Best ride-on lawn mower for the perfect lawn 2024

If you have a large lawn, this ride-on mower will make cutting your grass quick, easy, and even enjoyable. The Mountfield MTF 66 MQ Petrol Lawn Rider 224cc is suitable for outdoor spaces up to two acres.

It has a compact 3.9-litre fuel tank and is delivered fully assembled so you can jump straight into the driver's seat. Additionally, the seat features a safety switch that cuts out the engine if the driver dismounts whilst the blades are turning.

Working in tandem with the easy steering is the machine’s impressive hydrostatic transmission for enhanced manoeuvrability and a smooth drive, helping to cut with precision even on the dullest of days. Reviewers praise this mower's tight turning circle.

Honda HF 2317 HME Lawn Tractor has a hydrostatic transmission that makes it responsive and easy to manoeuvre. It boasts an Optiflow grass collecting system which means no grass clippings get left behind.

With a huge 280-litre grass collector this lawn tractor can plough through grassed areas up to 8,000 square metres. It's a petrol-powered vehicle with a meaty 5.4-litre petrol tank and a speed range of 1.2mph to a spritely 5.5mph.

Additionally, it has an LED smart diagnostic dashboard that's user-friendly and tells you what fuel you have remaining. We also like the clever sensor that detects light levels for automatic activation of the powerful headlights.

The Webb 12530 Hydro Compact Lawn Rider is our featherweight contender with a narrower cutting width of 76cm, weighing in at just 168 kilograms. It has a teeny 60cm turning circle and can collect 176 litres of grass cuttings.

Webb angles this ride-on lawn mower as an ideal step-up motor from a walk-behind mower - its compact dimensions aren't too daunting and there's vibration reduction technology to make it more comfortable to ride.

The five forward gears and one reverse make it super manoeuvrable if you have tight borders you need to squeeze up to. Additionally, hydrostatic transmission means it's simple and responsive to drive and it has a durable OHV engine. It's delivered fully assembled so you'll be ready to mow from the get-go.

This is a beast with a cutting width that's over one metre wide. The AL-KO Solo T16-103.7 HD-V2 Rear Collect Lawn Tractor is a step up in specs. It's a heavyweight vehicle at 205kg and goes toe-to-toe with lawn sizes up to 6,000 square metres.

We like this machine for its collection capabilities. The high-capacity grass catcher can hold up to 250 litres of cuttings and gives you an audible alert when it's full. This is emptied quickly via a telescopic lever, something you can do whilst sitting in the driver's seat.

You get superior engine power with this Briggs and Stratton Intek Series 7160 V-Twin 656cc. Also, it has a raised chassis and seating position for better ground clearance and visibility. Driving it is a joy, with twin pedals and a larger steering wheel.

The Stihl RT4082 Garden Rider makes short work of lawns up to 4,000 square metres. It features turf tyres to protect the lawn whilst packing a powerful Stihl EVC4000 OHV engine so you can glide around the corners of flower beds with ease.

Switch from forward to reverse with a simple gear stick and turn on a dime with a tight turning circle. Hydrostatic transmission makes this model nippy and responsive. A 250-litre “dumper” grass catcher box is operated from the driving seat with a simple curved handle.

The RT4082 comes with an impressive eight-height cuttings choices between 35mm and 90mm. Additionally, it can be converted into a mulching mower. This robust garden rider is a good medium size ride-on mower option.

This Mountfield MTF 98M-SD Side-Discharge Lawn Tractor is designed for cutting longer grass and dispersing it back into the garden rather than collecting it. There is an optional mulching function sold separately as a kit, but side discharge is a fast and effective way of returning goodness back to the soil.

This ride-on lawn mower is fast too, with a top speed of 9.7kph. With a cutting width that's just shy of one metre, this garden tractor can cover lawns up to 8000 square metres. Mountfield is a trusted brand and this model comes with a quality Stiga ST350 352cc engine.

If you know you don't need any kind of collection capabilities this lawn mower, which can cover grass areas of up to two acres and arrives fully assembled and ready to mow, is recommended.

The Snapper ZTX105 Zero Turn Ride-On Mower may have the largest fuel tank capacity (11 litres) in our line-up but that doesn't mean it's cumbersome; this mower can get to places that other mowers can't reach.

It has powerful zero-turn manoeuvrability and can cover lawns over 10,000 square metres. A 91cm mower deck gives it the smallest width in its class, making it lean enough to negotiate obstacles or tight corners.

Its steel frame means it will stand the test of time as well as weathering all elements. Even if the ground is bumpy, you'll be comfortable in an ergonomically designed and adjustable seat.

Our first battery-powered option, the Weibang Intrepid iON 81 RC Battery Ride-On Lawn Mower breaks new ground as an eco-friendly ride-on lawn mower. Because it's battery-powered as opposed to petrol, it's more environmentally friendly, less noisy, and great for those not confident handling fuel.

It has an impressive working time of up to 150 minutes depending on cutting conditions. The 190-litre grass collector has easy-to-operate lever tipping. We were super surprised at how fast this vehicle can go: the variable e-drive allows for speeds up to 6.5 km/h and a nippy 5 km/h in reverse.

The cutting heights on this machine give you ten different lengths to pre-set, from 25mm to 130mm. This means you can select a height to suit your aesthetic demands, or to suit the conditions of the grass you're mowing. This comes with a five-year warranty for peace of mind.

This ride-on mower looks a little different to the other models. The EGO Power Plus Z6 ZT4201E-L Ride-On Mower spins on a zero-turn radius so you can mow with precision. It was the first battery-powered ride-on mower of its kind and uses any combination of the EGO ARC Lithium batteries.

Use the handy Z6 Mower Battery Calculator (follow the link and scroll down) to input the size of your lawn and it tells what combination of batteries to use. It has three driving modes: control, standard and sport and variable speed between 3-8mph. Additionally, you can be back to full charge in just three hours - comparatively, that's a fast charging time.

With 230-litre collecting capacity, mulching and side discharge - this has all the functionality of the best ride-on lawn mowers whilst looking like a Martian buggy and running on next-gen power.