Bosch Series 6 Front Load Washing Machines

I probably won't buy a Bosch washing machine again. Only had the machine for 2 years before it stopped working. Before that, I owned a Fisher and Paykel for 15 years and it never skipped a beat. Even having an extended 3 yr warranty with the retailer couldn't help the machine from breaking down every 12- 6 months with something different every… Read more

time. Then dead on 5 years the motor and/or motherboard went and luckily both were replaced under the Bosh warranty but that took 2 months to fix and countless visits to the laundromat down the road. Now another 6 months later it's stopped spinning and draining again. This is a 10kg capacity machine and after the first break down I was careful not to overload or put heavy items in it for fear of it breaking down again but that made no difference. Just about every part has been replace in this machine so you would think it would work like new but that's not the case. They're really not built to last these days.

GREAT MACHINE TO REPLACE MY 17 YEAR old Bosch Logixx 8 Made in Germany after a rat took residence and caused rust in bottom to constantly activate AquaStop . MAde in Spain but still super high quality and very impressed by washing, time cycles using SpeedPerfect, sound and vibration! BOSCH IS ALWAYS BETTER Show details

Bought the machine in October 2025. By January 26 the machine started to malfunction and having had the technician out under warranty, we have been told that the power boards inside the machine must be replaced. Hugely disappointed in paying this kind of money for a machine from a company with Bosch‘s reputation and sadly just not good enough. … Read more

Not sure where these components are made more but clearly they need to rethink wherever they get them from. For a machine that’s only two months old I just cannot understand how it can be that poor it breaks down in this way.

Our old washing machine died after 6 years, so needed to replace it. Did a bit of searching and the general consensus appeared to be to go with Bosch for quality and reliability. Now of course with any popular product there will be outlier cases where people have issues, but again in general the reviews seemed positive. Time for some more… Read more

research. For those who don't know, Bosch have three main groups or "Series" of products with the Series 4 tending to be their more basic entry level machines, the Series 6 mid range, and Series 8 the top of the line. Having said that, a number of the Series 8 machines seem to be very very similar to their matching Series 6 version, differing only by where they have been made plus some other minor features.

For example, the WGG244A9AU we went with appears to be the Series 6 version of the WGG244A0AU Series 8. Doing a side by side comparison, all of the wash cycles were the same, the ratings the same, the only differences I could find was that the 6 was made in Spain and the 8 was made in Germany, with the 8 having a light inside the drum. There was a Series 8 that was even more expensive (eg the WGB256A1AU) that had extra things like a digital knob to select programmes - but it was getting close to double the price and frankly I prefer the physical knob as it's easier to just leave it on the programme you use the most often. We did consider the WGA254U0AU (Series 6, made in China), but decided to pay a little more to get the auto dosing feature - partly because we thought it might save money over time, but mainly because I think we tend to use too much detergent and this could be causing some issues for one of our family who has sensitive skin.

A lot is made by some people of getting the Series 8 because it's made in Germany, with the implication being that they are made better, but having had issues with (I must note not Bosch) very expensive appliances that were German made that wasn't a big attraction for us. We could live without the internal light, so by going with the (made in Spain) Series 6 we saved enough to pay for washing liquid etc for at least a year.

Simple to install, and found that the machine came with "Aqua Protection Plus". This is a Bosch marketing term that means it has some features to reduce the risk of water leaks. It has a float sensor in the base of the machine that will turn the machine off if it detects an internal water leak. It also has what they call a "self sealing hose" - the hose has a valve at the end that is connected to the water supply and the valve can shut the water off at the tap if it detects a *major* leak. I would note that it is not an electronic sensor on the shutoff valve so is purely mechanical - what that means is the valve is not shut off by the washing machine if it detects a leak, but rather the valve shuts itself off if the hose breaks or is disconnected from the washer and water starts to shoot out at full pressure ie faster than the washing machine would normally want. For ultimate protection, an electronic solenoid would be better as it could potentially switch off the water supply even if there is a minor leak, but hey it's definitely better than nothing. (Frankly, to be warned of small leaks it's probably better to get a separate water sensor alarm but that's a totally different subject.) Finally, the hose itself is made up of an internal hose with a separate external corrugated hose - this provides some external physical protection for the water hose inside plus also potentially leaks from the internal hose might travel down into the washer and be detected by the internal float sensor.

