Bought a 75 hour LT160 (16 HP Kohler, 42" deck) for less than $1,000. I've used it on a 1 acre, rough, very hilly lot with no problems. Have just done standard maintenance.

John Deere products are crap!

I RECENTLY PURCHASED A John Deere mower from Lowes and let me tell you what a piece of crap it is.
The crank shaft bent so I took it to a dealer and they said I hit something to cause it.
Since I did not hit anything I new they were full of S!@#.
I contacted Deere corporate to complain and they were useless. The mower is under warranty but Deere would not honor the warranty.
My craftsman mower lasted 12 years mowing the same lawn that the Deere could not handle.
I guess I will be buying anything but a Deere in the future.
Sincerely,
Pete

Had their 945 unit for several years before finally getting rid of it. The BIG problem was it needed to be retuned every 5 to 10 hours and always ran rough. The dealer kept working on it but could never fix it. Finally, a few months after the warranty ran out they found the problem: a faulty weld of the fuel line to the fuel pump inside the fuel tank. An obscure problem admittedly. But the BAD thing is that John Deere would NOT accept responsibility for their own manufacturing error. Once found it was only a $500 repair but they refused to cover it! I wasn't even asking for the uncounted hundreds of unnecessary cost as a result of the one problem. They've lost several sales because of this one stupid attitude.

They are not really made by John Deere and are not of the highest quality. (MTD is the manufacturer?)