Mini Quad Truck a safe and versatile ATV alternative
VISITORS to the Wimmera Machinery Field Days will be the first potential buyers in Victoria to see the new alternative to farm ATVs and UTVs.
VISITORS to the field days will be the first potential buyers in Victoria to see the new alternative to farm ATVs and UTVs.
The Mini Quad Truck is a Daihatsu-based vehicle, made in Japan and modified in New Zealand, specifically for off-road use.
Owners are not permitted to drive them on Australia’s roads.
Three of these vehicles have been brought to Tasmania in the past, but the model on show at Longerenong, the Impact D 510, only arrived in Australia in November through new national distributor Safer Quads, of Launceston.
Powered by a 660cc, three-cylinder petrol engine, the vehicle comes in auto or five-speed manual and features four-wheel-drive, hi-lo ratio, diff lock, front disc brakes, power steering, 1.9m-long tray, towbar and bullbar.
It can carry a load or tow a bale feeder, fertiliser spreader, calf trailer or harrow.
Safety features include an SRS airbag, seatbelts, fully enclosed steel cab with two seats and laminated safety glass windscreen, while options encompass stock crates, airconditioning, tipper, rubber tray mat and seat covers.
The vehicles weigh 810kg, are 1.78m high and 1.3m wide and offer a payload of 500kg.
MQTs have been in use in New Zealand for 20 years, after Hamilton district farmer Brent McPhail imported an early model for use on his 160ha property.
Safer Quads principal Colin Cook is showing the MQT around Victoria, starting with Wimmera, but moving on to Farm World, Foster and Corryong.
“Dairy farms are an obvious market, but we also see huge opportunity in vineyards and orchards for harvesting, pruning and thinning work,” Cook said.
“People could be standing in the back tray, properly harnessed, and moved up and down the rows.
“Most of the payload sits in front of the rear wheel, compared with quad bike design of having a tray either on the rear wheels or behind them.
“Tens of thousands of these trucks are sold throughout Asia every year. They’re very cheap to run and there’s no need to wear helmets. With more than 4000 MQTs sold in New Zealand, there’s not been one fatality or recorded injury over those 20 years.”
Tasmanian dairy farmer Peter Jones bought an MQT last winter for use on his 200ha property north of Launceston alongside an ATV and side-by-side.
“We milk 800 autumn-calving cows on the home farm as well as running cattle on a 500-acre (200ha) run-off block next door,” Jones said.
“I needed something user-friendly and safe. We have four children and this was so much safer than ATVs.”
Price of the MQT is $27,500, inc GST. For details, visit Safer Quads.
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