"Ian" wrote in message
. ..
What is it about the front load washers that makes then twice the price of
the top load units?

The price.

I'm old enough to remember when all residential washers were front load. I
think they went to top load because it was less expensive to manufacture,
due to no need to seal the door against leakage. Also, the older
front-loaders were lower capacity.

I'm trying to cut through the sales talk. Are they actually "better"?
If
so, what do they do that the top load units don't?

The lack of an agitator is gentler on the clothes, and the front loaders use
less water. However the first of the new generation of front-loaders, the
Maytag's, brought he Maytag repairman out of retirement!

What most people don't know, is that you can buy a commercial front loader
for not much more than the overpriced residential front loaders. When I
bought my last washing machine, I bought a commercial Speed Queen top
loader, and it was $600, and the smallest commercial front loader was $1100.
The advantage of a commercial machine in a residential environment is that
it is unlikely to ever require service.