Hi Robert. Yes, that's right -- I'm here in Chueca, Madrid and this is the machine I showed further up in this thread, in reply #30.
How big is the drum in your Siemens?
It's 65 litres / 2.3 cubic feet. Diameter is 49 cm / 19⅓" and depth 34 cm / 13⅓". The machine is rated for 9 kg / 20 lb, although you'd never get that amount of fluffy towels into it.
How many towels did you put in there to reach 11lbs?
See photo below. All weights were accurately done using a kitchen scale.
4 Target Fieldcrest 30x62" bath sheets
3 bathmats supplied by the landlord (about the size of hand towels but a bit thicker)
5 Fieldcrest hand towels
2 of the hand towels provided by the landlord
1 microfibre kitchen towel
3 pairs of socks
1 cloth
For reference how many of those towels could fit in your Unimatic...?
Sadly I don't yet have a Unimatic and I narrowly missed out on one recently, as it was sold before I returned to the US

At a guess, and since I don't like to cram a TL the way I would with an FL, I'd say this load would probably be too big for my Maytag A806 but would likely fit in my other US machines with room to spare (KM DD, SQ, KM BD, Neptune FL).
My figures correspond almost exactly with the instruction manual's figures given for cycle time, water consumption and energy consumption on the Eco cycle and also those given for the Cotton cycle with a full 9 kg load. My load was 5 kg, but it was still a full load, as the drum was stuffed full when the towels were loaded dry. And I would expect towels to absorb more water.
The spin performance stated in the manual for cottons is 53% residual moisture. For synthetics they state 30% and for wool 26%. So, for a towel load, I'm not surprised I measured 68%. It would be interesting to test spinning these particular towels in a Unimatic! I'll also have to measure the spinning performance of my US machines. I wonder if my towels are constructed quite differently to yours and don't release water nearly as easily.
It's really interesting to see how this machine does compared to your LG and Samsung. I don't have access to a modern US FL (unless my Neptune FL counts as modern!).
It seems like the main difference is the amount of water used for rinsing.
Firstly, I think only the eco cycle is rated in Europe and the other cycles are free to consume whatever they like.
Secondly, the eco cycle is not just rated for consumption in Europe, it also has to achieve a minimum wash performance and a minimum rinse performance as well as spin performance. So manufacturers can't just reduce rinses and/or water consumption in order to achieve a certain efficiency rating on the label, as the machine will score poorly for performance. Whereas in the US, I think it's just consumption that is measured with no reference to performance (though I'm not sure). It does seem to me that current machines in the US default to poor rinse performance (purely based on my observations, not on any evidence or testing).
It's been a welcome distraction doing these tests over the last couple of days while I've been getting over my jet lag, having arrived from Palm Springs a few days ago!
Mark