Bobcat T66-2

Bread-and-butter is the honest description here: this is the size and configuration most contractors actually buy, and the -2 revision is a reliability and cab exercise rather than a performance one. The driveline is carried over unchanged, which is deliberate - the 74 hp engine needs no diesel particulate filter, parts commonality with the enormous previous-generation fleet is intact, and the money went into the electrical system and the operator station instead.

That choice reads directly off the previous machine's complaint list. Owners of the outgoing T66 report electrical faults as the leading frustration - constant beeping with warning lights latched on and the machine refusing to start until the battery was disconnected, and displays that would not wake with the machine shutting itself down. Relocated controllers and protected harness routing are aimed squarely at that. What the revision does not appear to address is the hydraulic slop operators describe in bucket tilt, where the cylinder allows noticeable play before it goes rigid. Against that, the people who run these machines hard are genuinely positive: ranchers and fencing crews describe depending on one almost as much as their truck, through heat and rock, with smooth joystick control and better visibility past the redesigned cast-steel loader arms.

Support anywhere from a dealer network, and no need for more than 74 hp: that contractor is the right buyer. At roughly $79,000 it is not cheap, and the 17.6 GPM standard circuit means the attachment-heavy buyer is really shopping the high-flow build at a higher number still. Before signing, price the high-flow option into the deal rather than adding it later, decide whether the detection systems are a safety requirement or a nice-to-have, and if the budget is tight, look hard at what the dealer will do on remaining previous-generation stock - the hardware underneath is largely the same.