THE Versatile tractor line-up has made its anticipated return to Australian shores, with its new 2024 models.
"We've missed these products for the past two to three years," said Perth Power Tractors & Machinery sales representative David Rogers.
"This is like the rebirth of the product back into ag."
He said features the Versatile die-hards loved about the brand remained intact, with the upgrades being subtle but notable.
"The specs are very similar to what we've had in the past, which is a QSX 15 Cummins engine with a Cat transmission," Mr Rogers said.
The fuel capacity for the four-wheel drive models is 1500 litres and the DeltaTrack has a capacity of 1800 litres, he added.
Versatile has two identical looking tractors in its range, the four-wheel drive and the scraper unit, however, they're used for different purposes.
"Versatile tractors are basically for farming, and the bulk of our customers will be in ag pulling large seeding gear," he said.
"But we've got scraper versions for mining companies, and they might be for road building, they might be for railway forming."
Mr Rogers highlighted a few key differences between the scraper unit and the four-wheel drive models.
"You've got an auto-greasing system in the scraper, which you don't have in the ag," he said.
"There is a scraper link cable that allows the scraper, through its wiring, to direct the hydraulics.
"It has things like inching pedals, a stronger suspension cab than an ag, and it uses higher three quarter hydraulic hoses rather than half inch hoses to supply the bucket faster.
"There are some ag guys that have bought them but they're mainly for mining, road development, rail development."
According to Mr Rogers, what gave Versatile a competitive edge in the market was that the tractor's load was distributed to all four planetaries, which puts the horsepower at the wheels, forgoing undue stress on the central dip.
"It's designed to pull, and they do that by having a tow bar in position that's as close as they can to the centre of the tractor," Mr Rogers said.
"So it doesn't matter whether your fuel tank is full or empty, its ability to to be able to share that load between the front and the rear is good.
"As that weight comes on, because it's pulling from the centre - it actually tries to pull the tractor down rather than pulling the nose up as you can get with some models."
Another feature that sets Versatile apart are modular oils.
"That means if there's a problem on the planetary on the left front, that's where the problem stays - it doesn't keep flowing through the hydraulic oil or your combine oils or through your diffs," he said.
The cab is the main area where the 2024 Versatile range has undergone its upgrades.
"The screens have seen an upgrade and so have a few other items," Mr Rogers said.
"The original hydraulic was a bit slow, they then put an ISO in it, but that made it even slower.
"This is about the third screen upgrade, and I think they've got it right."
Some noise reduction in the cab was also implemented.
"History said we were a little noisy in the market, and that's because we've got such a big motor going," Mr Rogers said.
A few minor cosmetic changes were applied too, with the latest models going back to a black frame instead of the 2022 red frames.
"In the cab, there's things like USB points, phone charging, and a phone holder, just a few of those things to make it more modern," he said.
Mr Rogers said despite the new models only recently arriving at their Welshpool dealership, they had had sold just about everything they ordered for the 2024 season.
"We've got another dozen coming in but we've only got two left of the four wheel drivers," he said.
As far as the future of the Versatile range, Mr Rogers' answer was simply "more".
"More front wheel assists, more varieties of four-wheel drives, a couple of more DeltaTrack sizes," he said.
"From there, the product will get developed even further."
