Driving impression: Valtra N101 tractor Since it started to ‘letter’ its ranges, beginning in 2001 with the high-hp S series, Valtra has developed a bewildering array of tractor lines. And at the end of 2005, the Finns’ alphabet grew even further with the debut of the N range. Martin Rickatson finds out exactly where the new N fits into the scheme of things.
Choice, options and variety. Finnish tractor maker Valtra has always prided itself on offering all these to its farmer buyers, trading heavily on a deserved reputation as a purveyor of tailor-built machines. But squeezing a completely new tractor range in between two fairly recently introduced 90-150hp and 120-150hp lines, all of four-cyl configuration, would seem more likely to bewilder its potential customers than benefit them. Despite the additional confusion created by the order of the company’s lettering system – the M is larger than the new N, but the T is smaller than the S – things the N may well encompass the same hp band as the C line, but the machine itself is a quite different beast.
Most important, though, Valtra says its plan is that the N will become the mainstay of the four-cyl range, and will in the long term supersede the M and C tractors, sitting alongside the 6000 series models that continue for those wanting a much simpler mechanical tractor.
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