Everything We LOVE and HATE About the New Kawasaki Mule

UTV Driver

Kawasaki gave the 2024 Mule line a 999cc engine borrowed from the mighty KRX. Is it enough to teach an old mule new tricks? Here are the five things we love and the five we hate about the updated work rig!  Check out the full story here: https://www.utvdriver.com/reviews/kawasaki-mule-utility-side-by-side-pros-and-cons-review/  For more stories, reviews, and first-looks check out https://www.utvdriver.com/   Want to see even more shenanigans from the UTV Driver team? Give us a like and follow:   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UTVdriver/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/utvdrivermagazine/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/utvdriver/

Transcript

00:00 We are here in the hills of Texas where it is hotter than snot, but it's for a good reason.

00:04 We are driving the 2024 Kawasaki Mule Pro FXT1000. This is not an all-new machine,

00:13 but it has been thoughtfully updated. We're going to give you five things we love,

00:17 five things we hate, and then we're going to tell you exactly who should be buying

00:20 this machine. Let's get started.

00:26 The number one thing we love, this is a no-nonsense rig. We live in a time where

00:32 almost all utility rigs are also toys. This is not a toy. It comes with a three-year warranty.

00:38 That's insane. That's almost three times as much as some competitors. And it gets that

00:44 warranty because it is a stout rig. You have a metal bed. You've got metal bed sides. It's a

00:50 full tilt bed. You've got a new engine that's made for work. This is a tool first, a toy second.

00:57 The second thing that we love about this rig is it is inexpensive, not cheap. What do I mean by

01:04 that? We just drove a utility rig that I can't quite tell you about yet, but it was over $50,000.

01:09 The top of the line Mule Pro FXT is $23,000. It comes with nice seats, comes with nice paint.

01:17 It's a decked out rig that's a little bit nicer. Something you're proud to see in front of your

01:21 house, but it's still only $23,000. And that still buys you a really solid rig. You get a box ladder

01:28 frame. You get a locking front differential. You get more ground clearance than you've had before.

01:34 It's a lot of rig for not a lot of money. And for a lot of people that takes the right box.

01:38 Number three is power. There's a new motor for 2024. It's a 990 cc twin borrowed from the KRX.

01:46 Is it the same 110 horsepower engine? No, it's been detuned. It's been made to work. So you get

01:52 a slightly different CVT clutch that engages lower. You've got more low end torque, but you've also

01:56 got a lot more power than the old 820. How much more power? 45% more. And that also means this

02:03 is a faster machine. Kawasaki says it is up to 30% faster than the old 820. We just stretched

02:10 its legs on a little dirt road, got up to 56 miles an hour, which is the thing that you would

02:14 not have done with the old mule. It's also more than its numbers. So you've got this fancy exhaust

02:20 down here. It's a dual wall exhaust. Why is that important? It keeps you cooler, especially if you

02:25 were in the back seat. You've got a little bit of heat shielding to keep the heat away from you.

02:29 The dual wall exhaust keeps you cooler. It also makes the thing considerably quieter. On a work

02:34 rig, all that noise, all that vibration just makes you worn out that much faster. Kawasaki thought

02:40 about this and made it a rig that you can use all day long. It's also a lot easier to maintain.

02:46 They changed the air filter situation. It's a much larger air filter. Used to be you had to

02:50 change the filter on this rig every 50 hours. Now it's 200 hours. That is a huge change. They've

02:56 also changed the oil filter location. It's up top. It's got a nice catch trace that if you do spill

03:01 any oil, it doesn't go running down into your skid plate. The dipstick's easier to get to.

03:05 They're fixing a lot of things that have been complaints about the mule for a really long time,

03:09 and we love it. Number four, on the FXT, you get the trans cab. That means you can pick between

03:15 station wagon mode, where you can seat six people, or pickup truck mode, where you get a tilt bed.

03:20 There are a couple of other rigs on the market that'll let you pick up a convertible bed like

03:24 this. None of them, they're this nice. You get a steel floor. You get steel bed rails. You get a

03:30 steel headache rack. All of this with a 1,000 pound carrying capacity. If you do have six

03:35 workers you need to move around, this thing converts back to a six seat configuration in

03:40 under a minute, even with only one person. That's pretty slick. The fifth thing we love about the

03:44 2024 Kawasaki Mule Pro FXT 1000 is the suspension. A lot of utility rigs, they rely on super stiff

03:52 springs. They absolutely beat you to death. That's not the mule. It's fairly supple. It'll take

03:57 washouts. It'll take rocks, any of that fun stuff at speed, and it doesn't beat you to death. That's

04:03 awesome, especially with a rig with the kind of carrying capacity that this thing has. The

04:07 incredible part is up level trims get the industry's first self-leveling suspension. It's a sack shock

04:13 that's all hydraulic. There are no electronics to it. As you load the thing down, you start running

04:19 over bumps, it opens up a valve, moves fluid into a different chamber, and slowly actually lifts the

04:24 bed to level height. Very clever, very simple, and exactly what you want if you're putting this thing

04:30 to the test. While the suspension still technically uses the same A-arms, the geometry has changed

04:34 quite a bit, and that means you have more travel than ever before. You also have more ground

04:39 clearance than before, almost 13 inches with the preload all the way jacked up. How much is that?

