We've owned variants of that since probably the 80's. One we use now I believe we got it sometime in the early 2000's, and it's worked great. Pretty easy to work on (change oil, sharpen blade, etc) and quite reliable and it feels well built. Our engine does use quite a bit of oil, but I blame that on some people doing improper maintenance on it. Otherwise it's been working great and will for the foreseeable future. However if I were to get a new one I would probably try and go for a zero turn, although that does seem to add considerably to cost.