"I have had my Cub Cadet for about 40 years. I can be pretty objective about its capabilities now. At only 20 years I probably would not have been quite as objective. I use it primarily for mowing grass on my one acre lot and in the fall taking up leaves. It has been a faithful friend and in 1983 I inherited my father-in-laws Cub Cadet 109 along with his Giant Vac model 555 leaf vacuum (this would be subject of a different review). As with any piece of equipment there are good and bad features for the machine. One bad feature is the lack of a rear PTO. The 108 could be had with it but no hydrostatic transmission. Certainly the machine is strong enough to handle the job and the hydrostatic transmission seems to be bullet proof. My yard is not fairway perfect and thus the terrain is hard on the equipment. I appreciate the availability of grease points on the wear areas (steering box and front axle points as well as the mower deck). The mule pulley wheels do not have any and I have had to replace those about every 6-8 years. I have had to replace the blades about every 6-8 years also after I have ground them down in annual sharpening. The other bad in this otherwise wonderful tractor is the removal and re-installation of the mower deck. It is heavy and the drive belt makes the installation a challenge (especially since I got sick a few years ago and my strength ebbed). Also the seat is very susceptible to weather related breakdown. I keep my Cubs in the shed when not in use- the same cannot be said for the repair shops when something needs doing (about every 10 years) and there is noticeable breakdown in the seat covering after a visit to the shop. Thus I do most of my own maintenance and repair. The good features of this machine far outweigh the bad. It is: 1. Durable 2. Simple to maintain 3. Relatively lightweight (a drawback for plowing and pushing dirt-but it helps when you are repairing it) 4. Handles hilly terrain pretty well until the wheels slip 5. Still has maintenance parts available 6. It has adequate towing capacity (tows our boat out of the garage in the spring) and it requires little repair attention. By the way these two Cubs still have their original tires and the rear treads are still very good (the sun has not gotten to the tires). I highly recommend indoor storage of equipment. Tarps and open shelters just don't cut it. Over the course of 40 years I have seen a lot of riding mowers come and go in my neighborhood. It gives me an opportunity to judge whether I want to replace one of my Cubs with something newer. The Cubs have stood up for about 5 lifetimes of the other normal riding mowers. My neighbors tend to sink a lot in repair costs after about 2-3 years and I just listen to them complain (the brag a lot initially and tease me about the age of my lawn tractors). I will confess though that my neighbors Snapper was pretty impressive at about 12 years of life. The neighborhood lawns are just very tough on equipment. The only thing that seems to be otherwise holding up is a MF 4X4 with a front end loader (I don't know what model but is sure looks big next to my Cub)."