I've long heard this mantra that front load washers are more effective
at cleaning than a top loader.

I used front load Speed Queens at the local laundry for months. I
can't say I noticed any obvious evidence that it got the clothes any
cleaner. Seat of the pants, it doesn't make sense that it would. In a
front loader, the clothes are being plopped into the soapy water over
and over. In a top loader, the agitation action seems to be a more
active approach. Now that I've got a top load washer again, it seems
the clothes are at least as clean as they got in the commercial front
loader.

Have there been any actual studies made?

Doc writes:
I used front load Speed Queens at the local laundry for months. I
can't say I noticed any obvious evidence that it got the clothes any
cleaner.

My wife and I certainly noticed our clothes getting markedly
cleaner in our front-loader than they ever did in our
top-loader.

With five young kids, believe me, our clothes get dirty, and
we can tell when they're not getting clean. ;-)

Seat of the pants, it doesn't make sense that it would. In a
front loader, the clothes are being plopped into the soapy water over
and over. In a top loader, the agitation action seems to be a more
active approach.

I have exactly the opposite perception.

In a top-loader, the clothes are crammed up against each
other which means that there is little room for them to
actually move around and little room for water to flow
through them. The motion of the agitator causes the clothes
to move gradually and incrementally, and they tend to stay in
the same configuration they started in, pressed up against
the same clothes they started against. The motion and
rubbing action are both minimal.

In contrast, in a front-loader, both the clothes and the
water move a great deal. Since they are repeatedly
essentially thrown into the air and mixed up, there is a
great deal of water flow and rubbing action.

Now that I've got a top load washer again, it seems
the clothes are at least as clean as they got in the commercial front
loader.

1) You may have been overfilling the front-loader, which
would negate many of its beneficial effects.

2) Washers tend to perform better when they are newer, so a
new top-loader may perform comparably to an older
front-loader.

3) Maybe your clothes aren't very dirty :-).