Hello. I recently purchased a home with a lawn that is around 0.4 acres - the lawn does not have a lot of obstacles, just a few trees and a slight incline in the front yard. I am looking at lawn tractors and had my choices narrowed down to the following:

1) JD LA145 (21hp, 48" deck, B&S v-twin engine): This would be through Lowes (C$1978) since they have a sale on and I tried the dealers but they were substantially higher (C$300-400) than the sale price.

John Deere products for homeowners: Features for LA145 Lawn Tractor

2) Toro LX427 (20 hp, 42" deck, Kohler courage engine): This would be through a dealer and will cost around C$2,100. Some websites showed the LX427 as a discontinued line so I assume it has been relaunched as the Toro website posts it as a "New" model.

Toro - Homeowner Lawn & Garden Tractors

I have also tried local listings for used units and found nothing in my area (Guelph, Ontario). I realize dealer purchases are better but I tried getting a dealer for JD and it was just priced out of the market. The sole use of the tractor would be mowing and I do not intend to use it for other tasks.

I have found a number of discussions about the LA145 with people either loving them or hating them. However, very little information is available about the Toro machine. Since this would be my first machine, I was hoping some of the more experienced users would be able to provide some guidance with the selection - as the sale ends tomorrow, I would need to decide soon.
Thanks