When two combines each costing north of £400,000 square off in British fields, the conversation transcends mere machinery—it becomes a question of philosophy, engineering approach, and ultimately, return on investment. The John Deere X9 1100 and Claas Lexion 8900 represent the apex of combine harvester technology, machines so powerful and sophisticated that they’ve created their own performance class entirely.
Both manufacturers claim supremacy. Both have devoted armies of loyal operators. And both machines can harvest more grain in an hour than many farms produce in a season. But which one actually delivers when the pressure’s on, the weather’s closing in, and your entire year’s profit sits waiting in a standing crop?
We’ve spent the 2024 and 2025 harvest seasons examining both machines across UK farms, analysing independent testing data, and speaking with operators who’ve put serious hours on these giants. Here’s what separates them.
Raw Power: Two Different Approaches to 700+ Horsepower
The John Deere X9 1100 arrives with a 13.6-litre John Deere PowerTech PSS six-cylinder diesel producing 690 horsepower (515kW). That’s significant, but the real innovation sits in how that power’s delivered: HarvestMotion, a belt-drive system borrowed from the 9000 Series forage harvesters, provides 30% more torque and 20% lower fuel consumption compared to conventional drivelines.
“It’s not just about peak power,” explains Jonathan Edwards, John Deere’s product marketing manager. “The entire X9 philosophy centres on efficiency. We’ve actually reduced power requirements by 120 horsepower whilst simultaneously increasing capacity.”
Claas takes a different tack. The Lexion 8900—available only in Terra Trac tracked configuration—packs a 16.2-litre MAN six-cylinder diesel producing 790 horsepower (581kW) in its most recent specification. That’s roughly 100 horsepower more than the Deere, and Claas makes no apologies for the brute-force approach.
“We get customers asking for more power, more capacity, more everything,” says Rick Hubrich, Claas of America’s product supervisor for Canada. “The 8900 delivers exactly that.”
Both engines meet current emissions standards through selective catalytic reduction (SCR) and diesel exhaust fluid (AdBlue) systems. The Deere sips from a 1,250-litre fuel tank that can be refilled in under 2.5 minutes using the Fast Fuel System at 550 litres per minute. The Claas carries a similar capacity, though without the rapid-fill hardware as standard.
In real-world terms, the power difference manifests most noticeably in challenging conditions. The Deere relies on intelligent power management and efficiency to maintain throughput. The Claas simply overwhelms the crop with raw horsepower. Both approaches work—but they appeal to different operating philosophies.
Threshing and Separation: Where Philosophy Becomes Reality
This is where these machines fundamentally diverge, and where your personal experience with either Deere rotary or Claas hybrid systems will heavily influence your preference.
The X9 1100 employs John Deere’s X-Series Dual Separator (XDS)—two 24-inch rotors stretching 3.51 metres in length. These deliver 45% more threshing area and a staggering 80% more separating area than previous S-Series models. The rotors feature dedicated sections for threshing and separation, with finger-style separation elements designed to tease the last grains from the crop mat.
Nine full revolutions of crop through the system mean thorough, gentle grain extraction. In PAMI’s independent testing in 102 bushel-per-acre wheat, the X9 1100 maintained less than 1% total grain loss whilst achieving up to 7,200 bushels per hour in high-yielding corn—enough to fill seven semi-trailers hourly.
Claas counters with its APS Synflow Hybrid system, a fundamentally different approach that combines the company’s accelerated pre-separation concept with twin rotors. Approximately 30% of the grain gets threshed before the crop mat even reaches the rotors, reducing the workload downstream.
“The hybrid system gives us the best of both worlds,” explains a Claas technical specialist who requested anonymity. “You get the gentle handling of an APS system with the capacity of rotors. In laid, tangled crops—which we see plenty of in the UK—that pre-separation makes a massive difference.”
The Lexion 8900’s rotors run independently controlled for threshing and separating speeds, allowing fine-tuning impossible with mechanically-linked systems. In practice, this means the operator—or more likely, CEMOS AUTOMATIC—can optimise for specific crop conditions on the fly.
Field reports from UK operators reveal interesting patterns. X9 operators praise sample quality and consistency: “What comes into the tank is immaculate,” reports one East Anglia contractor running a 2024 X9 1100. “Even in laid, trashy crops, I’ve set CEMOS to prioritise throughput over quality because the sample’s so clean regardless.”
