ride on lawnmower chinese engine?

Scruff

Looking to get a smallish one for house on 0.5 acre level site and have it narrowed down to:

Stiga Estate Master HST (13.5 hp B&S engine, mulcher, tow kit, 1 year warranty, €2100)
Castelgarden XDC140HD (13.5hp B&S engine, mulcher, 5 year warranty if serviced yearly @€;120, €2200)

Also in the running was a Mountfiled 1430h (Mountfield engine, mulcher, 5 year warranty, €2200) but spotted on this site that the engine is a Chinese make
http://www.amrentals.ie/Ride_on_Lawnmowers/ride_on_lawnmowers.htm
Are chinese engines really that bad? better to err on the side of caution even with 5 year warranty?

Also considering to consider a Stiga Garden Compact E-HST which is about (6.5hp B&S engine, mulcher, mulcher, 5 year warranty if serviced yearly @€;120, €1750) but might be a bit under powered?

bbam

Scruff wrote: »

Looking to get a smallish one for house on 0.5 acre level site and have it narrowed down to:

Stiga Estate Master HST (13.5 hp B&S engine, mulcher, tow kit, 1 year warranty, €2100)
Castelgarden XDC140HD (13.5hp B&S engine, mulcher, 5 year warranty if serviced yearly @€;120, €2200)

Also in the running was a Mountfiled 1430h (Mountfield engine, mulcher, 5 year warranty, €2200) but spotted on this site that the engine is a Chinese make
http://www.amrentals.ie/Ride_on_Lawnmowers/ride_on_lawnmowers.htm
Are chinese engines really that bad? better to err on the side of caution even with 5 year warranty?

Also considering to consider a Stiga Garden Compact E-HST which is about (6.5hp B&S engine, mulcher, mulcher, 5 year warranty if serviced yearly @€;120, €1750) but might be a bit under powered?

Castlegarden would be my choice..
the 6.5HP mower is indeed very underpowered... but if its perfectly flat, and your not too heavy yourself then it may work, but just to compare a decent self propelled is 5hp so the 6.5 will be weak..

I have a 19inch Castle garden self propelled, 13-15years old, serviced a handful of times and kept topped with oil (not that it took much). Mows away perfectly.
Also have a 36inch 8 year old Castlegarden ride-on, 13.5 B&S engine, has never missed a beat, although the deck is a little prone to blocking in heavy wet grass (but I think they all dislike heavy wet grass)..

celticmicky

The Mountfield and Castelgarden Hydro models should be in around the same price, for this reason I would choose Castelgarden everyday of the week as they have the better engine.

Underneath the plastics they are exactly the same machine, built on the same chassis, same bag and same cutting deck - big difference is the engine. B&S engines are commonly recognised (along side Honda) as among the best on the market.

One thing about a 5 year warranty. What do the dealers envisage going wrong in year 4 that would be covered under warranty? The only thing I would say a warranty that long would cover is the likes of the ignition coil on the engine. Clutch won't be covered, belts, bearings and pulleys won't be covered and your blades / shafts won't be covered - unless they fit the parts during the annual service (which you would pay for anyway).

Scruff

Arent the Stiga and Castlegarden essentially the same too apart from the Stiga being bright yellow...?

celticmicky

Yes Stiga and Castelgarden are also essentially the same machine except for the colour. They are owned by Global Garden Products, Europe's largest manufacturer. GGP also own the Mountfield, Atco and Alpina brands.

abceire

Important to look into might be not just how reliable they will be but how easy it is to get parts for them if anything goes wrong. Some really cheap ones can be hard to get parts for, not even the price of parts but literally the getting them at all. Something like a big brand like John Deere will always get parts for, weird chinese stuff not so much.

dave45dave

I have a stigma estate at the moment , 13.5 hp. I'm in Newbridge if you want a go on it. Have it 3 years and it's 100%. Maybe you bought already, give me a pm if you want

Scruff

cheers for the offer. I bought the Stiga Estate Master HST 13.5hp a couple of weeks ago, does the job grand.

damo244

If you need parts for it at any stage in time check lawnmowerspares.ie got parts there myself for my mower guys help me out a treat, happy mowing