Turf Tiger with 35 vanguard or 29 Kawasaki?

[CandyAces]

I've been looking at turf tigers for a while now. I've narrowed it down to two choices. A demo 61" with 35 Briggs vangaurd with 19 hrs for $10,0000 or a brand new 61" with the Kawasaki 29 liquid cooled for $12,000. I'm was really skeptical about the Briggs until I read some posts about the vangaurd. Now I don't know what to do. I have all Kawasaki's now but am open to change. The dealer goes out with every demo to make sure nothing happens to the mowers so it looks to be in good shape.

[7.3 Rocket]

We have two 61" Turf tigers at work. One is older with a 29 Kawi and the other is new with a 35 Briggs.

Let me tell you the Briggs spins those blades way faster and doesn't bog down at all. Uses around 5 gallons per 8-9 hour day of mowing. The unit with the Briggs is far less inclined to clump up than the 29 Kawi.

Just my opinion having run a 61" TT with both power plants.

[CandyAces]

Originally Posted by 7.3 Rocket

We have two 61" Turf tigers at work. One is older with a 29 Kawi and the other is new with a 35 Briggs.

Let me tell you the Briggs spins those blades way faster and doesn't bog down at all. Uses around 5 gallons per 8-9 hour day of mowing. The unit with the Briggs is far less inclined to clump up than the 29 Kawi.

Just my opinion having run a 61" TT with both power plants.

Thanks for the info. Do you think the it being a Briggs with effect the sellability of it down the road more so than the Kwai?

[7.3 Rocket]

Originally Posted by CandyAces

Thanks for the info. Do you think the it being a Briggs with effect the sellability of it down the road more so than the Kwai?

I can't really speak to resale values too matter of factly as I'm only an employee, but I'd say that overall condition of the machine will have more of an influence on resale. Plus it seems like all new mowers are going with higher and higher HP engines so I'd think a 35 horse mower would be more with the times longer than a 29 horse mower.

Like I said I'm a big fan of the TT that has the 35 over the 29 but at the end of the day it's your money. I can tell you that you won't see 2,000$ more in resale on a Kawi over a Briggs.

[ztman]

Originally Posted by 7.3 Rocket

I can't really speak to resale values too matter of factly as I'm only an employee, but I'd say that overall condition of the machine will have more of an influence on resale. Plus it seems like all new mowers are going with higher and higher HP engines so I'd think a 35 horse mower would be more with the times longer than a 29 horse mower.

Like I said I'm a big fan of the TT that has the 35 over the 29 but at the end of the day it's your money. I can tell you that you won't see 2,000$ more in resale on a Kawi over a Briggs.

based on rocket's comment on fuel consumption, sounds like the van guard would run much cheaper, i burn about two gallons per hour with the 29 kawi

[7.3 Rocket]

Originally Posted by ztman

based on rocket's comment on fuel consumption, sounds like the van guard would run much cheaper, i burn about two gallons per hour with the 29 kawi

To clear up confusion so I'm not misleading anyone that's roughly 5 gallons per 8-9 hour work day not 8-9 engine hours according to the meter. As far as I can tell they burn about the same amount of fuel per day.

[StanWilhite]

Originally Posted by 7.3 Rocket

We have two 61" Turf tigers at work. One is older with a 29 Kawi and the other is new with a 35 Briggs.

Let me tell you the Briggs spins those blades way faster and doesn't bog down at all. Uses around 5 gallons per 8-9 hour day of mowing. The unit with the Briggs is far less inclined to clump up than the 29 Kawi.

Just my opinion having run a 61" TT with both power plants.

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[CandyAces]

Originally Posted by StanWilhite

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Thanks guys I think I'll go with the briggs.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Ridin' Green]

Originally Posted by CandyAces

Thanks guys I think I'll go with the briggs.
Posted via Mobile Device

I'm a big Kawi fan, but this spring when I went looking at new mowers, and especially at the TT, there was no question which engine it would be if I bought one (which I ended up not doing, but for other reasons)-35 Vanguard BB. The Vanguard is no more a B&S engine than it is a Honda engine. B&S is merely the US distributor. They partnered with Diahatsu (who is owned by Toyota, and is the actual maker of the engine) in building the plant in Japan, and as said are the US distributor. The Vanguard is a very good engine, and usually does better on fuel, and provides more real world HP and torque than other engines of the same HP class.