Gardener's best friend is flexible, compact and economical

The Yanmar ViO23-6 is a good example of the advances we see in today's mini-excavators. Compact and economical, but also sufficiently powerful, safe and above all flexible to use. With its limited dimensions and small turning radius, this zero tail interior excavator can become the best friend of many a landscaper.

Handling the shovel himself is something the modern gardener does only in special cases. It is much more attractive to let the mini excavator do the heavy work. We are thinking of digging and filling the garden with new soil, adjusting the terrace or driveway, but also removing bushes and trees or digging trenches for utilities. A 2 to 3 ton machine will get you a long way. Not only for digging, because a mini excavator can also be used for moving all kinds of garden materials.

The new mini-excavator Yanmar ViO23-6 at work in its natural habitat.

Good to transport

The ViO23-6 comes in two versions: with cab it weighs 2365 kg (2435 in working order) and with the roll bar (canopy) just over 2200 kg (2295 in working order). Its limited weight combined with its compact dimensions makes it perfectly transportable on a trailer behind a sturdy passenger car or van. The transport length is 3.89 meters and in height should be taken into account up to 2.48 meters. The width-variable undercarriage also comes in handy here. Due to its minimum size of 1380 mm including tracks, it quickly fits on a simple trailer. In addition, its limited width and the associated small turning radius make it suitable for use almost anywhere. Particularly in narrow, narrow and difficult to access areas, where a larger machine is often out of reach.

A look inside the pretty spacious and well-equipped cabin for this weight class.

Stable undercarriage

Once the undercarriage has been extended to a maximum width of 1550 mm, the landscaper - but equally the paver - can get to work with a very stable machine. It can then boast a breakout force on the arm of 13.1 kN and on the bucket of 17.5 kN, good figures in its weight class. For those who want to make full use of this, an additional counterweight is available as an option, so that the arm can also torque somewhat heavier attachments. Think of a tiller, auger, vibrator/stamper and the like. To protect the cylinders on boom and arm from damage, extra steel plating is fitted.

Despite its compactness, the ViO23-6 has a digging depth of as much as 2.45 meters and it can dump its load up to a height of 2.57 meters.

Due to its limited turning radius - equal to the minimum width of undercarriage with tracks - the ViO23-6 can be used optimally in small spaces.

New generation engine

The ViO23-6's clean and quite quiet three-cylinder diesel engine has electronically controlled direct injection. It delivers gross power of 14.6 kW (19.4 hp) at 2,400 rpm. It is a 3TNV76-PBV1 of the Japanese manufacturer's latest engine generation. Yanmar has focused on reducing fuel consumption and further reducing emissions with the new engine line. Accordingly, the standard model is equipped with an ECO mode to keep base speed low. Fuel economy is also achieved through automatic idle. The engine switches to idle after only four seconds of inactivity.

Yanmar has also equipped the ViO23-6 with ViPPS (which stands for ViO Progressive 3-Pump System). It is a system that is often used on larger machines, but will certainly prove beneficial on this mini excavator. The multiple hydraulic pumps ensure an optimal work balance between power, speed and ease of operation. By using ViPPS, the operator can perform all operations simultaneously and, above all, smoothly. This benefits accuracy and work speed. ViPPS also works while driving and we are talking about (crawling) speeds of 2.2 and 4.2 km/h.