Pierre, you refuse to understand front loading washer's approach to doing laundry.  You simply cannot think about appproaching how to do laundry in an old way with new technology without poor results.  Every front loader I've ever come across--european as well as modern ones, do not do spins between and after every wash & rinse for delicatre and hand washable fabrics.  My Frigidaire doews not do any spins between rinses on my perm/press/wrinkle free cycle until right before the final rinse.  I have no issues at all with what I consider poor rinsing, if I did, I'd be itching, and my clothes come out extrmely clean, better than my old Lady Shredmore.  And my stuff is lasing longer with a front loader than with the GE Filter-flo or the Lady Shredmore. 

I think the future of TL machines (roughly 1996 and older) could look a lot like the present day Cuba with regard to pre-1959 American cars, which are kept running as opposed to getting crushed through manufacture of replacement parts or adapting non-original components.

With all the boomer parent households currently being liquidated, there's no better time to snag a capable TL machine that was built not only to perform, but also to last.  Before the rest of the country catches on.

Another part of the problem is the marketing of these front load machines.  Fill it to the max and only use a teaspoon of detergent.  That's what you hear from the salesperson when looking at an expensive washer.  Its a recipe for disaster!

Malcolm

My two cents:

• I'm 54 years old and I've seen the good that the EPA regulations have done for the country's environment within the span of my lifetime. Yes, I'd rather see the government get MUCH tougher on corporations and industry polluters, but face it, we consumers outnumber them by some astonishing number. Using less water, less carbon and producing less waste are good practices, even if they ruin a little bit of our fun.
• I LOVE vintage top loaders. I LOVE using them once in a while for fun. Since I lived in Europe in the late Seventies and saw how their washers (mosty Mieles) worked, you cannot convince me that any American made machine can or could match them in performance, washing, rinsing or spinning. I don't know about new American FL's; I have NO DOUBT that the greedy sh*ts that are in charge of manufacturing them can't find a way to render them ineffective or unreliable to realize a greater profit for their stockholders and to build their useless wives another walk-in shoe closet.
• I have an LG front loader and I use it all the time because nothing else does a better job or is easier to use.
• Face it, this is what I tell my students about food and cooking in America: the vast majority of Americans don't give a damn about their laundry, if it went into the washer and then into the dryer, as far as they're concerned the job is done. Do you think 99% of Americans can tell whether the detergent residue has been rinsed out of their clothes???? Do you think they would care???? Some might care if the fabric softener left their clothes smelling funky but that is even doubtful. I had a friend in high school who smelled of Wisk (remember that smell?) all day long because, I must assume, her mother used that product and continued to use way too much of it until we graduated. No one cares about laundry anymore. My Grandmother cared, and told us about soaking clothes in lukewarm milk and squeezing lemon juice into the rinse cycle to remove the soap and freshen the clothes, but that is only because she was a full-time housewife who was never given the opportunity to run Wall Street as she should have. Remember, we live in a country full of people that give their children Pop-Tarts for breakfast and think they're giving them good nutrition.
• We are a select small group who have, hallelujah, found each other and enjoy community over these issues. Hate to be the cold wet dishrag of reality but nobody else cares about this. Americans have been buying crappy washing machines for four decades and will continue to do so. I can't count how many people have asked me what appliance to buy, when they find out I know about this stuff, and then go  and buy whatever piece of crap the salesman directs them to.

This article is so full of bulls;;t, the righter knows nothing about washers his only purpose is to rail against any goverment regulations. He is from [ the competitive enterprise institute ] after all which is a right wing think? tank. I am really disappointed that anyone from this group would even post this nonsense in a serious forum.