Well, at long last my ancient Bosch washing machine has developed enough faults to warrant replacing it.
It has served me well, having been used at least once a day every day for the last 14 or so years and the only problems so far had been a couple of switches break and the brushes went once. They don't make 'em like that anymore!!
I bought my last one on recommendation from my cousin who used to repair electrical stuff, he told me not to buy a Miele or whatever costing big ££ and instead just get a German built Bosch that didn't have too many features as they never go wrong. His suggestion of how to sort out a good machine from a bad one was by how solid the side panels are which is a good indicator of the build quality. Cheap British ones had bendy crap side panels and decent German ones were built like tanks and lasted forever he told me. He was quite correct and it hardly had any faults over the years whilst my in-law's have been thuogh various Hotpoints etc in that time and their machines probably get half the use mine has had.
But the seal now leaks, the pump has just expired and it has got to the stage where you know another fault won't be far behind so maybe it's time to move on
So, what's good, not too expensive, reliable and built to last?
TIA