In short, "Aqua Protection Plus" reduces the risk of flooding the laundry, but doesn't remove the risk completely. In the olden days it was common practise to turn the water taps on when you did the laundry, and off again when you finished. This is still a good practise, but I doubt many people do it now - in particular with machines frequently now being built into cabinetry where the taps can be hard to access. In addition, there was the risk you might try to run the washing machine without the water tap(s) turned on, and risk burning out a motor.

Overall we have been using this now for a week, and it's been very good. I'd have given it five stars if it wasn't for the initial issue with i-Dos (described below). Currently it is easily 4 stars, maybe 4.5. Will come back and update the review as time goes by but so far the comments would be.....

Positives: * It's quiet. Some of the family have pressed the start button, and because it's so quiet have pressed it again (which pauses the machine) and have wondered why it's not working. I had a vibration sensor on the old washer to tell me when it had finished - doesn't work on this one. Well, it does work but only detects vibrations for between 20 to 40 seconds - when the drum is spinning quickly. This machine is definitely quiet. * It's fast. We are mainly using the "auto/30" programme which takes about an hour to do a wash. * It cleans well, even just with that quick auto programme. * The i-Dos auto dosing feature works. The levels are dropping so it is definitely using the detergent and softener, and significantly less than we were in the habit of using. * The physical selector for the programme means you can leave it on that, and even if the machine is turned off at the power point - when it is turned on again it is set to what you want to use. * It holds a decent amount of clothes. I'd note here that as with all machines, the amount of clothes it can wash at a time varies depending on the material. The machine is rated to hold up to 9 kg of dry cotton clothes. This rating drops to 4kg for mixed clothes (that may include wool and other garments) as when they are wet they will likely weigh about the same. I've seen some people complain about this. This is not a Bosch thing, it's physics.

Negatives: 1. After about 6 washes the i-dos icons started blinking, and an E10:-20 message displayed on the screen. According to the manual that means the pump is possibly blocked and needs cleaning. Was disappointing to see an error message after only six washes, but took it out and cleaned it as instructed. No change. Did it again, and it was fixed. Very odd. Will have to monitor. Maybe the liquid we use is too viscous, or there was some sort of air bubble. Don't know. Will try a different liquid if it keeps happening. 2. Find that water does collect in the silicon/rubber door seal - this can drip on the floor when it is opened and clothes are removed from inside. There are a couple of holes to allow water to drain out from, but it takes a while to do so and also could be an area where dirt can build up and mould grow. Even after only a few days I found soap scum and hairs in the seal. From this perspective, we do miss the Asko with the steel seal. The seal is however a (relatively) inexpensive part to replace, so we can live with it.

Very minor notes: 1. Did notice a small squeaking noise on the second wash, but it seemed to go away. 2. Have found that the time remaining indicator is definitely an estimate - have seen it go from 2 mins remaining to 4 mins remaining - but it's not wildly inaccurate. 3. Quite likely we are too used to using too much detergent, as the clothes do not come out with as much scent as they used to. Can increase the dosage from the default of 50ml, so might do that if it becomes a concern although that is actually the recommended amount for a normal load according to the detergent we use. 4. You can choose to not use i-Dos, and manually add in washing powder or liquid, but there is only the one drawer to put the powder/liquid in. So you cannot manually add in different washing powder/liquid *and* manually add in conditioner. This could be an issue if you have someone with allergies and use special detergent and softener just for their clothes. Perhaps you could put the detergent in the drawer and the conditioner straight into the drum.... 5. Although it does spin at high speed (1400 rpm), my subjective opinion is that it does not leave the clothes as dry as our old Asko did (that also went to 1400 rpm but sounded like a jet taking off as it did it). I suspect it simply does not spin the clothes for as long. This might be gentler on the clothes, but it also means they will take a little longer to dry once put out onto the clothesline or into the dryer. 6. Because it's so quiet, it can be hard to tell that the thing has finished a cycle. It does make a small melody when it finishes, but that is also pretty quiet. There is an option in the manual that states how to make it louder if that's an issue for you. 7. The water hose is not super long - it *just* made it for us, but you may need an extension. 8. The machine is pretested at the factory - meaning there can be some old water in it. The manual recommends running it through a cycle first before using it, and I think that's a good idea just to get rid of any smells. 9. It has a number of features such as "Allergy Plus" that we haven't used yet - again, will update this review when we have!

