Hi all, I just had to put my 2 cents worth in. My darling wife bought me a X530 series garden tractor to replace my 318 that is dying a very agonizing death. I bought the 318 used, but it was the best garden tractor I ever owned. There is no comparison between the two. As a previous writer mentioned about John Deere tractors, it is a great running tractor and I'm satisfied with it. But, I do miss the greater weight of the 318, especially chugging up and down on hillsides, and the hydraulics. I couldn't justify going to the 700 series to get a tractor equal to the 318. I don't want to be critical, but in the quest for a cheaper product, the engineering staff lost sight of producing an excellent product as apposed to an acceptable product.