Cat 303CR - It's here

[Scag48]

Well, thought I'd update. Our 303CR showed up today all shiny and new. Everything is just like they said it was going to be and the thumb control on the right joystick is the only way to fly, I like it already. Haven't done any work with the machine yet but I know what to expect, I've been running the rental 303 for about a month now. I'll get some pics pretty soon. We ended up getting this thing cheaper than I thought. I thought our original quote of $39, 700 did not include tax, but it turns out our total price with tax ended up being $40,091 with a hydraulic thumb (not exactly sure on the cost of that, going to guess at least $2,000), $2,000 for 12" and 40" buckets and the reposistioning of the thumb control was about $2,000 as well. WA sales tax is 8% and without taxes this machine would be about $37,000, a pretty good deal I think, especially when I go on Catused and find 303CR's with about 200 hrs that are lesser equipped than our machine costing maybe a couple thousand less, if that. I'll try to get some pics in a couple days.

Pawnshop, pulled the trigger on that 35D yet? Com'on, everyone's buyin machines, jump on that bandwagon! Hope all is well.

[Gravel Rat]

Thats good to hear I hope you have good luck with the machine. The first dent in the side panels hurts the ones afterwards is battle wounds :laugh:

[thepawnshop]

Pawnshop, pulled the trigger on that 35D yet? Com'on, everyone's buyin machines, jump on that bandwagon! Hope all is well.

Yep, I sure did...wife's gonna shoot me, but I LOVE that machine! I'm glad you are pleased with the 303...I think for both of our applications, a smaller machine makes much more sense. I use the mini more than I use my skid steer!

Post some pics and I'll try to do the same! Congrats again on your new "baby"!

[Scag48]

Glad to hear you went for the 35D! Yeah, my mom was pretty hosed off when we decided to buy the 303, but she'll get over it. So far, in the last 3 weeks that we've had the rental 303 we used it more than the skid steer. But what is really nice is that we can work 2 sites at the same time with 2 machines which is a really big plus for us. I will try to get pictures as well. Good luck and have fun!

[BMFD92]

Scag48, you have any pics?

[Scag48]

No pics yet, I meant to take the camera tonight to get some pics of the machine doing some site cleanup on a job we just finished today. I will try to get some picutures in the next few days. 9 hours on her on so far!

[Green Pastures]

Tagged for pics.......

[Scag48]

Okay guys, here's the pics I promised. I took quite a few, hopefully I do this right. Enjoy!

[Scag48]

And another...

[Scag48]

another....

[Scag48]

Last one, thought I'd get a pic of the operator station. Notice the right joystick. Both sticks used to be like the one on the left, but now the right stick is setup to run the aux. hydraulics. I'm thankful that the guys at the shop did a good job of putting a decent joystick on there

[Gravel Rat]

Good looking little machine I'am surprised you didn't opt for the enclosed cab especially being in the Pacific Northwest.

What is that other bucket in the pictures is that your clean up bucket if so it sure looks small or is that a special type of grading bucket ?

[Scag48]

Cab was $8,000 upgrade, a little too expensive for us. The cleanup bucket is 40" wide which is plenty big enough for grading, but not too big so that we can still load trucks with it. The thing of it is, 40" is all the bigger it needs to be because the blade is 5' wide, so we do most of the grading with the blade and whatever else that needs to be graded on a slope or for scraping materials, we use the cleanup bucket.

[Green Pastures]

Sweet!

I want it's big brother.

[Gravel Rat]

Ouch they wanted 8000 dollars for a enclosed cab thats way too much I I would get a soft cab made for the machine in the rainy season they make them for forklifts. A company that makes boat tops can make you some snap on panels with some vinyl windows.

[grassmanvt]

Very nice, suprisingly not a heck of a lot more than some of the not-so-popular brands. Does Cat have any 0% or similar deals going on?

[Scag48]

Grassman-I'm not sure exactly what some of the deals were, my dad is involved with the finances, I just spec the machine and operate, works great this way. LOL. They have numerous lease-buy options, but I can't remember some of the percentage rates for the loans. I want to say it was 6% but I'm not sure, I don't think they offered a 0%, we probably would have opted for that vs. getting a loan from the local bank. You're right, Cat was competively priced right in there with the rest of the pack. Kubota and Deere turned out to be more expensive, I got a call back from the Deere sales guy a few days ago, he was supposed to call me 3 weeks ago for a quote. I had to tell him he was too late and that we bought a Cat instead.