New Holland W170D vs. Hyundai HL955A: Two Mid-Size Wheel Loaders Nearly Matched on Horsepower

New Holland's W170D and Hyundai's HL955A are close enough on paper that a spec sheet alone will not settle which one belongs on your yard. New Holland publishes 195 horsepower and roughly 35,560 lb operating weight for the W170D. Hyundai publishes 197 net horsepower and 35,490 lb for the HL955A, a gap of two horsepower and seventy pounds between two machines built around completely different engines, FPT Industrial on the New Holland side, a third-party Cummins B6.7 on the Hyundai side. Here is the honest, real-spec breakdown of where these two mid-size wheel loaders actually differ, and where the public literature simply does not say.

New Holland's W170D: What's Actually Published

New Holland's own construction-equipment literature lists the W170D at 195 horsepower from an FPT Industrial engine, with an operating weight of 16,127 kg, roughly 35,560 lb, and a straight tipping load of 12,069 kg, roughly 26,607 lb. A 4-speed PowerShift transmission is listed as an available option, which implies the base configuration may run a different gear count, a distinction worth confirming with your dealer before assuming every W170D on a lot is specced the same way. New Holland's published literature for this model did not include bucket capacity, breakout force, or lift capacity figures in the source reviewed for this article, gaps that matter for a real purchase decision and are worth closing with a full dealer spec sheet rather than the product page alone.

Hyundai's HL955A: Cummins Power in a Mid-Size Frame

Hyundai's HL955A runs a Cummins B6.7, a 409 cubic-inch, six-cylinder diesel producing 730 lb-ft of torque at 1,300 rpm and meeting Tier 4 Final emissions standards, rated at 197 net horsepower (200 hp gross) at 2,200 rpm. Operating weight comes in at 35,490 lb. Where Hyundai's published spec sheet goes further than New Holland's is bucket capacity: 4.05 cubic yards at a 110 percent fill factor, 3.7 cubic yards heaped, and 3.1 cubic yards struck, plus a published breakout force of 31,685 lb. That is meaningfully more detail in the public literature than New Holland makes available for the W170D, which itself is a useful data point about which manufacturer publishes a fuller spec sheet up front.

Operating Weight and Breakout Force

At 35,560 lb against 35,490 lb, these two machines are within a rounding error of each other on operating weight, close enough that weight alone will not meaningfully separate them for stability or ballast purposes on most jobs. Breakout force is a different story only because of what is published: Hyundai's 31,685 lb figure gives you a real number to plan around for digging into a stockpile or breaking loose compacted material. New Holland's literature for the W170D did not surface a comparable breakout force figure in the source reviewed here, so if digging force into tight material is a priority for your operation, request that specific number from a New Holland dealer rather than assuming parity with Hyundai's published figure.

Bucket Capacity: What Hyundai Publishes That New Holland Doesn't

Hyundai's three-tier bucket figures, 110 percent fill, heaped, and struck, give an operation a realistic range to plan loading cycles around rather than a single best-case number. A yard moving aggregate, mulch, or landscape material will cycle closer to the heaped or struck figures in daily use than the optimistic 110 percent fill number, so understanding the spread matters more than the single headline capacity most spec sheets lead with. New Holland's W170D literature did not break out bucket capacity at all in the source used for this article, another gap worth closing with your dealer before comparing load-per-cycle economics between the two machines on an aggregate yard or material-handling site.

Engine Philosophy: In-House FPT Industrial vs. a Third-Party Cummins Partnership

New Holland's parent company, CNH Industrial, builds the FPT Industrial engine in the W170D in-house, the same corporate philosophy CNH applies across its construction and agricultural lineups. Hyundai takes the opposite approach on the HL955A, partnering with Cummins for a proven, widely serviced third-party diesel rather than building its own engine for this class of wheel loader. Neither approach is inherently better. An in-house engine can mean tighter integration between the engine and the rest of the machine's hydraulics and electronics, while a widely distributed engine like the Cummins B6.7 means parts and certified technicians for that specific engine are easier to find well outside any single manufacturer's own dealer network, a real consideration if you operate in a region thin on New Holland or Hyundai dealers specifically.

Transmission: What's Published and What Isn't

New Holland lists a 4-speed PowerShift as an available option on the W170D, language that implies a different standard configuration exists, worth clarifying directly with a dealer before you assume every unit on a lot runs the same transmission. The Hyundai source reviewed for this article did not specify the HL955A's transmission type at all. Rather than guess at a torque-converter or powershift configuration for either machine beyond what is explicitly published, the honest move here is the same one we have made throughout this comparison: treat the launch-level spec sheet as a starting point, and get the full technical datasheet from each dealer before a purchase decision that depends on transmission behavior under load.

