My comments on the Cubs. When I bought my first tractor, 8 or 9 years ago, I had looked for a year, maybe two, at a large variety of used, many pretty beat up, priced way to high tractors, and some new ones. At one of the dealers, I don’t remember if it was a JD or a Cub, a salesman who had been around equipment for many years, commented that most of the compacts, (at that time) were all made in Japan, (Kiotis and Mahindras weren’t that popular at that point) and if you put them all in a bag and shook them up they were pretty much the same. That may be a little unfair but I built a spread sheet of features of most of the brands and the Cub 7000 series with the Mitsubishi engine and drive train was more tractor for the money than the rest of them. It was a Cub dealer that gave me the best price so I bought it hoping I didn’t buy a pig in a poke. At that time there was only a 19HP, 23HP, and 27HP. The engines in those migrated to 20, 26, and 30 HP models, one 36 I believe, (Rozett help me with that one). Their tractors are tough, reliable, very capable machines that I would put against the same weight and HP of any of the other colors. The 7000 series made by Mitsubishi for Cub are not junk, they are a serious piece of equipment made to work. Now the filters and some parts are ridiculously priced but that is another topic. MTD is a huge outfit so I don’t doubt that some of their line of equipment is lighter duty, made for the homeowner, not for the commercial world. As you probably know, Mitsubishi makes the 15 series of Mahindras and when I have looked at the 26HP and 30 HP models they are almost identical to my Cub, just in Red. I would consider another Cub if it was a Mitsubishi engine and drive train in a heart beat. Like Outlander said, the sucker is cast iron, very heavy. They have had a few problems but I don’t think any piece of machinery is trouble free. I know Mitsubishi made them with the Mitsubishi name on them some time before Cub picked up the line. I also thought there was some connection with I H Case, I believe that dropped the line and MTD picked it up and painted it a pretty Yellow! I would change very little about my selection except for getting a Hydro and about 30 HP model the next time around. It was hard enough talking my wife into the first one so I think it will be a long time before I have her convinced that this one is worn out. I think a dealer steering you away from a CUT Cub is either ill informed “or” more likely is just trying to bad mouth another brand to make his look better. I do think that Kubota and the other brands seem to have a higher resale but that wasn’t a concern when I bought mine. My 2 cents.