Best Skid Steer in ’23

Looking to buy the best skid steer in ’23? Trying to find, gather and compare equipment is a strenuous chore. What Bobcat is similar to John Deere? What are the differences in specs? How much do each cost? We compiled all of this information for five different leaders in the industry. This article will give you a head start in your journey to find the best skid steer in 2023.

Who is in the lineup?

We took a look at Cat, John Deere, Kubota, JCB and Bobcat to see how their skid steers compared to their competitors. All of these models are the most similar across brands. Here are the specific makes and models we looked at:

• John Deere 325g
• Cat 289D3
• Kubota SVL75
• Bobcat T66
• JCB 3TS-8T

Let’s start with price

For some reason it is nearly impossible to find the list price for a piece of equipment. Dealerships hold their cards for no one else to see which makes it really hard for you as a buyer to know where to start. You know your budget, but you don’t know who’s in your market. This leaves you doing way more work to figure out which brand to go with. These are base prices for cab units. Obviously, these prices will vary depending on what part of the country you’re in and the particular fees and whatnot that one dealership will add that another may not.

Price – highest to lowest

• JCB 3TS-8T – $109,500
• Cat 289D3 – $101,050
• John Deere 325g – $87,899.00
• Bobcat T66 – $81,754
• Kubota SVL75 – $78,522

Lifting capacity – highest to lowest

• JCB 3TS-8T – 3,695 lb
• Cat 289D3 – 2,890 lb
• John Deere 325g – 2,590 lb
• Bobcat T66 – 2,450 lb
• Kubota SVL75 – 2,300 lb

Hydraulic Flow and Horsepower

All of these units have the same amount of horsepower–74. Hyraulic flow has stuck with the consistent pattern as the other categories with JCB offering the highest gal/min at 23.8. This category is in the same order as the operating capacity and price sections.

• JCB 3TS-8T – 23.8 gal/min
• Cat 289D3 – 22.8 gal/min
• John Deere 325g – 21 gal/min
• Bobcat T66 – 17.6 gal/min
• Kubota SVL75 – 17.4 gal/min

Summary

We aren’t going to attempt to tell you that a JCB is better than Kubota. It is ultimately going to boil down to what you are going to use your skid steer for. You are going to pay for more capacity and when you look at it, if you want the highest capacity for this range of skid compared to the lowest, you are going to pay an additional $31,978 to get it (price difference between JBC & Kubota).

If you want to take a look at the full specs sheets for any of these skid steers you can click on the models below. We hope this helps you navigate easier in your journey to your best skid steer in 2023.

• JCB 3TS-8T
• Cat 289D3
• John Deere 325g
• Bobcat T66
• Kubota SVL75

Check out some of our other similar articles:

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