Lexion 8900 operators emphasise adaptability: “The independent rotor control means I can dial in exactly what I need for conditions,” says a Lincolnshire farmer. “In green barley straw, I can slow the separation rotor and let the threshing cylinder do more work. You can’t do that with fixed ratios.”
Both systems work superbly. The question isn’t which is better—it’s which philosophy matches how you farm.
Cleaning Capacity: The Often-Overlooked Bottleneck
Manufacturers love talking about threshing capacity. Operators know the cleaning shoe ultimately determines real-world throughput.
John Deere fitted the X9 1100 with its Dyna-Flo XL cleaning shoe—36% more cleaning area and 85% more airflow than previous models. “The industry’s largest cleaning shoe,” Deere proudly claims, and the specifications support that assertion. In tough wheat, canola, and high-moisture corn, this capacity prevents the all-too-common scenario where you’re limited by cleaning rather than threshing.
PAMI testing revealed the X9’s cleaning advantage particularly in canola, where both machines reached 63 tonnes per hour (1,152 bushels per hour) at 3% loss rates. However, the X9 1100 achieved this whilst consuming 18% less fuel per bushel than the Lexion 8800 tested—representing potential savings of 1,227 gallons across a 4,000-acre canola operation.
The Claas Lexion 8900 employs a massive cleaning area as well, though Claas tends to emphasise the complete system rather than individual component statistics. What’s indisputable: at 790 horsepower, the 8900 rarely encounters crops where cleaning becomes the limiting factor.
“I’ve run this 8900 harder than I’ve ever dared push any combine,” admits a Norfolk contractor. “In beautiful dry wheat where both straw and grain are cooperating, it’s honestly difficult to find its upper limit. The chopper’s designed to handle 45-foot header outputs, so my 40-footer never comes close to challenging it.”
The cleaning systems do handle crop residue differently. Deere’s new Xcel straw chopper knives consume less power whilst distributing residue up to 50 feet wide with a double-decker design for better airflow. The Lexion 8900’s chopper benefits from that enormous horsepower reserve, simply powering through massive volumes of material.
One often-overlooked consideration: in UK conditions where you’re frequently starting and stopping, operating in variable crop densities, and dealing with unpredictable weather, cleaning capacity provides working margin. Both machines deliver it, though through characteristically different means.
Grain Handling: Capacity Meets Practicality
The X9 1100 features a 16,210-litre (460-bushel) grain tank. At maximum harvest capacity, you’re unloading every 20-30 minutes in top-yielding wheat. The unloading auger extends 7.9 metres with power-folding capability, and can empty that enormous tank in approximately 80 seconds at 180 litres per second.
The Lexion 8900 counters with an 18,000-litre (510-bushel) tank and matching 180 litres-per-second unload speed through a 35-foot auger. That extra capacity translates to tangibly fewer unloading cycles per day—critical when you’re trying to maximise productive cutting time.
“The bigger tank on the Lexion means I’m less reliant on perfect grain cart coordination,” notes a Scottish contractor. “If my trailer driver falls behind, I’ve got more buffer before I’m forced to stop.”
Both machines offer folding grain tank extensions and various auger configurations. Both can unload on-the-go without significantly impacting forward progress. In practice, you’re choosing between slightly less frequent unloading (Claas) versus slightly lighter overall weight affecting compaction and transport (Deere).
The Deere’s Fast Fuel System deserves mention again: being able to completely refuel in under three minutes during lunch or crew changes eliminates what’s traditionally been dead time. That’s not insignificant when you’re trying to squeeze every productive hour from narrow harvest windows.
Technology Integration: Where Automation Meets Reality
Both manufacturers have invested heavily in automation, albeit with different user interfaces and philosophies.
The X9 1100 comes equipped with the G5 Plus CommandCenter—a 12.8-inch touchscreen that’s significantly more responsive than previous generations. Machine Sync allows the combine operator to control a tractor and grain cart running alongside, coordinating unloading without radio chatter or hand signals.