** 1st update ** After 2 weeks of daily use, the machine is still going strong, with no reoccurrence of the initial E10:-20 message. Have continued to mainly use the auto/30 programme. One thing I will note is that a few times I have used the feature that allows you to add in extra items, or in one case removing some silk pillow cases that I didn't want to go through the standard wash. Just press the start button, then wait to hear the click of the door being unlocked, then can open the door (when I've done it, it's been almost immediate but I assume it will take a bit longer if the machine is full of water that needs to be drained first). To restart, just close the door and press the start button again.

** 2nd update ** Four weeks down the track now, and still no repeat of the error message. The conditioner icon started flashing yesterday, so topped up both containers. There is no reference to how big the containers are in the manual, but checking online it indicates that "The i-DOS compartment can hold up to 0.98 litres of liquid detergent" (no information about the conditioner compartment). Given that the amount of detergent for a standard wash is 50ml (and softener is 20ml), then just for the detergent that means it should be able to cope with 20 washes. We would have run more like 30 washes through the machine by now, so perhaps it is actually under dosing but the results are still good so I'm probably not going to try to adjust the dosage. The marketing material does say that "i-DOS automatically detects the type of fabric, the load volume and the degree of soiling to adjust precisely the detergent needed" so maybe that's why it's using less than 50ml per wash.

I love this front loader – This washer has so many wash cycles its hard to pick my favourite. I saves money & water which is great on the budget. It fits big loads comfortably. It has a beep which tells you when your washing is done. It has short to long wash cycles. Show details ·  1

We have been missing out for soo long – Should have bought one of these years ago. We moved our laundry from downstairs up to the Garage, best thing we ever did. We have always had a top loader, but had to buy a front loader to fit the new laundry. Did a bit of research and settled on the Bosch, and it has not disappointed. Not only does it wash fantastically, it is very quiet doing so.… Read more

We have also noticed a water and power saving since installing it. We were worried about the noise as the laundry is next to the spare bedroom which the Grandchildren sleep in, it is seriously whisper quiet. The wife was worried about bending down to load/unload the machine, but this has not been a problem. It has a series of different wash cycles to suit all types of materials, including a 15/30 minute quick cycle. The only thing we wish it had is a spin only cycle, it does have a 15min rinse and spin cycle which works ok. The 1400rpm spin speed gets most of the water out of the washing making for faster drying times. This is a feature rich machine which we would highly recommend.

Great Washing Machine and Love It – I brought this washing machine 11 months ago when my 11-12 year old Bosch washing machine died after many many loads of washing. We are a household of 5 people and I easily do 2 loads of washing a day on average. My machine is mainly used by me and my teenage boys to wash their own clothes. I mainly wash on cold water and use Coles washing powder.… Read more

Some of my washes I use fabric softener as well as my husband likes it. I don't seperate my colours from whites as I don't have time to be doing all different washes - I just throw everything in and wash.

I use mainly the mix load however I do use quick, cottons and delicates when required. I don't think I have used any of the other settings yet - but I do change settings so maybe those programs are the settings I use but I haven't really gone through them. I find my clothes come out clean everytime and had no issues with colours mixing or whites going grey. I use the hot setting in cottons as I tend to use it for sheets and blankets. I have white sheets and all marks come out without any extra effort on my part. I do use delicates from time to time as needed and haven't suffered any shrinking - however do remember certain fabrics tend to shrink in hot washes which is one reason I always change to cold water. I found it easy to use straight out of the box and my teenage boys didn't even need to be shown how to use it, they worked it out easily.

I love that it has a 1200RPM spin mode. My last machine only went to 1000RPM, with the 1200RPM mode the clothes come out so dry. This is great for quick dry time on the line or if in the pinch the dryer. I can't believe how dry they are after washing. If you're not use to very fast spin cycles though you may find your clothes are stiff especially if your not using fabric softener or a dryer - this is not a machine fault. All you need to do is turn your spin cycle down to 1000 or less and you will not have that issue - alot of people don't know that most top loaders don't have different spin cycle speeds and tend to spin on a lower speed so find in front loaders - especially with high spin cycles their clothes come out different.

