PTO hp, in my case. That's the only number that really counts to me.
I've never had the luxury of buying a new tractor so I'm not sure of that answer. I have three tractors of 23, 50, and 55 pto hp whose combined purchase price was less than one new tractor...and the 50 hp tractor has a back-hoe and front-end loader. Each one of the three tractors could be sold today for what I paid for each one of them. When you take the tax breaks into account, they are actually worth considerably more today than they were when I bought them....and I doubt that could be said about a new tractor.
By careful shopping around, watching the newspapers, etc. you can find some great buys in used tractors in my area...and as long as you stick to diesel and exercise a few common sense evaluation methods, there is relatively low risk in purchasing a used one,IMO.
