I was thinking about buying a mule, anyone have anything good or bad to say, or any recomendations

 

I have a new 08 diesel 3010 4x4. I have put 16 hours on it and so far these are what I`ve noticed.
A. Tires: Not big enough or have an agressive enough tread.
B. Fuel consumption: Have gone approx 80 miles over various terrains. 3 gal. used
C. Speed: Not as fast as an atv, but then I can carry and pull more.
D. Construction: All Steel. Very little plastic outside of hood and headlight cowls,
and dask area.
E. areas of concern: Filter housings mounted under bed area and lack of battery
protection. No lift cylinder for the bed. Being all steel makes
it more difficult but not impossible to lift. It has a lock up
brace to keep it up once lifted. I have been told to stay out
of deep water as it will get into and on the belt drive and
have to be dried out before the machine will move on it`s
own. Aren`t all belt drives like that anyway.
F. Lights: Not enough lighting from head lights. need additional lighting.


G. Things I like. 40 amp alternator. diesel engine with a 2 year warranty. No
expensive computers/ecu/ecm`s to burn out. Off road diesel is as cheap or cheaper than gasoline and I don`t have to be as concerned about fuel fires. It uses off the shelf motor oil and I`m told I can get fuel and oil filters at many parts houses. It is 5 inches wider that most atv`s and so will track along where they have gone. Ground clearance is acceptable, but could be better. I`m told a lift kit is available.

I can`t say anything but good for this little machine so far. however ask me again in
2 years and I`ll tell you where the bugs showed up. At this point I don`t feel like this machine is even broken in yet. Butch

 

Based on my recent experience with a mule and with Kawasaki in general, I'd tell you and anyone else willing to listen to buy anything BUT Kawasaki. My vehicle was flawed (mechanical issue guessed to be oil blow by) before I even unloaded it from the trailer after returning from the dealership. Kawasaki has not stood by their product and I am ret to get a satsifactory resuloution to the problem. They have been completely unresponsive on both a local (dealership) and national level.

I'll never buy Kawasaki again...

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: gdavis64

Based on my recent experience with a mule and with Kawasaki in general, I'd tell you and anyone else willing to listen to buy anything BUT Kawasaki. My vehicle was flawed (mechanical issue guessed to be oil blow by) before I even unloaded it from the trailer after returning from the dealership. Kawasaki has not stood by their product and I am ret to get a satsifactory resuloution to the problem. They have been completely unresponsive on both a local (dealership) and national level.



I'll never buy Kawasaki again...</end quote></div>


Cool, then that means more kawies for people who don't whine. Based on your one and only experience, we should all agree with you that kawies suck????? Get real.

 

A very mature reply 700vtwinman. As you have followed my post relaying concerns about the Mule in a couple of places, I'm guessing you are not exactly unbiased. Perhaps someone with a vested interest Yanaha? If so, then I wouldn't be in the least surpirsed as this is exactly the kind of response I received from Kawasaki in trying to resolve this issue.

Yes, I understand this is am imperfect world and that every manufacturer will occasionally put out a lemon. Had this issue been quickly and satisfctorily resolved, then you would never have seen a post on this board from me....at least nothing negative. On the contrary, I would have gone out of my way to priase Kawasaki for standing behind their product and superior customer service. As is happens though, my experience was very negative. The dealer tried to shift responsibility to the manufacturere, the manufacturer tried to pass responsibility to the dealer, and all the while that everyone was pointing at someone else, I was getting contradictory reports from the service department about what exaclty the problem was.

In the end, the service department as changed the rings,, honed the cylinders, and told me to cross my fingers and hope that this solves the problem.

Bottom line is that when I pay thousands of dollars to buy a consumer good, I expect BOTH the dealer and manufacturer to stand behind my purchase. This has been my experience with cars, and with boats.....do you, think there is some reasaon things should be differnt with a UTV?

 

buy it 3010 diesel has pwr steering gas does not the new 4010 both have pwr steering both run good i prefer gas i drive a semi and get tired of anything to do with diesel

 

I have a 2008 model 3010 diesel. Fuel economy is great, and it makes a great yard buggie or golf cart, but I won't take it into the woods as ground clearance, power, traction/tires are poor. I let my 13 year old drive it around the place and on trails where there's NO CHANCE of getting stuck. The air intake to the belt drive leaks if you get into water to the floor, then you gotta remove the cover, drain the water before you can move. As far as construction, it has a super rigid frame. When the axle lock is engaged it only locks the rear axle and when in four wheel drive only one of the front wheels will pull. I really like the diesel, although it is noisy and stinky if I use offroad fuel. Never fails to start, steers easily with the electric steering, even has a little horn that drives our dog nuts.. I'm thinking about dolling it up to drive in parades and such. Gotta do something, nobody wants to pay me what I've got in it.

 

>>A. Tires: Not big enough or have an agressive enough tread.<<

This is how I got around that with mine. (also an '08 diesel)