The advice given by many of the others here is very good. As always, what will work best is situation dependent. I have a Deere 1025R sub-compact. I clear 1000' of gravel driveway with a front-mount snow-blower and live in a "snow belt," getting 10-12 feet a year. I use the machine for mowing in the summer, with a mid-mount mower. I did not pick out the tractor as it came with the house when I moved in.
If I had to do it all over, I would have picked out a compact tractor as opposed to a sub-compact. The larger tire size and ground clearance is important. For me, anyway. A sub-compact is essentially useless off of a lawn or groomed road--certainly no field work.
The HP numbers on sub-compacts and riding mowers are accurate but misleading. The HP rating is the engine HP, not the tractor. For the tractor, HP = traction (lbs) x fwd speed (ft/sec) /550. The "traction" number is where they fail. There is not enough ground contact force to pull much of anything, and even if there was, the drive train couldn't handle it. You maybe get 2-3 HP if you are lucky from a riding mower.
I have been disappointed in my 1025R due to poor reliability and the difficulty in fixing it. It is apart again right now as the mid-mount PTO bearing failed. You have to disassemble the whole tractor to fix it. In contrast, my older machines--a 1982 Deere 650 and a 1941 Farmall H, have been nearly bullet-proof. They both took work to get them that way, but now are reliable to the point of boring. I've had to do a significant repair (>1 week down-time) on the 1025R every year that I've owned it. Only 400 hours on it!
Like many of the others, I would suggest a good used diesel compact tractor. You'll be able to grade your driveway, move snow, mow, pull things, etc. Kubota, the older Deeres, & Fords are all good. Many were actually Japanese-built by Yanmar or Mitsubishi and have excellent track records for reliability. Even 2000 hours is not a lot on these machines, and they will cost a quarter of what you would pay new. They are also easier to fix & parts can be had aftermarket or from salvage.
ROPS is a must, so is live PTO if you want to blow snow. 4WD is important on a lighter tractor as the extra two driving wheels help get that "traction" number up higher. My 650 will spin its rears on dry gravel but chugs ahead in 4WD. Of course the H has so much ground contact that this is never a problem, even with 2WD. If you want a loader, or eventually may want one, power steering is very nice. Aftermarket loaders are expensive and brackets can be hard to find, so getting one that already has it is helpful.
I don't know your budget but where I live (WNY) a decent compact machine with loader can be bought for $7K-$10K. A Ford 1310 recently went at auction for $4500, and you could do better. Good luck, Dave
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Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
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