As for comparing brands, there are many competing brands, but I don't know what is in your area so I'll stay away from recommending any specific brands.
However I will caution a couple things. First don't assume your local dealer will not come down in price if presented with the Corriher price. Also don't underestimate the need to have a good relationship with your dealer for parts and service.
Generally I recommend that you should look at all the brands in your area and evaluate the dealership as much as you evaluate the tractors. What is the dealer's standing in the community? Has he been there a while, does he have an established customer base? Please walk around his repair shop, is it a fully equipped shop with not only mechanical, but also hydraulic and welding capabilities? Are they diesel mechanics who are qualified to actually work on the tractors? Talk to the service manager and ask how long he's had his mechanics (also see if he has grease on his hands instead of just a 'face' who supervises). What does the parts department look like, do they have at least 1 full time parts guy and maybe a couple?
We have a few tractor dealers in my area (I won't mention brands) but 2 are lawn mower repair shops that deal just got into diesel tractors. Another is a large garden center than now sells ZTRs and diesel tractors. Personally I won't deal with any of those three. I want real mechanics who know tractors. I'm not saying that a small engine guy can't fix a tractor, I'm saying that the odds are, that a small engine guy has a learning curve that he has to go through to gain the experience in diesel engine repair and hydraulic motor/pump/systems.
As for comparing tractors, the best thing to do is to ignore most of the specs and for that matter ignore the brand name. What you really should do is look at the TASKS that you need to accomplish. And then RANK the TASKS by how much time you expect to spend each year on those tasks (just estimate them). Let the most frequent/most important tasks determine the features you need to look at.
For example, if you are going to be doing a lot of mowing (rough or finish) and you are mowing around a lot of landscaping or varied terrain, then seriously consider a HST transmission. If your mowing is generally open fields then the trasnmission is far less important. If you are doing finish mowing on a nice lawn, then look for a light weight tractor to prevent soil compaction and rutting. If you have a lot of heavy box blade work to do, then look for a heavy tractor and consider a gear type machine. If your box blade work is simply dressing a gravel driveway then weight is a bit less important because that is not as traction dependant as recontouring swales or changing the shape of your land. If you are doing a lot of front loader work then strongly consider the HST transmission and the curved arm loaders available on many brands of tractors (but don't let the sales guy tell you that heavy tractors lift more because I have all sorts of proof to show he is a liar), with lifting, it is more important to have balance and that comes from properly ballasting the tractor. A heavy gear tractor is better for ground engaging tasks, especially if you have long runs. A light tractor is better if you are doing lawn type work, HST helps if you have tight turns, landscaping, building or obstructions to get around. It is hard to go wrong with a medium weight tractor and HST.
Remember that comfort is important and will make your tractoring safer. Also when you get to the point of looking at the "spec sheets" that you have to compare the same specs. A loader measured at the 'pivot' points will appear about 30% stronger than the same loader measured at 19.7" in front of the pivot point! A 3pt hitch measured a the 'ball eyes' will appear about 30% stronger than the same hitch measured at 24" behind the ball eyes. Hydrualic flow ratings are often misleading and typically totally irrelevant to you actually getting work done, at least with the small tractors! I've found that many tractor sales people don't know how to read the specs, or they lie and use them to their own advantage.
The biggest question is what are YOU going to use the tractor for and then do you have any critical tasks that will demand specific capacities?
