Should you use a truck or a UTV to handle your farm work or to get things done around your homestead? There are significant differences which make one stand out.
Many farms have turned to smaller vehicles to get work done around the farm, especially in remote locations that are difficult for larger vehicles to reach. This brings the question of whether you should trust a pickup truck or a UTV, which stands for Utility Terrain Vehicle. The UTV might sound like a logical choice, but it’s not quite as easy as you might expect.
What is a UTV?
A UTV is much larger than an ATV, making it much easier to carry more passengers and gear to the location where you need to get tings done. These vehicles are powerful, seat four or six passengers, and have lots of storage space. UTVs are commonly used to haul equipment and supplies in locations that make using a truck impractical or impossible.
Some features and benefits of UTVs are:
Good Power
UTVs are more powerful than ATVs, making them more useful when carrying heavy payloads and towing small trailers to remote locations around your farm.
Passenger Capacity
The ability to carry four or six people to the work locations means you’ve got a whole crew to get things done instead of one person on an ATV.
Hauling Capabilities
A UTV can compare favorably with a truck because both have bed space and the ability to tow a trailer to the area of the farm where work needs to be completed.
Good Comfort
Some UTVs have optional enclosed cabs and canopies to protect you from the weather and make it much easier to stay out of the rain or snow.
Its easy to see the benefits of UTVs vs. ATVs, but when you compare a UTV and a truck, the smaller size is possibly the only advantage. These smaller off-road vehicles can reach some remote locations that trucks can’t reach, but that doesn’t make them better or more useful than pickup trucks.
Why choose a truck instead of a UTV?
Pickup trucks can do just about everything and give you the capabilities desired on your farm, especially when you choose a crew cab truck and 4WD. Some used trucks can be perfect for work around a farm or homestead and offer many benefits compared to UTVs.
Some reasons farmers might choose a pickup truck over a UTV are:
Cost
A used truck is much cheaper than a new UTV. You can buy a quality used truck with less than 100,000 miles for as little as $5,000 but will need to drop about $10,000 for a new UTV. There aren’t many used UTVs on the market, and many times, these vehicles aren’t as reliable as a used truck.
Comfort
Trucks have much better rides and are all around much more comfortable for you and your work crew than a UTV.
Utility
Pickup trucks are utility champions. Whether it’s carrying heavy payload, towing a trailer, or pulling out a stump, you’ll turn to your trusty pickup truck to get the job done.
Safety
Traveling on roads is much safer and more practical in a truck. You can easily go from working in a remote area of the farm to heading to the hardware store for necessary supplies in a truck. You would have to change vehicles if you only brought a UTV to the work site.
Maintenance
Pickup trucks are much easier and more affordable to maintain than most UTVs. Parts for older trucks are pretty easy to find, easy to work with, and often easy enough to install on your own instead of taking the truck in for service. The same can’t be said of UTVs.
What should you have on your farm?
Once you review your landscape and understand the challenges associated with your farm setup, you’ll want to figure out which vehicles make the most sense. If you can reach every area of your farm with a pickup truck, that is much better than purchasing a UTV. You still might want to have a few ATVs around for those times when you have small jobs or want to ride along your fence line to inspect your property.
On the other hand, if you’ve got some areas of the farm that your truck won’t reach, you should consider a UTV to reach these spaces and bring an entire work crew to help get things done. Use the truck for everyday work, but let the UTV be the vehicle you turn to for some of the smaller jobs in these remote locations.
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