Ive been a kuboater man a long time. With my recent warranty troubles though I did some shopping, I compared the deere 3038 to the L3400. The deere I think takes it in the engine department. Its a smaller engine, I think it was 91ci vs I think 114 (or was it 111?) in the kubota. The deeres turbo though and makes more power, being turbo you have to think it would be more fuel efficient too while performing equal tasks. A turbo makes a diesel more efficient and it will maintain better power at elevation. Now I'm not looking to start a fight but the reality is the deere seemed to quit there, I looked it over and it just seemed really bargain basement compared to other machines. The loader seems weak, it has tiny cylinders and is only rated to lift 540 lbs at 500mm. Its not quick attach, its only a 2 sp hst, the ROP was fixed, not foldable and so on. It would suit someone who was running alot of pto attachments, like a brush hog for example and didnt need any heavy loader work but it just wasnt the machine I need. I wish deere would make a competitive tractor, not just sell a seemingly overpriced rebadged jobber. Its like their brochure says about the 3038, "the quality wont surprise you but the price will". They were right, I was indeed surprised by how high they retail. Even with a deep discount from a close friend who's family owns a few deere dealerships I just couldnt bring myself to buy one. He said I was a rare exception, he said most sales they lose to kubota are price related and he had me discounted pretty deep. I didnt look at it as a price issue though, I look at it as a value issue, there is a difference and from what I could see, for my purposes the value wasnt the same. Might not be the case for the next guy but thats how green measured up for me.