MSRP, base build
A different class of machine from the 5E that shares its badge: 4.5 L of PowerTech across four cylinders, a 16F/16R PowrReverser as standard, 5,150 lb of hitch and MFWD included in the base price rather than charged as an option.
0.9 PTO hp per $1,000 of list price
As published by the maker
On the price: The maker's own published starting figure for the base build. A dealer adds a loader, a deck and freight on top.
Lift figures are the maker's and are quoted at whichever point the maker chose; the about page explains why two loaders with the same number do not lift the same pallet.
Comes with
From owner discussion and long-term write-ups
Gathered from owner reports
The most useful assessment comes from a lifelong row-crop and cattle farmer who bought one several years ago and admits he expected to dislike it, thinking it too small. It has turned out to be a terrific tractor that gets used every single day. His specific recommendation is worth quoting as a sizing rule: on ground that gets genuinely muddy, he would not go any smaller than this if you need to move round bales in feedlot conditions and be safe doing it, and he considers it the absolute minimum for handling seed boxes and bulk tanks. He rates the loader and its universal attachment system as having worked well on his farm, and owners note that with the matching loader this machine should lift around 3,500 lb. An owner who otherwise runs Kubota draws the dividing line at about this size, saying that once you get above 85 horsepower and into this model Deere has the advantage, while below that he considers Kubota the better machine.
Two practical notes recur. The first is brakes: an owner reports his being mushy, as another Deere 5-series owner had described, and found a reference in the service manual suggesting the specification allows something like four inches of pedal travel - so a soft pedal may be within spec rather than a fault. The second is that this sits above the horsepower threshold where exhaust fluid becomes part of the deal, which is what buyers comparing it against the E-series machines below it are weighing when they choose a smaller tractor to avoid that system. Owners working these daily change the engine oil at least twice a year rather than to a fixed hour figure.
Summarised from public owner discussion, not from testing. Nothing here was measured by this site, and a report that recurs is not the same as a defect rate.
Cross-shopped against
Same brand or same size, nearest in price
John Deere
Ten more horsepower than the 5085M from the same 4.5 L PowerTech and the same chassis, weight and hitch. Eighty horsepower reaches the PTO, which is the practical dividing line for a mid-size round baler or a 10 ft disc mower.
Spec sheet & owner notes
John Deere
Sixty-six horsepower with a factory cab on the options list puts this nearer a small utility tractor than a garden machine, and at the ceiling of Deere's compact range. The 17.4 GPM hydraulic system and 3-range eHydro are what the R badge actually buys.
Spec sheet & owner notes
John Deere
A genuine farm tractor rather than an oversized compact, running Deere's own 2.9L three-cylinder through a 12F/12R PowrReverser to 3,192 lb at the hitch. The 3-cylinder 5E needs no DPF, no DEF and no regen, which is a maintenance argument by itself.
Spec sheet & owner notes