I know I made the right choice here. After playing and trying out a few loads of laundry on a scratch and dent model I discovered theses are even better than I thought. I was really surprised to find the metal outer tub. Same goes for line hot filling. To be honest for any machine to take the place of a restored belt driven Whirlpool as a daily driver it has to be a top performer. Believe it or not this machine actually handles off balance loads better than the belt drive and is slightly quitter as well. That says something right there in itself.  When I bought it I felt like I was travelling back in time because only something like this was the norm 30 years ago. And the best part is a commercial grade machine without the coin slot or ugly push button/card activation panels.

So far I am exceptionally impressed. For those who can; buy one now if you want one before the front loads take over. Better yet buy some now and keep them in storage for years latter; these will be classics.   

....but V-Zug have plastic outer tubs and I'm sure that Miele do on at least some machines too.

As far as I'm aware, the only manufacturer of domestic front-load machines universally used a metal outer tub is ASKO.

Speed Queen top load washers have a folded piece of paper tucked away in the console behind the control panel. It has the wiring diagram both schematic and block views plus a detailed cycle timer chart. It is not glued though to the back panel like on the 90s Whirlpools. One interesting thing of note, the AWN412 has longer rinse and final spin times over the AWN432s and AWN542s which was actually a factor in me deciding this machine. A 3 minute rinse is kind of short, a 4 minute is more appropriate. In reality both have about a 30 second motor pause before shifting functions so the 3 minute rinse becomes 2:30 becomes a really short, 3:30 is better. Same for the delicate final spins, 3 minutes is way to short, over 4. I actually ran a load of delicates on my AWN412 at full water and times it out, at 2:10 the pump was finally starting to draw in air but the clothes were still near sopping wet, the extra minute makes the difference on my machine.

The cycle times for all 3 models are here starting on page 33, or that being page 35 in the PDF viewer. Note the differences in timing between the 412 and 432/452.

http://www.pwslaundry.com/files/docs/alliance/ALPM-201520.pdf

That is something I wasn't expecting. Still cant believe it. I cant LOL. Its one of those things I had to convince myself I would never find in a new machine and that it was not so bad but in reality I hate plastic outer tubs as they are much, much more susceptible to sludge build up.  

Congratulations Robert on your new washer, we have sold over 150 of these machines over the last five years and the simplicity of them is refreshing, but the best built new washer by a country mile is a Speed Queen Front Load machines, they not only have a Stainless Steel inner AND outer tubs and real HOT fills and they will last at least twice as long as as SQs TL machines while more than saving the user the entire purchase price back over the life of the washer compared to the TL SQs.