Strengths Bobcat name. We had a 553 for many years that we were very pleased with. The new 553 (2007 model) is a DISASTER.

Weaknesses Bought new in 2007. As of September 2008 the exhaust system has been welded on 3 times at least, the engine has been reattached (loose or missing mounting hardware in the engine compartment). The machine also came with an upsidedown throttle sticker which to date has not been fixed by Bobcat. Machine is a lemon. Terrible service (very, very slow and extremely unhelpful - zero out of 10) by Bobcat. So far the regional Bobcat representative and local Bobcat person will not respond to complaints unless one makes multiple calls and becomes very vocal.

Overall Something went wrong in the factory with this machine. I can accept that things go wrong but am disappointed to find that Bobcat does not stand behind their products even if they made manufacturing errors. If you buy a Bobcat with problems, do not expect good service.