<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">...I think you could get that same washing action and level of effectiveness with a half-dozen goldfish in a bowl. Like the old guy in the appliance store told me, time will tell how satisfied people are with these machines.</span>
Water usage is easy-enough to check. I think anyone asking the question understands that the precise usage will vary per the load size (absorption and all that). Determining what is the per-gallon fill at each of the three levels is sufficient info. Set it to run with the water supply turned off and fill it manually with a gallon jug until agitation starts. Have a helper or two and two or three jugs to keep it going consistently.
Or put gallon or 5 gallon markings in a trash barrel and measure what comes out as it drains after filling without any fabrics in it at various water level settings, if it has any.
<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">Remember Betty Furness and her famous "sand test" for Westinghouse? I'd like to see a "Kleenix Test" with one of these new Speed Queens. Toss in half a box (family-size is OK) and stand back. I'll bet every tissue would remain in one piece...maybe the used ones wouldn't be completely clean...but they wouldn't be torn. Now there's a real accomplishment. </span>
Try a whirlpool cabrio, i bet half the tissues won't even get wet, the other half will be torn to shreds, but nobody wants to talk about those pieces of junk.