As I mainly use cold wash I find my cycles drop down to around 45 minutes from the 110 minutes it states at the start with a hot wash. 45 minutes is prefect for me as I tend to put a load on when I get up in the morning and by the time its done I'm ready to hang out after doing everything else - kitchen, lunches, breakfast etc. I have used the 15 minute quick wash and because it spins so fast only needs 10 minutes in the dryer to be ready to wear - prefect when you find a school uniform dirty at 7:30 in the morning and the kids need it by 8am. It is also very quiet compared to my old front loader. My old washing machine sounded like it was taking off everytime it hit the spin cycle which I found was normal for that machine - this machine you barely hear which is great when doing night time washes.

The 8kg size is great. My old machine was 6kgs so most of my laundry baskets (one in each bedroom) took 2 loads to wash whereas with my new machine I can do a whole basket in one wash. I found it also fitted into the space of my old 6kg machine with ease and was barely any bigger than my old 6kg machine yet has a larger washing capacity.

A few months after purchasing my machine I needed to contact Bosch about a warranty issue (which turned out not to be the machine but my blocked sink). I had no issue contacting the manufacturer as they now have a 24/7 hotline you can call. I found this so useful as I work full time and by the time I can call someone its outside business hours. I had someone looking at my machine within 2 days of calling them and then once discovered it wasn't the washing machine fault they waived the call out fee without me even asking as I accepted it was my own fault for not checking as an act of good faith. This service was fantastic and makes me feel comfortable knowing if something does go wrong the manufacturer does care.

I do tend to find the touch pad though isn't as sensitive as I would like. I find when pressing the button to change from 40 degree to cold it takes a few presses for it to pick up I have touched the pad to change the setting. It could be the angel I'm touching it though as I'm standing when I pressing the touchpad verses bending and touching it at its height.

My only real issue with this machine though is the end of cycle beep. At the end it does 3 loud high pitch beeps which is fine - however it keeps going every 5 minutes for half an hour. I don't always take my washing out right away if I'm doing other things and it really grates me hearing those beeps over and over again. I'm fine with a end of cycle beep as its so quiet when running you wouldn't know when its finished, I could even handle another beep at 5 minutes finished - but every 5 minutes for half an hour is a bit much. My poor neighbour can even hear it as its just one of those really high pitches that travel.

Even with the beep though I love this machine and I'm very happy with my purchase. I have no issues recommending this machine to other families and feel this is a great machine.

Great BUT – I only had this machine for a week it's super quiet washes great. It doesn't seem like a 10kg seems smaller to me.it has multiple settings they vary from 15min to 3n half hours I also love the fact that the machine dosen't need hot water it heats to certain temperature itself.I had one problem when I opened the box and put it in my laundry. The… Read more

cord is to short never seen a cord so short now I have to use extension cord. Its a bit annoying! Other then that can't fault it. I will update if something goes wrong

I purchased a Bosch for a higher cost. I chose to because I was told they were long lasting and good quality. Unfortunately, six months later and the door seal is broken. I was told by customer service that this isn’t covered , as it’s a consumable item. But, out of the five different front loaders I’ve owned , they’ve never had a door seal break, much less within six months of purchase. Not good enough Bosch. Show details

Terrible machine – I am really disappointed in this washing machine I bought it just over two years ago to replace my previous Bosch which had been a great machine that I had for about 15 years. This machine had to be replaced after two weeks as it made a loud banging noise when washing. The one it was replaced with sometimes doesn't empty properly and I have to put… Read more

the load through a spin cycle. Now the machine is leaking water out of the bottom of it. Of course it is 4 months out of warranty. When I called Bosch they wanted to charge me $110 for the call out fee and then $9.90 for every 6 minutes not including parts. There is no reason for it to be leaking. Since being installed, it hasn't been moved, we are a small household of two so it isn't used excessively and I clean out the filter regularly. A product like this should not be breaking down after 2 years. I won't buy a Bosch again.

So loud – washes well, but it is so incredibly loud. I live in a apartment building and I cringe every time I have to use the washing machine as I worry it is disturbing others. A Bosch technician came out and said it was working perfectly, so they're just incredibly loud. It bangs and knocks during the spin cycle and on the highest speed it sounds like a plane taking off Show details

The door lock clearly had a design fault – The machine is quiet and cleans ok. Auto dosage for detergent and softener was a feature we wanted. After 14 months the door locked and couldn't be opened. Therefore the machine is no longer able to operate. It's covered by warranty so I lodged a service request and described the issue. It took a week to get serviced, we live in Brisbane, a major… Read more

city for reference so a well is not exactly fast but it is what it is. The concern is that the technician turned up at the door with the required spare part, so Bosch clearly knows they have a faulty part. It was changed and working in 10 minutes, so this is clearly a very common repair. Next time I will be required to pay for this part, and the next one after that too. Hopefully next time it lasts longer than 13 months. Would I but another, I don't think so. It's sad as my last washing machine was also a Bosch and lasted 14 years.

