Kawasaki Mule 4x4 or Cub Cadet Challenger 400?

Any here have experience with them or other side by side UTV's? We need a small one for the farm with a dump bed. Light work, nothing heavy but it does need to be a 4x4.
TIA.

Couple years back I did a brief stint at a powersports dealership, handling parts/warranty/service-writeup.
We got a lot of different stuff through there, but I don't recall a Cub Cadet. That may be a good thing, hard to say.
Had a Mule or two come through, seemed pretty stout.
The Yamaha stuff seemed best in terms of mechanical quality & factory support, FWIW.
Arctic Cat, not as much but decent.
The Polaris stuff had some weird engineering & electrical, which was sometimes self-destructive.
There were a couple of Chinese brands that were really a pain to deal with, especially parts.
Look for a good dealer or shop in your area, for support & parts considerations.
Buying a nice used "suburban" unit is best bang for the buck.
Frequent oil changes were generally the most important maintenance.

Thanks for the info. We want to stay with the name brand stuff as they have some aftermarket support where the off brand chinese crap doesn't. The Kawasaki has a 3 year limited warranty where as the Cub has only a 1 year. They are all about the same price and finding a low hour/mile used one isn't really much cheaper than new.

Don't know if any of this will help, but here goes.

I went to work for Lake Co. Fl solid waste operations in 2001, they had a (seemed like ancient) John Deere, not sure of model, had 2 rear drive axles, can't remember if a single front wheel or 2.
It was pretty beat, rusty, using it around the corrosives in the landfill eats stuff up, and no one was gentle with it either when the boss wasn't looking. About the only thing ever done to it was gas it up, had a few rounds with water in the gas. It finally got so rusty it folded up, so we scrapped it, and got a 4x2 Deere Gator, which lasted well until it got run into by one of our fine citizens, and it was down hill from there.
Next, in what I guess was a money saving effort we got a Kawasaki mule, 4x4, which did well for a while, had some charging issues which were expensive, other than that I think it did ok until the crankshaft seal went out, and somehow ruined the engine.
We then got another Deere 4x4, which now is around 8 years old, usual bad gas issues, another customer backed into it, so we got new front end plastics, the thing is still in use but showing its age.

Just last week got another Deere, pretty much same vehicle, different department has it so it may last longer.

OH! In another budget move we had a "Trail Wagon", 4x4, I think sold by Tractor supply, which, by constant nursing and trips to maintenance, lasted about 6-7 years, Honda powered was the best thing it had going for it, shifter/trans/4wd was always a problem, the lights would fall out of the sockets and dangle by the wires frequently, constant issues, driveline clanged and banged when moving, they spent enough on repairs to keep the thing going to have replaced it with a better unit long ago, last time it died we pushed it into a corner, now it is finally gone and replaced with the latest Deere.

I really know nothing about any other brands and I am sure none of this was helpful.

Thank you, that helps a lot. I have a Deere lawn tractor that is 16 years old now and I've done nothing to it but change the oil, clean the air filter and replace the battery twice. I really should look at them too, thanks.

We have 3 gators, 2 cheaper ones and one that will run 30 mph. On the bigger one, it is a bit short for pulling kids in the snow on a sled. It will do it but not fast enough for adult fun. They make some bigger now if you need more power. We have had about 5 of these and no problems with any of them

Polaris is the best selling brand so there are tons of available parts.

The entry machines of both look like about 6 or 7 grand. Can you find a good, clean used Rhino for half that?


I looked at that Cub Cadet, and it looks pretty good in the photos. The Mule looks like an Ethiopian garden tractor.

I've had/still have Yamaha, Kawasaki, Honda, Suzuki, Bombardier, and an off-shore product. One thing remains the same on all of them: they all run great until the carb gets filled with whatever is in our fuel. Of course, that's when you need them most when everyone is geared up and ready to ride, and the POS won't start or idle.

Advise? Get a fuel-injected machine.

I think we found a pretty good deal on a JD XUV 560E. Problem is they are scarce. We would have to order one, waiting to see how long it would take to get it, but it's about $300 cheaper out the door than the Mule 400 SX 4x4.

If you plan on keeping it for a while stick with one of the more popular ones or you might risk loosing support or having a hard time finding specific parts down the road.
Mules are the ones Ive always heard of the most.

We couldn't get a JD until February. No other dealers within 100 miles had any of the smaller UTV's except one dealer had 2 4x4 Mules, one a base and the other an upgraded model with larger alloy wheels and more aggressive tires as well as a hard roof for an additional $1300. No thanks, don't need that. The roof is a $158 part. So we bought the base mule. I didn't take the trailer out there as it's a 2 hour drive and they were closing in 2.5 hours so I'll pick it up Monday. Kawasaki has a $500 purchase incentive so the total price out the door with the roof was just under the price of a 2020 JD that I couldn't get anyway and the Mule has a 3 year warranty, oh yeah and it's fuel injected.
We searched and searched for used ones but they were going for $5-6K or more anyway. Not worth it for no warranty and unknown history. Most of the ones we looked at were well used and probably abused.
Looks like this but in red.

I have 20 acres, and own a few things with "small engines". For me, I prefer to use implements and vehicles with Kubota diesels. I do not like messing around with small gasoline engines. Small Kubota diesels are deadly reliable, low maintenance, and last decades.

Just my 2cents!

My Mother in Law has a large cattle farm. She got a Kawaski Mule in about 2010. She does very little in the way of maintenance on it, and has had almost no issues with it over the last 10 years.

It is a working vehicle, not a toy. She doesn't baby it, but she doesn't abuse it either.

She is happy with it FWIW. Looks like the green one above, except with a roof and windshield (and 10 years older).


We use JD Gators at work. They work fine but seem to rust prematurely and we go through those yellow seats like crazy.

The parts must be cast from pure gold judging by the prices they charge.

Thanks everyone for the info. I appreciate it. We picked it up today, got it home and I installed the roof and looked it over. Drove it around the property and down the road a piece with no problems. Has plenty of power for our needs and while it won't win many drag races, if any, it is more than fast enough for us.

I have a Mule 4010 that I got in 2015. It is pretty bulletproof and I am on it nearly every day. One caveat. Just before my warranty expired it had a major engine issue- They had a problem with the machine on the block in which the gasket didn't hold, and I have fuel filling my crankcase. It was honored with no issue. Just make sure that issue has been resolved with newer models.

I use my Mule for hauling firewood and I am fairly rough will banking rounds into it. No breaks in welds. Power is there, but if I load the bed full of wood and am pulling my Bannon trailer full also, I sometimes have to jettison some the load to climb some steeper hills around my farm. The smaller Mule had tiny wheels on them, which made me wonder if it didnt have the power to do much. They later put the larger wheels on them. A fellow I know has the smaller one for survey work in some pretty steep terrain, and it does well. Plus it is narrower for moving through the woods. the 4010 is pretty fat for woods use when there isn't a trail.

I don't know a person who owns a Cadet. They aren't common here.

For work, I have a big Polaris and last year bought a John Deere, used for emergencies and patrollling our parks trail system. The seem pretty bulletproof as well.

Those models sold at farm supply stores are pretty pricey when you compare them to the major manufacturers. I just don't think the potential pitfalls of having one to save a couple thousand bucks. I found the same with the tractors- priced pretty close to MF and Deere. No reason to buy one.