New Holland C362

What owners complain about

• −The headline capacity is not measured the way its rivals measure theirs. New Holland quotes 6,200 lb at 50 percent of tipping load, while Bobcat, Cat, Deere, Kubota, Takeuchi, ASV and JCB all quote at 35 percent. A 50 percent rating holds back less reserve at the same quoted number, so the bigger figure is the less conservative one, not the more capable one. New Holland publishes the honest cross-shopping number itself - 4,340 lb at 35 percent tip, against a 12,400 lb tipping load - and that is the figure to put next to a competitor's spec sheet.
• −Because the 50 percent convention is so much less common, a buyer comparing brochures side by side will see 6,200 lb here against roughly 4,000 lb on a rival and conclude this machine carries half again as much. It does not. Independent spec guides normalise the whole New Holland line to 35 percent for exactly this reason, and the gap in real capacity is a fraction of what the advertised numbers suggest.
• −At 16,100 lb before a bucket it needs a 20,000 lb trailer and, in most states, a combination heavy enough to require a commercial licence. That is a licensing and logistics problem owners routinely discover after delivery rather than before, and it can quietly add a truck and trailer to the purchase.
• −Its footprint defeats the point of a compact loader. It will not fit between two houses, through a backyard gate, or into the access a mid-frame machine treats as routine - so it is an addition to a fleet rather than a replacement for one.
• −Purchase price and running costs land in small wheel loader territory, and buyers who only load trucks often conclude a wheel loader is the better tool, since it is faster on tyres and has no undercarriage to consume.
• −Undercarriage sized for a 16,000 lb machine is the largest recurring cost of ownership here, and tracks, rollers, idlers and sprockets for this class cost substantially more than ordinary mid-frame components. On abrasive or rocky ground that bill arrives sooner than owners expect.
• −This is the most electronically complex machine in the line, and experienced owners of modern machines from this family are consistent that the newer ones give more trouble simply because there is more on them - more electrical, more emissions hardware, more cab electronics. Combined with New Holland's thin construction dealer coverage outside farming regions, a fault that needs dealer software can mean a long wait.