CR used to list brands like Norge and M Wards as being "similar to" but that practice ended long ago with many other things they "used" to do.

At least for reliability ratings, the grouping of "Kenmore" consisting of WP, LG, etc. brands could cause potential harm to the brand's overall rating with just a few duds in the line.  Regardless of the particulars of who made what appliance in the brand line-up we can spot a mile away, I'm convinced the general buying public couldn't care less who made the product.  How shiny is it?  How much is it?  How much is the monthly payment?

 Why doesn't CR do its own testing? Our "leading consumer magazine" runs three washers of each tested model through over 1800 cycles to evaluate durability. 

Does CR disclose what kind of failures were documented in their survey? Or does calling for service because the appliance was not plugged in or the water turned off also count as a service call?

Thanks. Am not impressed then.

Also, why the need to test 150 models? Are there really 150 different washing machine platforms out there? From what I know, most manufacturers use as few platforms as possible and then add features as the price goes up - but it's still the same washing machine, just with more buttons (for the most part).

I'd argue CR's testing methodology has improved in the past twenty years. Unfortunately, the in-depth reporting of said tests is all but gone, which is hugely disappointing. You get a couple of dumbed-down paragraphs and a chart.

Real-world testing: It would be difficult to standardize test results if their loads were randomly soiled, both with washers and dishwashers. Having said that, I'd love to see their test of how well cookware is cleaned go beyond baked on brownie batter. Starch rings from cooking pasta/rice and the fond created by sautéing at high temps would be a nice addition.

Reliability reporting: I think they only go back five years in order to err on the side of skewing to newer models rather than letting an unreliable newer model ride the coattails of more reliable machines from 15 years ago. The opposite is also true: Ten years ago, LG washers were not very reliable. They've improved quite a bit, so it's good their new machines aren't dragged down by the problems of older models.

What I'd like to see:  Get rid of the red/clear/black circles that say "Excellent", "Very Good", etc.  Give us the actual number for each component of the test.  A washer may rate a Very Good for cleaning performance, but there's a 20-point range within that rating.  My decision to purchase a particular model may hinge on whether a machine is only a point or two away from "Excellent" or a point or two away from "Good."  They think we're not able to deal with numbers, I guess.

While probably none of you can understand it, here's a test from our consumer magazine. It's from 2010 and therefore can be downloaded for free.

Have a look.

Really? It's free to download for anyone - there's no membership required anytime (but one has to buy the more recent tests). Maybe the link won't work outside of Germany; that happens to me a lot with links from sears.com.

Edit: you're right... the link timed-out or something. Stupid internet.

One more try. Again, this is a free document (no membership, payment or anything required) because it's an old test from 04/2010.

(c) Stiftung Warentest

Louis, since you understand German, there are plenty more for free download on their website.