Ya know, a lot of guys say they think you pay a little more for a Cat because of the name. And I own some Cat machines myself, and I have to say, yes of course you do, but I think a lot of that is built on reputation. I'm in no way saying the others aren't good or that Cat has the best product for each class, because of course they don't. But I can say with maintaining my equipment like you should, it has never left me down.
The newer stuff with the tier 4 regs, Case skid steers seem to have the most ft lbs of torque. The new Hollands are good machines. You can beat them to death as long as you maintain them like anything else. My cousin owns a dairy farm with 3 Bobcats and he swear by them so sometimes each brand or machine really differs per person. I had a Cat 259B3 here back in January for demo. Nice machine. I also had a Deere 323D, which although I actually did like it a little better, I ended up buying the Cat because it came down to service & customer support.
How far away is your closest dealer for whatever brands your looking at? Have you ever dealt with any of them before? This is crucial. I can call my Cat rep on a Sunday, and he usually gets back to me within 2 hours. To me that's huge. If I have a question about one of my machines, who best to ask. The guy even called me back as he was in the hospital room waiting for his wife to deliver his first kid.
When I bought my first machine and I contacted the Deere dealer, the rep was hesitant about even having a demo machine sent over. Then he would return my calls sometimes, but usually not. Because I didn't buy the machine the first 2 or 3 times of calling and asking questions, I think he figured I was a waste of time. This caused me to look into Cat products. Since day 1 my rep has done whatever he could to help me out. Referring me to other people selling trailers when I was getting started rather then pushing me into buying a new one from him. I had my first skid steer dropped off for demo and I ended up loosing my job about 2 weeks after that and even though he knew I had the cash for the machine, and despite knowing he would loose his commission, he still encouraged me to find a cheaper machine or hold off until I had enough work lined up to justify giving up my savings. To me, he wanted me to succeed so down the road he could sell me more equipment if I was successful. Most reps don't care about that, they just want the sale now. I had similar issues with the Case dealer, he figured I was some dumb kid (29 years old) and that I didn't have the down payment I said I did and never called me back. I stopped 3 times and called about a dozen.
Back to service, The Cat dealer around here, if I call them for parts, as long as its before a certain time, I will have the parts I order next day, no delivery cost. If something doesn't seem right or needs fixed, 1 call and within 2-3 hours they have a truck and service man here.
I'm not saying you gotta buy something new, or you need to check reps until you find one like mine, but if you purchase a machine and getting parts or asking questions is a hassle, what good is the machine going to do you when you do need something?
Sorry for the long post.