Good, reasonable washing machine

[Tiredprobably]

Ours has died. Any recomendations for under £200?

In all honesty, a machine at that price won't be any good. The sums just don't add up - what it costs to make, versus the spend. The manufacture isn't up to it. You'd be better off contacting say the Red Cross who do refurbed, good quality machines and asking if they have one in stock - we just moved in to a place that had a pretty decent Bosch, but we have our own machine so we donated it with the landlord's permission. And we got a tabletop dishwasher ourselves that way which was going strong for years, and we only stopped using it when we moved in here, which has an integrated. The Red Cross make some cash, and you get a good quality machine for a snip. Win/win. A £200 machine, and it's going to wash badly and break fast, because they will have made so many compromises to the price point.

www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7640267.htm

saw this one while in a store the other day..I know it's slightly over but maybe worth the extra?

if I see any more I'll post (looking for a friend of mine on similar budget too) :o

there's a few Indesits too under the £200

The website I tend to rely on for advice on this stuff is this one. It's run by engineers and they aren't affiliated to anyone, so they tend to offer honest advice.

The most useful point was that you should almost always go for the most basic machine of any brand, because the manufacturing quality is usually identical across the whole range, and so all you pay loads more for is extra programmes most people won't ever use.

It also taught me how important it is to run a boil wash with nothing in the machine, and to use a powder detergent at least some of the time. Otherwise sludge builds up on the pipes and corrodes them away. Calgon's a waste of money but that maintenance wash really isn't, it seems. It steered me away from a washer-dryer, too.

currently using an indesit - which cost less than £200. It has been running well for the last four years. Before that my previous Indesit lasted about 9 years - another cheap one.

I wash at least five/six loads per week -s o it isn't as if it doesn't get used.

IMO better to buy the cheaper one, forget about the extended warranty - and expect it to last a few years and then replace.

Well, I had a look on Which, and they agree Indesit is best at that price point.

Indesit IWD61450 is top at the under-£200 level, at 69% (main compromise is on noise rather than performance) and then they recommend Beko WM5101W - which has a top rating for brand reliability. The next 2 machines rated highest are Candy, but it says brand reliability is so poor it gets no stars at all.

I agree that the best is to either buy cheap or buy really, really good, refurbed. Medium price machines aren't IMO more reliable - our from-new Zanussi died just outside guarantee. I bought a refurbed Bosch because they used to make such great machines it seemed worth it, as the washing quality was so ace, and it was the right decision for us. But I appreciate other people would rather go for new every time.