AutoMaintain automatically adjusts ground speed to maintain optimal crop throughput. Active Terrain Adjustment keeps the combine level on hillsides. Active Yield provides real-time yield and moisture mapping. The Combine Advisor package analyses performance and suggests optimisations.
“The technology suite on the X9 is genuinely impressive,” says a technology-focused Yorkshire farmer. “JDLink connectivity means my agronomist can see yield data before I’m even out of the field. We’re making decisions about next year’s variable-rate fertiliser applications whilst this year’s crop is still being harvested.”
Claas employs its CEBIS terminal with CEMOS AUTOMATIC—the company’s automated settings optimisation system. CEMOS continuously monitors combine performance and adjusts settings to maintain target parameters, whether that’s maximum throughput, minimum loss, or best sample quality.
“Set it and forget it actually works with CEMOS,” reports a Lincolnshire operator. “I tell it to prioritise throughput and it manages everything else. Rotor speeds, concave clearance, fan speed, sieve openings—all automatically adjusted as conditions change. In variable crops, it’s managing a dozen parameters per minute that I’d never have time to optimise manually.”
Both systems integrate with precision agriculture platforms. Both offer guidance and autosteer as standard or optional equipment. Both provide remote diagnostics and dealer support through telematics.
The learning curve differs. Deere operators report the G5 Plus feels more intuitive if you’re coming from consumer electronics—it behaves like a tablet computer. Claas operators prefer CEBIS’s dedicated physical buttons for critical functions—in dusty, bouncy conditions, touching the right part of a screen isn’t always practical.
Neither approach is objectively superior. But your existing fleet, dealer support network, and personal preferences will make one feel significantly more natural than the other.
Mobility: Tracks, Tyres, and Soil Compaction
The X9 1100 ships on tyres as standard—massive ones. You can specify tracks, but most UK customers opt for rubber. Transport width remains manageable at 3.6 metres with appropriate tyre selection.
The Lexion 8900 in the UK market is Terra Trac only—Claas has decided tracks are non-negotiable at this power level and weight class. Those tracks provide superior traction in wet conditions, better floatation, and enhanced stability for wide headers.
“The full suspension underneath the Terra Trac gives us a noticeably better ride,” explains a Lexion operator. “More stability for the header as well, which matters when you’re running a 45-footer in less-than-ideal conditions.”
The trade-off: tracks cost more to purchase, more to maintain, and limit your road speed. The 8900 tops out at 40 kph (25 mph) on public roads—quick for a tracked combine, but still slower than tyred alternatives when covering distance between farms.
Soil compaction concerns increasingly drive purchasing decisions. Both machines create less compaction than their weight suggests through intelligent load distribution, but the Terra Trac objectively spreads weight more effectively. If you’re farming heavy ground or concerned about long-term soil structure, tracks provide measurable advantages.
“We’ve invested in controlled traffic farming and we’re serious about minimising compaction,” notes an East Midlands farmer who recently purchased a Lexion 8900. “The tracks were non-negotiable for us, even with the speed penalty on roads. Soil health matters more than saving ten minutes driving between fields.”
Tyres provide flexibility—you can change wheel configurations for different conditions, transport challenges, or crop requirements more easily than reconfiguring track width. For contractors working diverse farms with varying requirements, this adaptability has genuine value.
Operator Environment: Where You’ll Spend Long Hours
Neither manufacturer skimped on cab comfort—at these price points, they’d better not have.
The X9 1100’s cab, borrowed from recent S-Series updates, provides exceptional visibility through large windows and minimal obstructions. The CommandCenter armrest positions everything within easy reach. LED lighting transforms night into day, with optional gull-wing lights for dramatic effect and genuine practical value.
Climate control, heated/cooled seats, refrigerator, premium sound system—it’s all standard or readily available. At highway speeds on public roads, the cab remains surprisingly quiet thanks to extensive sound dampening.
“It’s honestly more comfortable than my pickup truck,” admits one operator. “Bluetooth audio, phone connectivity, heated steering wheel—I’ve done 16-hour days and finished less exhausted than after eight hours in our old combine.”
The Lexion 8900 cab emphasises quietness—the rubber belt intake conveyor and redesigned unloading auger driveline make it noticeably quieter than previous Lexion generations. Access steps and handrails have been redesigned for easier entry (though one tester noted the steps “don’t always stay latched and lack a left handrail”—first-year production quirks).
