Patrick Carroll, Melbourne, Quebec: "Belarus tractors are low-priced junk," says Patrick who owns a Belarus 500. "Everything shakes and rattles including the hood latches, the brake pedals, the toolbox cover and the drawbar hitch. They are crudely made and awkward to service. The sitting position is terribly hard on your back. In my opinion, what little money you think you save in no way makes up for the headaches and backaches."

Marvin Vlietstra, Kalamazoo, Mich.: On the "worst buy" side, he lists his 1999 Deere 8100 MFWD tractor. "It's a nice tractor with an excellent engine. But the armchair controls on this tractor are the pits. Because of their poor design, I've come close to getting into serious accidents. The transmission control makes it hard to distinguish between park and reverse. The rocker switches that operate the hydraulics are awful, and the instruments mounted on the side are hard to notice."

Larry Mills, Pierre, S. Dak.: Mills is an insurance investigator who came across four suspicious tractor fires in Ford-New Holland bi-directional tractors in 1996. After looking into the problem for two years, his investigators determined that the fires originated in wiring that runs through grommets in the cab and engine compartments. The grommets work loose, leaving the wiring up against bare metal. If the insulation gets rubbed off, an electrical arc can burn through fuel or other lines.