I just came home from the Rietman brothers open house, this year celebrating the 75 year anniversary of their company.
They had a bunch of their Zetors on display, also a 5545, 25A, 25K, a row of 20-30-4011 and a 3013. When we walked in there, they first wanted our opinion on the new Major, which was just trucked in earlier this week, its the first in Holland (yes, the past 10 years Rietman has allways been the first to show, or sell the newest
Zetor model in Holland) Anyways we both said that, if we see how Proximas in our area are abused (last week my brother saw a 6441 driving through the village main street with a 28m3 manure tank) this Carraro rear end will quit sooner than you think: just like any other light duty tractor on the market.
This tractor certainly has a place in the market (not just in Poland where there is a lot of competition in this market segment) but this is not a real Zetor in terms of parts origin, but neither in terms of what people have come to expect from the UR1 based Zetors.
The salesmen said they'd like to see bigger rear tires, 30" was a bit small for 80hp: I replied i've checked the Carraro spec sheets online, and they dont approve any bigger tires due to the allowed rear axle output torque..
It has its place in the market at golf courses, grounds maintenance, horse riding schools and farms that only make hay. Its not something to do heavy tillage or manure spreading with, though people are used of old Zetors that if the pin fits through the tow eye, the tractor can handle the task: But only the Proxima can provide that
I would have put the 50-60-70hp three cylinders in front of this Carraro rear end and call it Minor, 60-70-80hp four cylinders with this basic cab, in front of the old UR1 gearbox and call THAT a Major, and rebrand the basic 12/12 proxima with slant gears and full synchromesh as Super, to distinguish it from the Proxima Plus and Power. Then all expectations one may have from past experiences with a certain model name, will be met
I am not against the fact that they want a share of the light duty budget market (they cant build the old model heavy duty Major for the money they did 20 years ago) because CNH, Deere, MF are all competing in this market, while this market segment is especially popular in their main market Poland because of the high EU agricultural deveopment subsidies on new tractors. But Zetor has allways been the budget tractor that outclassed anything else in terms of beef for the money. I just think its a wrong decision to dub it Major when its a tractor in a whole different market segment.
Anyways, enough of this rant. I dont have to eat from this fodder bin
On the positve side: In real life, it does look a LOT better than the prototype on the fair in Poland earlier on...

About the cab, its quite ok for what you'd expect from a budget tractor
