New washing machine - Miele or Bosch?

[parentallyinept]

My crappy indesit washing machine has died and I need a replacement ASAP. Looking around, Miele and Bosch seem to be the two makes most recommended , the only difference I can see between the 2 seems to be price.

We are a family of 5, including 2 still in nappies and basically little messy monsters, so I need something tough and hard-wearing given that our old machine is barely 2 years old.

Basically, miele or bosch (or indeed another make if good!), and recommendations on models would be helpful.

I love my miele. Look for one that comes with a 10 year guarantee.

Bosch.

We've had ours 13 years, it has seen 3 children through terry nappies and much more besides. No point in me saying the model as it is so old. Part of me hopes it breaks so I can get a bigger one, it is only a 5kg machine and bosch do 8kg ones now.

I'm definitely swaying towards the Bosch, for the price if nothing else! I cannot see why the Mieles are so much more expensive (and the Boschs aren't cheap in comparison to a lot of other WMs!). Perhaps someone could enlighten me...

Bosch! We got the exxcel 7 and i love it! Loads of great options and, most importantly for us it has a child lock too!

Miele - they have cast iron bases so your delivery man will hate it but it means it's super solid. Where cheap machines have plastic parts, theirs are metal, so there's a lot less to break.

A Child lock would definitely be a bonus as I have a 2.5yo and a 15mo. I didn't know such a thing existed! Is yours a recent purchase, ie an up-to-date model?

I have had a Miele for nearly 10 years now. It came with a 10 yr parts and labour warranty. We had the engineer out for the first time about 6 mths ago. He fixed the leak (door seal) and when he checked the computer, he told us that the machine had done double the cycles expected for a machine of it's age.

I don't know about Bosch, so I can't comment, but I would certainly recommend Miele.

Miele if you can find a 10 year guarantee offer on anywhere. Do shop around carefully as some prices are outrageous!

We were told by a washing machine engineery type chap that Miele are the only brand built to last; standard life assumed for any other brand is about 6 - 7 years - our Bosch only lasted 5, replaced it with a Miele.

I have bored myself stupid done a bit of research on this as I have just bought a new WM.

I went with a Bosch. I did speak to our WM repair man when he declared the old machine all but dead and he said Miele are very good but obviously very pricey (but factor in extended guarantee etc).

He also said that Bosch was taken over by/took over Siemens a few years ago. Bosch are still very good but they are not as great as they were 10-15 years ago as they are now aimed at mid market and Siemens are the higher end ones.

Not sure if any of that helps

In the end I got sick of looking and just went for a Bosch one that had consistently good reviews online etc.

think most modern brands have a door lock?

Miele.

Our last one died a month ago, after 11 years. We've bought another one.

We made the mistake of buying a non-Miele dryer. It died after 2 years. We now have a Miele.

Miele dishwasher also 11yo, still going strong.

Had a Bosch fridge which died long ago.

Now I'm torn again! Whilst I don't really want the extra expense of the Miele, I don't want it to be another expensive mistake a la my previous machine

I'll have to see what sort of offers are about for the Jubilee bank holiday.

Thanks for all your input.

if I go for an 'inferior' make, will I always regret not getting a Miele?!?

I remember when I got this excited about shoes and holidays!

Parentallyinept - I love my miele enormously. If DH and I ever divorce I've told him that I want custody of the washing machine. When I was waiting for it to be delivered I was so excited that I shared the good news with random parents at the school gate.

Well our next one will be a Miele. After a £400 repair on a 5 yr old Bosch it seems they are not what they used to be the. The engineer said that Bosch is only really mid range now and I must admit it has needed more repair than I would have expected of anything German. So Miele with the 10 guarantee it will be, but saving up first of course!

Well, I can't say if you'll regret not getting one, but you will never regret it if you DO get one.

We got a Bosch. 6 months ago. Still in love with it. Hated my indesit totally.

Miele is great if you have the £££. We didn't. German friends regularly recommend Miele. Whichever you go for I think you'll be safe. You can get it off appliances online. Brilliant next day service. Free delivery. And cheaper than currys et al. (no I do not work for them).

Our old Indesit lasted 13 years, and the Bosch is only about a year old. The childlock isn't just a door lock,it means that if (when) DS3 turns the knob that changes the program it just ignores it and carries on doing what it should. Seeing as he seems to do this several times each time it's in use, that is a total godsend!

We bought ours from appliancesonline.co.uk and can totally recommend them - service is fab. Also we got our Bosch dishwasher and our Bosch fridge-freezer and our Bosch tumbledrier from them too. I seem to have a bit of a crush on Bosch They were the best price online too, although of course there might be better offers around.

Bosch and Siemens are separate companies, but they co-own BSH which designs and builds the household appliances for both of them, so there is quite a lot of commonality. Siemens tend to be a bit more expensive but the two brands overlap. I have observed Fridge/freezers which are identical apart from the name badge.

We have always been very happy with Bosch but have bought a couple of Siemens appliances lately. We have a Miele vacuum which is great.

For reliability, the mid-range of a good maker is usally best. The top-of-range of any brand tend to be more complicated, so have more to go wrong and cost more to mend, but the working parts are usually mostly the same.

It's my opinion that people buy Bosch or Miele appliances depending either on which price suits them better, or on who they want to impress.

When I'm feeling less crabby, I say "Buy Bosch, or Miele if you can afford it"

PigletJohn said what I was going to, which is if you can afford it get a Miele, if not then a Bosch.

Quick update - I'm the proud new owner of a Miele Premier 3000, courtesy of a very good deal at Comet as being an ex-display model. I'm officially in love!

Thanks for all your help.