Our trusty Miele has been declared beyond economic repair after 13 years of steadfast service. Family of four, loads of washing, I do rinse my MTB gear but it’s still pretty horrid 6 months of the year.

Don’t really want to buy another Miele as they are silly money. Any recommendations for a tough machine with a decent (5 year) warranty. I had a quick browse and was overwhelmed. I see they all seem to be bluetooth connected now. What a time to be alive 😉

We seem to get on well with the basic Bosch dishwashers that are no frills and seem to last and last. I would be look8ng for a basic Bosch washing machine when our next zanussi breaks although we did get 10 yrs out of the first one (no kids at the time but dog and working outside with lots of outside hobbies/ big garden) . Weve needed washer dryers so haven’t had a Bosch machine as iirc they didn’t have one when we last needed a washer.

6 years and counting with our current Bosch with similar usage to you. Probably average at least a load a day. When we got it they were extending the warranty to 4 or 5 years as a special offer.

Two Bosch washers in the last 16 years, at one point 4 mountain bikers in the house plus other sports

We recently bought a new washing machine, after our ancient second hand Bosch (bought for £85) died after 5 years.

Wanting a new one to last a long time we looked into Bosch based on their reputation (and our experience), however it appears their newer models are not nearly so good and often have issues with the bearings going within a couple of years.
Apparently they’re now made in the UK instead of Germany and standards aren’t so good… dunno how true this is.

Anyway, have a look on Miele’s outlet website. It’s where they sell customer returns, ex-display models etc.

We got a good condition return (looks new as far as I can tell) for £400 with a 2 year warranty, costs almost £900 new.

9kg really brings the trails alive.

thanks all. We’ll have a look at Bosch then and the Miele outlet. Didn’t know about that. I can’t complain about our current one, it’s hard a hard paper round 🙂

@legs – 🙂 But I’m not sure if 44% water retention is compatible with a 9KG load limit. I think I might need to go custom!

I just buy any cheapo basic one thats on offer and replace when it stops working. Still get 5 years plus out of them and cheaper in the long run.

I’d go cheap and basic… Suspect the abuse MTB washing puts on them could kill the sensors and fancy bubble crap in posh ones.

15 years for a cheap Indesit,wedding gift in 1994 only changed as was apparently the wrong colour for new house, then pretty much one every two years since then can not seem to find anything that lasts the wifes two and three times daily abuse, last time I emptied the filter there was nearly £2 in it in various coins,god knows how it passes the drum seal, had Hotpoints, Bosch you name it currently on a Hoover been ok for two months!! Good luck in the search

My better half became inordinately excited by the concept of direct drive and bubble wash 🙂 What’d be ideal is two machines – a family one and a MTB one. That’s not going to happen tho.

The search continues…..

Check out LG machines.

Was sceptical, but wouldn’t go back to Bosch now.

Have 10 year drum warranties and special free offers extending overall 2 year warranty to 5 years.

The spin cycle in particular is usually very good (A rated), beating the German and Italian opposition.

Work smoothly and quietly. Some stupid gimmicks (Bluetooth, NFC etc) and sings an annoying song when you turn it on, although have found out how to turn it off by RTFM.

Worth serious consideration as price at below Bosch levels for Miele levels of warranty (with free extension).

Actually wash well too.

Alex, I’m intrigued as to what has gone wrong with your current machine to make it “beyond economic repair”? I thought that was the whole point of Miele, that they were built to last, and be repaired when failed.

Having recently had a washing machine fail and having found that it was essentially unviable to repair it because it has a sealed drum unit so no way to easily replace the bearings I’ve opted for a cheap basic machine. Most of the machine even at £6-700 apparently one with theses sealed units. They cost about £200 plus vat for them so by the time you’ve replaced them it’s sadly simpler to just replace the machine.

I’m awaiting a reply regarding my complaint about the life of the previous machine. Not holding my breath.

