I have a Kubota BX. It has been described as a garden tractor on steroids but it is a real tractor. I am very pleased with mine after 900 hours and 4 years. It will do everything you want.
Sounds to me like you're talking about a John Deere X-seres garden tractor...this will get howls from the penny-pinchers, but if you're looking for the smallest/nimblest tractor which can take a loader and rear PTO, this is it (or the Simplicity Legacy XL which is about the same thing).
