I have a Bad Boy with the 27 hp Kohler Courage Pro. The engine has less than 100 hrs on it and the only problem that I have had is, if you put it on a slope with the shoot side up, it will blow smoke like a mosquito fogger. I'm not sure why this is the case but I had a garden tractor with a Briggs 20 hp twin on it and I never had that problem. You know the slope is not excessive if I put a Z mower on it so it is something in the motor. The flip side to that is, this thing will mow about anything. Tall wet grass doesn't even slow it down and that is pushing a 60" deck. I to read all the negative information (after I had bought the mower) and wished I had paid a little more for the Kawasaki. Once again, I'm afraid that what we see is the attempt to have big horsepower while keeping production cost down. You see it everywhere whether it's buying a firearm or anything else that is made on an assembly line. It is really amazing that any of this stuff does as well as it does. I used to run my poor old Craftsman mower four hours every time I mowed my yard but now I do it in about an hour with this new Z. With this new mower, I put less than 100 hours a year on it so if I get the life out if this as good as my old mower, it will last the rest of my days. I am nervous about this motor but it makes me feel a little better to know that Kohler has been taking care of them. They could let you get past the 2 year warranty and let you eat $1200.00. The bad part is, no matter what motor you look at, you can find problems. The consumer doesn't realize how many of these things they build a year so for all three, it would be interesting to know how many engines they have go bad in the first five years as per their total production run. Then you could really argue the value of one to another. I will be the first to post on here if something goes wrong with mine but unless we get some rain here in MIssouri, the only way I will blow the motor is if I ride it down to get the mail. Take care and good luck shopping.