We had a Bosch. Last 20 years of fairly heavy use. When time came to replace it salesman said we’d be lucky to get a new one to last as long. All manufacturers had wised up to the fact that making machines last 20 years affects their sales. 5 years now seems to be the norm, and 10 years is almost unheard of.

@urbanhiker – we have one washing machine repair fella in the town. He called Miele and they gave him the cost of a long list of spares we need. It’s the same as a new machine and he was skeptical that the other parts were long for this world. I should have said ‘beyond economic repair according to grumpy bloke to looked at it’ 😉

LG’s defo on the list as well.

We really wanted to fix it from a cost/recycling point of view but even with replaceable parts, it’s hard to justify.

As others have said, get a cheap branded one (ours is Bosch), £250 on offer when we got it 2 years ago, A+++ rated. And when it breaks we will get another cheap one, to last a few years. Opposed to buying a Miele or top of the range Bosch for £900 and getting 15 years out of it, and using old technology 15 years later! Of course some people will need/want/think a Miele is better value in the long run.

I’m sure having an outdoor lifestyle breaks washing machines quicker!

Ethical consumer guide could be worth a read:

https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/home-garden/shopping-guide/washing-machines

Edit: just to repeat that imo Miele went downhill some years ago. Their products from some 25 years ago were far superior and importantly built to last. Prior to that I was getting through washing machines every 5 years with a family and frankly in this day and age we should not be treating appliances as virtually disposable. In the 21st century there’s no excuse for this.

Rantette over!

15 years for a cheap Indesit
…
only changed as was apparently the wrong colour for new house, then pretty much one every two years since then can not seem to find anything that lasts

The problem is 15 years ago they lasted better than they do now… Plenty of stories of washing machines lasting 10, 20, and even 30 years, but they’re far from the same washing machines that are coming off the production line today. Even the bottom of the range Miele offerings have sealed drums and limited warranties (by their standards).

I just bought a Samsung in the Black Friday sales with a 5 year warranty. Did a lot of research and the Korean brands (LG and Samsung) mostly come out on top for reliability. Behind the obvious Miele of course, but is the premium actually worth it? Cheaper machines seem to be a bit of a gamble, could last 10 years, or they might be kaput after 2… The 5 year warranties on both LG and Samsung seem to be mostly special offers and don’t come as standard, so check when you’re buying.

3 dogs, 3 bikers and a variety of muddy sports played by my lads. Our basic budget Bosch ran faultlessly for 14 years then died. I’ve replaced with a Hoover its been faultless for 3 years and has a long warranty. Also the Hoover washes clothes better than the Bosch did and leaves them less wet at the end. I think there’s very little in it now and take the view that 300 quid spent every so often is just how it is with white goods now.

You don’t need anything tough to wash mtb clothing. You just need to manually pre-wash all the shit off before puting in into the machine.
Jetwash/hose/kitchen sink all work pretty nicely for this procedure.

£50 S/H washing machines off gumtree seem to last me many years just fine.

I work in a school where it was decided we needed a washing machine. My suggestion, as it was to be used several times a day every day was that we buy something decent, verging on commercial considering the amount of use it would get.
Naturally I was outvoted, and in came a £199 Beko.
I was wrong, they were right.
Other than one minor issue where a disintegrating mop head blocked a filter it has been faultless. Two years on and no problems.
When it comes to a new machine at home I’ll not be spending a mint on a replacement Miele or a decent Bosch, I’ll be spending peanuts on a Beko

Was going to suggest Beko as well. I know they have a terrible reputation for being cheap and nasty, but I’ve one of the cheap-o ones, and while I might hose off some of my MTB stuff if it’s really caked, it normally just gets thrown in, and the Beko just tales care of it. Plenty of programmes for other stuff like shirts, and cooler/hotter washes.

I’d buy another if/when this one decides to die.

Another vote for bottom of the range Bosch. Not as many (useless) features as the more expensive models or the fancy digital display for internet connectivity but has the same guts where it counts.

