5 Of The Highest-Rated Riding Lawn Mowers You Can Buy For Under $4000

All most people need out of a lawn mower is just one of those relatively small devices that you push and walk behind as you cut the grass of your front or back yard. However, there are people out there who have a lot more grass to contend with, and if they were to use one of these small push mowers, it would take them hours upon hours to get through the property, and they'll be exhausted by the end of it. That's where riding lawn mowers come into play. 

There are two main types of riding lawn mowers: tractor-style and zero-turn mowers. The tractor-style riding mowers let you control the direction of your mower with a steering wheel, whereas zero-turn mowers instead use levers for directional and speed control, and they're a bit more flexible. Regardless of the design, riding lawn mowers can be prohibitively expensive machines, easily costing thousands of dollars, and just because someone has a lot of land to maintain doesn't mean they have a massive lawn mower budget. Because of this, we're going to look at five different riding lawn mowers that have very good ratings from both customers and experts, that have also managed to slip below $4,000.

While you could jump directly to the most affordable riding lawn mowers on the market, that doesn't necessarily mean you'll find a consensus of quality for those products. With this list, we'll be looking at ratings from sources such as Consumer Reports, The Spruce, and more to find the riding mowers that balance quality and value.

John Deere produces dozens of riding lawn mowers in a variety of sizes, operational styles, and audiences in mind. Not only that, but almost every single one of them you see has high ratings. Among the nine lawn tractor riding mowers given the "CR Recommended" designation from Consumer Reports, meaning it exceeds the quality standards of the publication, eight of these are John Deere mowers. For the highest-rated one that costs below $4,000, we look to the S240 Lawn Tractor, one of the best John Deere riding mowers regardless of price.

This model ties with the more expensive John Deere X354 Lawn Tractor for the highest overall rating for a riding mower of this kind from CR. During the publication's in-house testing, the S240 performed exceptionally, with its ability for side discharging, mulching, bagging, and evenness, while also getting a very good score for its handling. Noise is the only category in which the scores took a dive, but they were still the best of any lawn tractor tested. After all, expecting a lawn mower to be a quiet machine is a bit of a fool's errand.

At the most base level, the John Deere S240 comes with a 42-inch mower deck, with a starting price of $3,699. However, the model that earned such terrific ratings from CR was one with a 48-inch mower deck. This adds an additional $300 to that price, bringing it just under that $4,000 threshold before taxes. Considering the praise for the John Deere line of mowers across the board, the less expensive 42-inch would also be a great selection as well.

For those looking to get a John Deere Lawn Tractor riding lawn mower, but really want to be able to save some money without sacrificing quality, then the S120 Lawn Tractor is definitely worth a look. This mower also has a 42-inch cutting width and a 22 hp engine. It doesn't have many frills, but it can get the job done.

The S120 is another John Deere-produced lawn tractor to earn the CR Recommended seal of approval. Along with a terrific owner satisfaction score, this mower earned excellent ratings for its mulching and side discharge capabilities. Its handling, evenness, and bagging test scores were also very good, and once again, not the highest marks for noise. The Spruce also names the S120 as the very best budget-friendly riding lawn mower on the market. The publication was particularly impressed by the 18-inch turning radius, which is quite impressive for a traditional tractor-style riding mower. Customers on John Deere's website have given the S120 an overall rating of 4.2 out of five stars. Home Depot customers are similarly happy with it, with its user ratings averaging to 4.4 stars.

The starting price for a John Deere S120 Lawn Tractor is $2,899, making it the second-least expensive riding mower on this list. That price can increase if you wish to add any other attachments, like a weather enclosure for the mower seat, or a utility cart. At its base though, the S120 is excellent value for the price.

Among the nine lawn tractor riding lawn mowers to get the "CR Recommended" designation from Consumer Reports, one that wasn't produced by John Deere was the Cub Cadet XT2 SLX50, and while that would qualify for this list based on its cost, the Cub Cadet mower we're actually going to give the rub to is the XT1 Enduro.

This mower still gets good ratings from CR, especially for its side discharging, mulching, and evenness. The only reason it seemingly doesn't reach that "CR Recommended" status is because its bagging capabilities are merely good, not great. It's beyond what CR has to say that has the XT1 make this list. Popular Mechanics actually rates the XT1 the very best riding mower on the market, highlighting that it has 12 different cutting heights to choose from, and packs a good amount of power. Pro Tool Reviews names this as the best riding mower for the money, while The Spruce commends it for being the best model for someone with a large lawn. Cub Cadet is also users' favorite riding mower brand at Tractor Supply. That's a lot of different areas of specific accomplishment for one mower to fulfill, but the XT1 has managed it.

The Cub Cadet XT1 Enduro is available with many different mower deck widths to choose from, but all of them fall under the $4,000 budgetary limit we've set. The 42-inch LT42 model goes for $2,399, and the largest and most expensive model, the 54-inch LT54, costs $3,499. In all of the highly rated reviews cited, the 46-inch LT46 model is the go-to, which goes for $2,599 and would still be the least expensive model on this list.

Finding high quality, highly-rated zero-turn riding lawn mowers for a reasonable price is a bit more difficult than with lawn tractors. They have a more complex drive system and require a lot more parts to be built, but it's not impossible to find a good option in this budget. While John Deere has a couple of very highly-rated options to choose from, this recommendation comes courtesy of Cub Cadet once again.

This mower ties for fourth place on Consumer Reports' overall ranking of zero-turn lawn mowers. In that tie are both some of Cub Cadet's own models, as well as Gravely models, and both of them are significantly more expensive than the Z325E. It gets top marks in almost all of its CR tests, including side discharging, mulching, handling, and evenness. Plus, the owner satisfaction score is excellent. Home Depot customers give it an average rating of 4.4 out of five stars.

CR tested several versions of the Ultima ZT1 mower, and the 50-inch mower deck model earned the highest overall score, with the premium 54-inch deck model right behind it. The 50-inch version retails for $3,749. Sadly, if you want to the 54-inch deck, that bumps the price to over $4,000, but the standard 54-inch mower keeps you under the threshold, costing $3,799. The smallest of the Ultima ZT1 mower decks is 42 inches with the ZT1 42 FAB, bringing the price tag down to $3,499. The Cub Cadet Ultima ZT1 line clearly gives you options for zero-turn mowers under $4,000.

While it might be easy to fall into just looking at riding lawn mowers from big name companies like John Deere, Cub Cadet, Toro, Stihl, or Craftsman, one smaller brand that has a very well-rated riding mower that goes for under $4,000 is Ariens. You can find these at Lowe's and local outdoor retailers, and while its full slate of offerings don't always have the best reception, there's a good deal of praise for the Ariens Ikon 52.

This is a zero-turn riding mower that has a Kawasaki engine powering it, with 23 hp on tap. The 52-inch mower deck allows you to cover a lot of ground pretty quickly. On Consumer Reports' ranking of zero-turn mowers, the Ikon 52 tied for a fourth-place ranking, and it probably would've ranked higher had Ariens' overall brand reliability been a little more than just "good." Based on CR's own tests, it passed with flying colors in handling, evenness, side discharging, and mulching. Lowe's customers are also pretty content with it, giving it an average rating of 4 stars out of 5.

The Ariens Ikon 52 retails for $3,899. These lawn mowers come with an orange paint job, but Ariens did produce a special edition called the Ikon Onyx 52 that was a primarily black model. However, this version pushes the price up to $4,299, so to stay on your budget, stick with the standard model, which is the one getting the high ratings to begin with.