Perkins engine - it’s well and truly under our decibel level, and there’s no vibration either,” he said.
He said the air conditioned and heated cabin was comfortable with everything well laid out and colour coded.
“I have a number of operators so I wanted a tractor that was easy to understand and simple to operate.
“It’s got a nice big fuel tank that lasts all day and brilliant fuel consumption. And the price was perfect,” he said.
The Kioti PX1052 has a liquid-cooled four cylinder diesel engine, powershuttle transmission with 32 forward and 32 reverse gears and hydraulic high/low, and two- speed PTO with 540/1000rpm plus auto stop.
The dual remote hydraulic valves can handle a wide range of attachments and the tractor has a rear linkage lift capacity of 2400 kilograms.
Latrobe City Council bought the Kioti PX with a four-in-one bucket and use the tractor to move soil, load vehicles and cut grass.
Mr Daniel said a full day’s work on the loader was no problem.
“With the joystick, it does what you want when you want it, and you don’t need to have it revving hard.
“We’re fine on 1600 revs but with some other brands you have to work them a little bit harder.”
He said the machine had great visibility.
“We haven’t had a single issue with it and we’re very happy with it - there isn’t one thing I’d change about this tractor,” he said.
Anthony Moscato from Alto Motors, Trafalgar, Victoria said the PX series is really making its mark in the region.
“The thing about Kioti is, we’re just not getting any problems with these tractors.
“It’s the first time I’ve experienced this and I’ve been dealing in tractors for 48 years. No issues whatsoever.”