The first I had lasted 15 years and replaced it about 2 years ago with another. I actually think I could have repaired the first one but easier to replace, cost about £235, so after 15 years of service deserved to be retired.

It got as hard a time as you can expect. Dirty MTB stuff also and I never bothered rinsing off. I also bunged my dirty MTB shoes from time to time and it brought those up like new.

I rely on Which for this sort of thing. Should be in your library. Bosch at the top iirc. I went for a Zanussi tho, being cheap. My previous IKEA/Whirlpool lasted 9 years (3 adults using)

I don’t understand the worry over putting filthy kit in the washing machine, it’s what they do. I’ve repaired a few of mine and it’s usually things left in pockets. I once cut a hole in the side of one to glue a chunk of the drum back in where a screw had made a high speed exit. Pushed back in place you wouldn’t know it had a 50mm hole in the case.

The sealed drum bearing thing is annoying, it’s what killed my last one and even if I could be arsed to strip and replace it myself, the parts cost was close to a new one, plus a day of my life.
I suspect washing odd loads like trainers kills the bearing.

Well that was a longer discussion that I was expecting 🙂 After much research, kicking of virtual tyres, reading reviews from certified nutjobs and weighing of options, we decided it was all a much of a muchness and went with what AO had in the sale for early delivery!

I think it’s a Samsung. I’d sort of lost interest/the will to live by then. Thanks for all the replies tho- definitely helpful.

Define economic repair. We had ours serviced with replacement dampers, seals and a few other parts. It was the same age as yours and had shared an equally hard life. Including being dropped when we moved!

Miele do an excellent service scheme. I reasoned the couple of hundred pounds would simply not buy anything with similar quality. It’s running faultlessly about two washes per day at the moment.

The engineer had serviced a machine that was 40 years old, that one presented a few challenges.

I don’t understand the worry over putting filthy kit in the washing machine, it’s what they do.

Because the muck accumulates in the gaps in the seals and will make a reappearance when washing the kids’ white school shirts in the next load. Mrs Daern is very unhappy when this happens.

You don’t need anything tough to wash mtb clothing. You just need to manually pre-wash all the shit off before puting in into the machine. Jetwash/hose/kitchen sink all work pretty nicely for this procedure.

Yup, this is pretty much what I do with the MTB gear, although the road stuff just goes straight in (I’m not that fussy!). Have a Samsung machine, middle of the road, now 10 years old and hasn’t missed a beat. If they’re all like this, I’d recommend it.

Amusingly, it has 20 programmes. I’ve used one (two if you include the rinse one I’ve used from time to time to clean it). It does, however, have a nice UI for changing the number of rinses, or speed of spin independently of the programme which I’ve used from time to time. Takes an hour to run a cycle and gets stuff clean.

The John Lewis own brand ones get a good write up in which. We got the 9kg one a year ago and it’s been doing a great job with biking kit and the masses of laundry that comes with kids and babies. Not fancy but works well and is very quiet. Replaced a previous mid range Bosch effort which was shit and died beyond economic repair in about 5 years.

£500ish quid with the good JL warranty.

Had a JLP one that lasted 13 years a 2 house moves. 2x daily washes for baby clothes did for that. Parents had a kitchen refit so gave us theirs which is the same model and is going fine at 14 years old. I think they are made by AEG.

The JL one does look AEGey. Certainly nice enough.

Bosch here. In the house when I bought out so not sure on age but at least 11 yo. 2 toddlers in the house so gets plenty of use. I think the presence of the (as was) 1 yo candy stored in the garage since the house move is reason of the magical life. I bet the candy won’t work of called upon now!
Just gone Bosch for a drier too after a mere 4 yo Hoover failed. Motor failed or some switch, so drum not moving but heating element still on…. Burnt a hole in a duvet and lucky it wasn’t much worse. It’s always been a bit temperamental and after its arson attempt I was glad to drag it out!

Seems pot luck, life of white goods.