First appearing in the UK at the tail end of 2011, John Deere 7230R, 7260R and 7280R tractors looked all set to take over from the outgoing 7030 series, with a host of developments to include the promise of improvedefficiency. Teething troubles, however, put paid to this early promise, and residual values of the first 7R series suffered. What went wrong … and are these tractors now a sound used buy?