“The cab redesign is a significant step forward,” reports a farmer who upgraded from a Lexion 780. “So much quieter. You can actually have a conversation with someone on a mobile phone without shouting. The smoothness of operation genuinely reduces fatigue.”
Both cabs provide excellent visibility. Both get dusty—physics applies equally to all combines. Both require regular cleaning of windows and screens. The difference comes down to personal ergonomic preferences and which control layout feels more intuitive to you personally.
The Bottom Line: Performance, Price, and Practical Decisions
Specifications matter less than real-world performance. Price matters less than return on investment. And return on investment depends entirely on your specific operation.
The John Deere X9 1100 typically costs between £380,000 and £450,000 depending on specification and dealer negotiations. Independent PAMI testing confirmed its claims: 28% more capacity than the Claas 8800 in wheat at 1% loss levels, 18% better fuel efficiency in canola, and the ability to save approximately one full week of harvest time across an 8,000-acre wheat operation when comparing two-machine scenarios.
Those numbers translate to £6.19 per acre in operator time and depreciation savings in wheat, plus £0.79 per acre in fuel savings in canola. Across thousands of acres, that adds up.
The Claas Lexion 8900 Terra Trac commands similar pricing—£395,000 and upwards depending on specification. You’re paying for an additional 100 horsepower, track system, and a proven hybrid threshing approach that some operators genuinely prefer for UK crop conditions.
“The power reserve on the 8900 means I’m never fighting the combine,” explains a contractor. “In challenging conditions—green straw, variable moisture, tangled crops—I can push it harder than I’d dare with less powerful machines. That flexibility is worth money when weather windows are tight.”
Both machines require skilled operators to achieve their potential. Both benefit enormously from dealer support—and your local dealer network should heavily influence your decision. Both will absolutely transform your harvest operation if you’re stepping up from Class 8 or smaller equipment.
The financially optimised choice depends on variables we can’t calculate from specifications alone:
– Your crop mix and typical field conditions
– Whether fuel costs or labour availability constrain you more
– How much you value maximum power reserve versus maximum efficiency
– Your existing dealer relationships and parts availability
– Whether you’re prioritising soil health and compaction management
– Personal preferences for rotor versus hybrid systems
What we can say definitively: both machines represent the absolute pinnacle of combine harvester engineering available in 2025. Both will harvest more grain, more quickly, with less loss and less labour than anything smaller.
Making the Choice: Beyond the Brochure
After months of field observations, dealer conversations, operator interviews, and analysis of independent testing, the answer to “which is better” remains frustratingly unsatisfying: it depends.
If you prioritise:
– **Fuel efficiency and operational economy**: X9 1100’s 20% lower fuel consumption and lower overall power requirements provide measurable advantages
– **Maximum harvesting capacity in wheat**: PAMI testing gives the X9 a 28% edge at controlled loss levels
– **Flexibility in mobility**: Tyres provide more transport and configuration options
– **Technology integration**: Deere’s ecosystem arguably provides more seamless data integration for precision agriculture
If you value:
– **Maximum power reserve**: The Lexion’s 790 hp provides unmatched capacity to power through challenging conditions
– **Proven hybrid threshing**: APS Synflow’s pre-separation appeals to operators experienced with Claas systems
– **Soil health management**: Terra Trac tracks provide superior flotation and compaction management
– **Operating comfort**: The latest 8900 cab redesign delivers exceptional quietness
Neither machine is a compromise. Neither represents a gamble. Both will deliver exactly what they promise: industry-leading capacity, efficiency, and capability.
The decision comes down to this: ring your neighbouring contractors. Visit farms running these machines. Spend a day in each cab during harvest. Feel how the controls work. Watch how the crop flows. Listen to the operator’s honest assessment after 500 hours.
Because at £400,000-plus, you’re not buying a combine—you’re choosing a business partner for the next decade. Make sure it’s the right fit for how you farm, not just what looks best on paper.
Britain’s harvest demands the very best from both operators and equipment. The X9 1100 and Lexion 8900 represent different paths to the same destination: getting your crop out of the field quickly, efficiently, and profitably. Either machine will get you there. Choose the one that matches your journey.
