My point is that a garden tractor is not the best machine to mow with. Too much maintenance because of too many moving parts that aren't essential or even useful to simply mowing. It is a multi-purpose machine provided you fork out tons more money for various attachments.
If you are strictly interested in efficient, fast, cost-effective grass cutting, a machine purpose-built for that specialty is far superior. "Nothing you don't need" means lower initial cost along with lower maintenance costs over the life of the machine.
The "life of the machine" is where it gets tricky. A JD is a relatively well-built machine, but so are much less expensive lawn tractors like the good old Cub Cadet. You also have various degrees of quality in zero-turn mowers and the priciest is not necessarily superior. Don't get fooled or hung up on "Green and yellow is better". It isn't an absolute by any stretch.
If you are mowing a flat, simple 2 acres with minimal obstacles and if you absolutely will mount a tiller or a snowblower or other toys for other very light-duty tasks, then a lawn&garden tractor might be what you want. If time is valuable and if you have many trees and other obstacles, then nothing short of a herd of full-time herbivores can beat a zero-turn.
Zero-turn mowers are also much easier to work on since they are almost entirely exposed and accessible vs. a machine disguised as a tractor. Far fewer parts and form follows function. They are not made to look pretty at all.
Which brings me to the other option I would consider: If you do indeed have a laundry list of legitimate regular chores for a lawn and garden tractor and have 2 acres to mow regularly amongst them, then consider buying a good used genuine tractor and forget "lawn and garden". A small Kubota is a very good compact diesel with a very long life, as are the small (and hard to find) JD's and such. The fact they even make things like endloaders for lawn tractors is joke for profit, not real purpose.
A JD 425 or similar, even an older 420 like mine, commands a high price tag new or used. Often for just a little more or the same money, you can find a real diesel tractor. You can definitely find a good zero turn for an equal or lesser price.
My JD 420 is a mixed bag I would not buy again. The Onan engine is no longer made by Onan, which sold their small junk motor division to Linamar. Besides the crappy valve-in-head design, and lack of liquid cooling, it has a cast aluminum oil pan/base that WILL crack. Mine has also fragmented its flywheel taking out the stator. And we won't even get into how much the new emissions carburetors suck... If it weren't for me keeping the old junk motor to cannibalize, the parts costs would have been huge. the 420 may or may not do several things acceptably well, but it will definitely not do any one single thing extremely well; even just cutting grass. When my 1st Onan air-cooled engine spit the valve seats out and I discovered i could neither buy nor have a machine shop replace them, i simply JB Welded them back in and got three more years out of the engine before spending over $2000 for a new and identical Linamar. Regrettably, I did not know that Honda and others make much better OHV replacement drop-in engines for less money, or I would have absolutely bought one of them instead.
So just be honest and realistic with yourself what you will be doing with your "lawn mower" and buy accordingly. A small diesel "real" tractor is a far superior all-purpose choice. A good zero-turn is a far better specific purpose choice.
Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Powered by a small block chevy or what?!! Look at that long hood! And the only green there is Lawn Boy green. What gives? You probably bought all of those for the price of one JD. 
