I bought a Cub Cadet back in 1995 thats still going strong. It has shaft drive. It would probably be expensive to replace today.

I've got one of the newer Cub Cadet models it's about 4 1/2 years old and I've had nothing but troubles out of it.  Every year I have to send it to the shop for one thing or another. Now it's out of warranty so it's gonna come out of my pocket this year.  I'm wishing now I would have bought a John Deere when I got this thing like my neighbor did and they have had not a single issue out of theirs at all. Cub Cadets used to be a quality product but I see now they have gone down hill to the common throw away riding mowers that sell for less then $1K but you still pay the premium for their name.  :'(

R.F.

i know your pain. i have to mow a 6 acre shooting range every week. its sandy here in oklahoma so it just eats up bearing and blades like crazy. i bought a craftsman mower thinking it would last but no. its like everything else made these days. its cheap.
my dad has had the same craftsman mower for the last 20 yrs. guess they were made better back then.

Many of the smaller new mowers, snow blowers etc. are now equipped with Chinese engines.  A dealer told me that unless the engine has an American company's label on it, such as Briggs & Stratton then it is Chinese.  That applies to many old reliable names in power equipment.

I use an older John Deere (made in East Moline and a couple older Toros with Briggs engines).  They all do fine but they are easily old enough now to smoke and buy liquor.  My goal is to keep them running as long as I can mow. 

Honda still makes an excellent mower and they last a long time.

My Home Depot sourced Toro was a piece of junk from the word go. Bad carb, bad drive box, soft blade. Last year I went to restart it after it stalled and the recoil spring snapped.  

Husqvarna will be its replacement. Although, most of my mowing is with a 60" cut Kubota 4wd commercial mower. Or a 12 FOOT John Deere rough cut behind a Massey Ferguson 165 diesel...    "Yard" is about 20 acres.

The new Kohler engines designed to replace deceased Briggs, Tecumseh and Kohler valve in block designs are made by Yamaha.

I got my Cub Cadet right before MTD took over. I guess they are cheaply built now. Mine has never given me any trouble. It has a Kohler engine.

When I had my Troybilt 33"wide cut I loved it.  Four fwd gears plus reverse.  It was a walk behind.  Awesome mower but it stayed with the house when it was sold.

This tale of woe is a bit long winded, sorry.

Since being in this house (Oct. 2009) I have had four mowers in three years.  All have been Walmart crap MTD/Yardman.  First one went about half the season in 2010 and just would not restart when I stopped to empty the bag.  I took it to a repair shop with the instructions that I needed it fixed but I did not want it to be more than half the price of a new mower ($239 new price)  They fixed it by replacing the coil and with diagnostics and labour etc the cost was about $170.  I was pretty steamed at them but I was over a barrel and had to pay it to get the mower back.

First cut of 2011 season and the mower would not start.  Coil fried again.  I threw it away this time.  I mentioned to my wife that I would like to get a decent mower this time and that I could get a new Troybilt 33" from the states for $1300 plus duty, a Sultech Stealth 33" shipped from Ontario for about $1600 or I could keep looking for something.  I came home from work and my wife had bought a $239 mower at Walmart.  It work for the rest of the season.  

I went to use it for the first cut of 2012 and it would not start.  I had the coil tested - no good again.  I couldn't find the receipt either.  I said to my wife that this time we get a good mower.  I came home from work and she had bought a $289 mower.  Ooh! a whole $50 extra splurge!  Of course at Walmart again.
Anyway, this mower did the 2012 season until almost the end.  I mowed over a baseball and the blade broke right off!  OK I agree that they are not supposed to mow baseballs but come on!  I took it back and told Walmart they could keep their junk and I would not buy another mower from them.  I borrowed a friends mower for the last cut of the season.

Here it is time for the first cut of 2013 and I don't have a mower.  So I was looking at the Toro 30" walk behind last week at $1150 and available at a tool rental business here in my town.  The day I mentioned it to my wife was the day she got fired from her job.  How's that for bad luck!  Money will be super tight for a while, so I will looked for a used mower either privately or from the pawn shop.  darn.
:'(