Far from completing its life cycle and silently fading into ‘muffled’ obscurity, the now 13-year-old Kawasaki Mule has recently received a line-up kick – in the shape of the Mule 2510 Diesel 4×4 model. James de Havilland and Andrew Faulkner get a feel for life aboard the previously petrol-only Mule
There’s nowt like the pink stuff to stir farmer ATV interest, the option to fill his bike with 20p/litre red diesel rather than tax-laden petrol priced at around 80p/litre. Then there’s the convenience factor: Not only does the farmer have to pay more for petrol, but he may also have to travel ten miles to pick the stuff up from a garage when – and here’s the frustrating bit – there’s 2,000 litres of red diesel sat out in the yard.
Given this understandable penchant for pink ATV fuelling, it is of no surprise to learn that the arrival of the diesel Kawasaki Mule has been greeted with considerable farmer interest. Indeed since its autumn ‘99 launch this ATV-related product has spent most months sold out, Kawasaki (UK) conceding that it underestimated initial demand. So, to the big farming question: Does the diesel Mule make more sense than its petrol-powered siblings which, though selling well in niche markets, have never really fulfilled their true farming potential? To find out, we took a diesel Mule to a mixed arable/stock farm in Oxfordshire.
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