Buy something else – We purchased new in April 2020. It died Nov 2023. Paid a repair guy to come and have a look and he diagnosed the fault as a main PCB (control board). Quoted $700 to repair. I expected more from a "quality" brand name like Bosch. Won't be purchasing Bosch products in the future. Show details

Do NOT waste your money- terrible machine – I bought this machine brand new at the end of 2020. In two and a half years I have had to replace the seal 3 times, costing almost the same price as the machine itself- as BOSCH don't cover seals in warranty. Every time I have dealt with customer service they gaslight me into thinking it is me that is washing "sharp objects" that are causing the… Read more

tears in the seal. I am always sure to wash our knives and scissors in the kitchen sink, not the washing machine!

The seal has broken in the exact same spot 3 times over, so that theory seems unlikely. What seems likely to me is that the rubber is of extremely poor quality and tears in the same spot as that is where water runs to fill the drum.

I previously thought BOSCH were a highly reputable company with products that withstand the distance- I was so wrong! Never again.

Fine for first year then constant issues! – After 1 year we had to get it serviced after it stopped working, just wouldn’t spin and even though we followed the instructions on how to clear the filter and everything it still didn’t work. Mechanic just serviced it, and told us to stop using so much washing liquid. We then had to get it serviced 12 months later after the same thing. Mechanic… Read more

said the same thing as last time.

Now another 24 months along and it’s now not draining the water, and when you put it on say a 45 minute cycle you check it after 5-10 mins and it’ll show 53 minutes on the washing machine timer. And I’ve had to manually drain the water out of it multiple times. Even after clearing the filter etc.

I wouldn’t recommend this washer to anyone, and wouldn’t recommend Bosch really either. Our vacuum also crapped itself after 12 months and we had to get it serviced. The tech couldn’t really find any issues but replaced the filter and gave it a good clean, it lasted 12 months and it did it again but tech couldn’t actually find a fault this most recent time.

Just do some research into other brands, and really look into reviews and common faults before just buying - we will be doing that ourselves this time too on the next washing machine to ensure we know what we are getting ourselves into.

Very quiet, washes well – Had to replace my very reliable Bosch washing machine of 20yrs. I wanted one with similar wash functions so chose the series 6. Very happy with the washing functions, energy/water efficiency & quiet operation. Not so keen on the I-Dos function as I don't use liquid fabric softener but prefer to use bicarb or magnesium sulphate instead. I-Dos… Read more

doesn't recognise the consistency when diluted in water & it won't dispense when I-Dos is turned off. Very odd considering that in the operation manual Bosch doesn't really recommend the use of traditional fabric softener.

Terrible washing machine, terrible rocket ship – After having a bad experience with LG, I decided to branch out and give Bosch a try. After reading the instructions, I discovered that the machine requires a spirit level and spanner to set up otherwise I would experience "excessive vibrations, noise and wandering" when attempting to use the machine. Although I was annoyed by this, I made the trip… Read more

to Bunnings to procure these items and finish my installation. I lay on the ground and painstakingly tightened and loosened the legs, checking the level as I went along. When it came time to run a test load of laundry, I sat opposite my new Bosch to check that all had gone to plan. As soon as the rinse cycle hit, my new Bosch Eco "Silence" just about took off on its own adventure around my laundry, damaging walls, the floor, and the plastic around the washing machine door as it rubbed against the cabinet. It was like the world's worst rocket ship attempting to launch from my laundry. It does not matter if you go out of your way to take the extra steps to tighten the legs against the ground, the inverter has a life of its own. I have attached a video and pictures so that you can see just how horrendously loud the machine is. You will also see in the video that there was no spirit level or spanner that was going to prevent the "excessive" noise or "wandering" of the machine. I was so excited to be doing my own laundry in my own house again after not having a working washing machine for a few months, but my Bosch has honestly made me regret not taking my laundry to a laundromat. I will be sharing more than a few very choice words with the retailer tomorrow.