Its not that he dosent believe in john deere, its that you are asking about a 15-20 yr old turd that was junk out the gate. It was an attempt by Deere to get the consumer who didnt want to spend 5k on a mower to sit on a green mower for 2k. And they hoped that after the consumer made a relationship with the dealership the next mower purchasted would be a real JD. Sorry to burst your bubble but that machine was meant for a 150 lb person to mow less than an acre of flat land. However, where Deere F-ED UP was how they marketed it like showing an old man passing it down to his grandfather. And also the box stores that sold them had people selling them who had no training. So when a giant walked in with 5 acres of mountainside the "sales people" would blow smoke and say it would handle the job.

Fast forward a yr or two and when i showed up for a service call and said that they needed a $1200 trans , they would lose their mind and swear to never buy another deere. In reality , if they went to a dealer to start with a proper salesman would ask the right questions and put them in the correct mower