So far, I've been suitably impressed with my 2544. Granted, I only have about 15 hours on it, but aside from some cheezy grease fittings, it's been great, and indeed is a lot of value for the $$ compared to a John Deere in the same 'class'.
I was also very skeptical about owning an MTD product. I've seen horrors growing up in the late 70's watching axles snap off out of the tranny housings, etc. on Craftsman brand lawn tractors made by MTD after Roper quit making them for Sears. Just junk. My dad had a Crapsman by MTD tractor back then, and he spent more time rebuilding the deck, etc. than he did mowing with it.
But, looking closely at the Cub tractors, I thought the higher range tractors 2000 series and up, were pretty good.
But, look at Troy-Bilt. They bought out Bolens some years ago and took on the line of tractors and snowblowers, among other things. Bolens made some really good stuff. Troy-Bilt tillers are legendary. Now, Troy-Bilt goes belly up and is bought by MTD. Now the Troy-Bilt tractors are just rebranded Murray crap, and so are the snowblowers. They are laughable compared to my 'real' Troy-Bilt snowblower. Fortunately, it looks like MTD has left the Troy-Bilt tillers alone, but I'm wondering how long it takes before they screw them up, too?
Face it, most people are only concerned with how much horsepower and how big a cut for the lowest price. In America today, BIG and CHEAP sells. Quality is only a factor after the purchase turns into a pile of useless junk. Only then do people complain about how bad Brand X or Y is.
I'm surprised they haven't started making entire lawn tractors in China yet.....maybe they are???
Chris