Your prices must be allot better then what they wanted for the diesel in my area. For an extra $1,000 it makes more sense. Though for the basic home buyer and not a commercial buyer who runs his mower five days a week, how many hours a year do they put on them? If they are under 100 hours a year, it still doesn't make any sense to buy a machine that will last 30 to 50 years when the reality is the rest of the machine will be dead after ten to 20 years.
On the lawnsite forums, there was some talk about the Kubota's having some issues with their drive pumps. The Kubota dealer told me that wasn't true and to talk to his mechanic to see if they had any complaints or problems. Turns out that they did, but the mechanic said it wasn't a design issue or fault with Kubota, it was because they were using them to tow stuff with. He had one in the shop with a burned out pump and a two inch ball on the back of it. He said that they were towing something with it and that's what caused the problem.
I liked the Kubota allot, but kept going back to the Scag, which is what I ended up buying.
Eddie