Visibility, Cab Layout, and Operator Fatigue on a Full Shift

A wheel loader running loading cycles all day puts real hours on an operator's eyes and back, and cab visibility to the bucket edge and to the sides during a tight yard maneuver matters as much as any horsepower figure once you are actually running the machine. Neither manufacturer's launch-level spec sheet reviewed for this article broke out cab glass area, mirror placement, or seat suspension travel in enough detail to compare directly, so this is exactly the kind of thing a fifteen-minute seat time on each machine settles faster than any spec sheet can. If your yard runs tight lanes between stockpiles, or loads flatbeds in a confined space, put real weight on how each machine actually feels from the seat before signing anything.

Hydraulic Cycle Times and Attachment Compatibility

Neither spec sheet reviewed here published raw hydraulic flow rate or lift-arm cycle time, both of which drive how many truckloads a loader can actually fill in an hour. That number matters more to a yard's real economics than bucket capacity alone, since a slightly smaller bucket on a faster cycle can out-produce a bigger bucket on a slow one. Both machines use industry-standard quick-attach systems compatible with common aftermarket buckets, forks, and grapples, which matters if your operation runs the same loader across loading, stockpile work, and the occasional pallet-fork job without swapping to a dedicated machine for each task.

Why This Matters for Aggregate Yards, Material Handlers, and General Contractors

A mid-size wheel loader in this class is the backbone machine for an aggregate yard loading trucks all day, a material-handling operation moving mulch, sand, or recycled asphalt between stockpiles, and a general contractor who needs one versatile loader on a site rather than a fleet of smaller machines. The bucket-capacity spread Hyundai publishes matters directly here: a yard quoting cycle times to a customer needs the realistic struck or heaped number, not the optimistic 110 percent fill figure, to avoid overpromising how fast a truck gets loaded.

Landscaping supply yards and nurseries running bulk material through the same loader day after day benefit from the breakout force Hyundai publishes, since breaking loose a compacted pile of mulch or screened soil after a rain is a daily reality, not an edge case. Snow-removal contractors in colder climates running a wheel loader with a pusher or bucket attachment through winter months benefit from whichever machine's ballast and weight distribution your dealer confirms handles a loaded pusher best, since that is exactly the kind of detail that does not show up on a launch-level spec sheet but matters every single storm.

Fuel Burn Over a Full Season

Fuel consumption figures were not published for either the W170D or the HL955A in the sources reviewed for this article, which is a real gap for a machine that may run eight or more hours a day, every working day, on a busy yard. Over a full season the difference between two engines in this horsepower class can add up to a meaningful operating-cost gap even if the purchase price is similar, so ask both dealers for real-world fuel-burn figures from existing customers rather than a lab-tested number, since actual yard duty cycles rarely match a controlled test.

Parts and Dealer Network Considerations

We have covered the dealer-density question between New Holland and Hyundai wheel loaders before, comparing a different pairing, the W80D against the HL960A, and the same underlying lesson applies to the W170D and HL955A: bucket capacity and lift height get the attention in a comparison like this one, but parts availability almost never comes up until the first unplanned repair strands a loader mid-shift. Before committing to either machine, map your actual dealer coverage for both brands in your operating region rather than assuming national dealer counts translate evenly to your specific territory.

Rent vs. Own for a Mid-Size Yard Loader

A loader that runs every working day loading trucks or moving material is exactly the kind of machine renting makes the least sense for. Daily and weekly rental rates on a mid-size wheel loader compound fast against the cost of owning the machine outright, and a rented loader is never configured exactly the way your operation wants it, the bucket, the attachments, the cab options. Financing a W170D or an HL955A instead locks in a machine specced for your actual daily work, and the equity you build shows up on your balance sheet rather than disappearing into a rental invoice month after month.

BFC finances wheel loaders in this class for startups and established operations nationwide, any credit profile, and we are not going to quote a specific payment figure here since every deal depends on your credit and structure. What we can do is walk you through what financing either machine actually looks like against renting or running an older, less reliable loader past its useful service life. A financed wheel loader placed in service this year may also qualify for Section 179 depreciation, worth confirming with your tax professional given how much that can affect the real cost of ownership in year one. If you are ready to see real numbers, our application takes just a few minutes.

Where This Fits in the Wheel Loader Lineup

If you want more on how articulated-frame steering, the design nearly every wheel loader in this class uses, actually changes turning radius and stability, we have covered that in depth separately, and our New Holland vs. Hyundai wheel loader parts comparison on the W80D and HL960A pairing walks through the dealer-density question in more detail. Either way, financing a wheel loader for your yard or jobsite is a deal BFC structures every day, regardless of which brand you land on.

Ready to see what financing a New Holland W170D, a Hyundai HL955A, or any approved wheel loader actually looks like for your operation? Visit our home page to learn more about BFC, start your application today, browse our buy and sell equipment marketplace for current inventory, or subscribe to our newsletter for more equipment spotlights and financing guides like this one.