Update on Miele – After 7 1/2 years it decided to play up. As it wasn't convenient to wait around for a miele tech to come out I decided to have a look. Instructions seem to be pretty consistant as they are all fairly similar in their construction. Found a problem with a worn out brush in the motor which took 5 minutes to replace. Couldn't believe it was so easy. $50 and a few hours. And now I have a pretty good idea of any other future issues if they arise.

Old Review:

We bought the Miele 6 years ago when the main bearing in our AEG washer was going to cost more to fix than replace. Lucky we had an extended warranty and got the Miele instead. I was a bit worried as it only came with a 1 year warranty and you could not buy an extended warranty at that time - now its 2 years and you can add 3 more if you like. Either way we have never needed to use the warranty. It gets used several times a day and it is still as silent now as when we first got it. Everything comes out well washed but are clothes don't get worn out and most are almost as when we bought them. The Child-lock was handy when the kids were small, and being able to add clothes after the wash has started is brilliant as things will sometimes turn up. We usually only use 40degree washes but you can go as high as 95 and use soaking and extended wash cycles if needed. Its also easy to use and set-up as wehen we moved there were a couple of stabiliser bars which you insert through the back and twist to lock everything in place. Logically constructed so it was easy to repair. Steel balast instead of concrete. Should get more than 7-8 years from a brush??