Methinks you should just buy the friend's Kubota, and then spend the extra money on useful things. For lawn use, turfs are king. They work well in snow, and as long as you avoid snags, I have never had any trouble negotiating woods. If I were hauling logs out on a regular basis, it would be different, but for the occasional excursion into the trees, no problem. Chains work well on turfs, and give you a lot of traction in difficult situations, like snow over ice.
The small new Deeres I checked out before I bought our used
L3400 (we had the money to buy a new under $20,000 tractor set-up, but chose not to) just didn't work for me. Some had aluminum rear ends, which makes no sense, to me at least. I like to think I got more tractor for less money. So far, so good. In 15 years of using three different used Kubotas, I have never had the first problem, period. Some loader work, some wood hauling, grave lane maintenance, some post hole augering, and lots of snow clearing, with a rear blade at first, now with a front mounted plow. My avatar, if that's the correct term, shows what chains and 33 hp can do in 2' of snow. With the weight box and loader removed, I can drive over grass without much damage in 2 wheel drive, as well, so I think with a modest rear mower, I could mow?
All personal opinions, of course.
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