04:44 You can drive over a two liter bottle without ever having to worry about knocking it over. On a rig

04:49 where you're spending time off on a rough trail, that makes a huge difference. Before we go any

04:53 farther, be sure to like, comment, and subscribe. Ring the bell, all that fun stuff. That'll mean

04:57 you see our newest videos as soon as they come out. We have fresh stuff every week, and if you

05:03 do all that stuff, you'll see it before anybody else. Now for five things that we hate about the

05:07 2024 Kawasaki Mule, and the first thing is, it's a homely machine. It's got a face only a mother

05:14 can love. For the first time, '24, every rig gets the FXR front end, which really helps. You get

05:19 dual headlights that are halogen and LED, a combination. Does it look better? Yes. Are

05:24 there prettier machines on the market? Also yes. The second thing that we hate, the interior is a

05:29 little dated. This rig came out over eight years ago, and it's doing well, but we are starting to

05:35 see its age in places. You've got hard plastics in a lot of places. You've got plastic flashing in a

05:40 lot of places, maybe some unfinished looking interior bits. These bench seats are awesome.

05:44 You can fit three big, well-fed boys up here, no problem. The material is nice, but the finishing

05:50 just isn't quite there. Keep in mind, this is an inexpensive rig. I think the cheapest one is

05:56 under $17,000. On the one hand, this is a tool, not a toy. We get that. On the other hand,

06:02 the market's moved to a place where some of this stuff should be addressed. The third thing that

06:05 we hate, this is a dual latch tailgate. So a lot of utility rigs, you get a single pointed touch

06:11 here that'll open and close. These, you've got two latches, one on either side. So if you have

06:15 your hands full, you're kind of hosed. What we do like, unlike other competitors, this is a very

06:21 clever mechanism. All right, you shut this, slam that, and it's done. You don't actually have to

06:26 mess with getting the bail around the hook. It just goes. That's nice and simple. We just wish

06:30 there was only one latch. The fourth thing we hate, these are tiny little tires. The age of

06:36 27-inch tires is well past us. Throw some 28s, 29s, 30s on this thing, and it would be a much

06:42 more impressive looking machine. You'd have more ground clearance, more utility. Get rid of these

06:50 things. The fourth thing we hate, this shifter. Now, yeah, it's easier to use than a lot of CVT

06:56 shifters, but there are times where you've got to rock back and forth in order to get it in gear.

07:01 That's kind of troublesome, especially in this day and age where a lot of manufacturers have done

07:06 just better work. So clean the sucker up, we'll be good to go. The fifth thing we hate,

07:11 these tiny little gauges. It doesn't bother me so much that the gauges are small. They do a great

07:17 job of providing the information that you need, especially for a fairly low dollar machine. We

07:21 just wish they were in front of the driver. I'm driving over here. I got to look over here. Am I

07:25 in four-wheel drive? What's my fuel economy? All the rest of that stuff. Just move it over.

07:29 So who is this rig for? This is for somebody who does work first. This machine, it's an unstoppable

07:37 force of nature. It goes anywhere that most rec units will go, but its focus really is on getting

07:42 the job done first and making sure that it can do that job well into the future. There are first

07:47 generation mules that are still out there working right now today, and I have little doubt that if

07:51 you take care of one of these things, it'll be good to go for years and years. You just know

07:55 it will work every time that you get behind the wheel and turn the key. That's who needs to buy

08:00 this thing. If you're getting out, if you're hitting the trails every weekend, maybe this

08:03 isn't the rig for you. But for anybody who's got a farm, a ranch, maybe a job where you've got to

08:09 cover a bunch of miles in a day, this is the rig. All right, that's been five things we love and

08:13 five things we hate about the 2024 Kawasaki Mule Pro FXT 1000. If you like what you see, be sure

08:20 to check us out on utvdriver.com. We're going to have a full review, a buyer's guide, all that

08:25 excellent stuff. Be sure to check us out at YouTube, social media, all the rest of the channels that

08:29 you usually find us on. We've got fresh content every day of the week. We have fresh videos

08:33 and shorts Monday through Friday. We'll see you there.

Category

Transcript

Recommended