They are abysmal machines
But I guess as long as Ariston4life is aware of that, whether he buys it or not is his choice.
To me they encapsulate everything I hate in a washing machine; awful build quality, lies about capacity on some models (the 7 and 8kg ones have the same size drum as the 6kg model)those pathetic slow tumbles and strangely short faster tumbles, which I would put down to a seriously underpowered motor, timed fills for rinses, unecessary balancing acts. It seems they only sell for 3 main reasons, they look "modern", people who were loyal to the Hotpoint brand in the past will look into them, and they have lots of buttons and features which make them look good on paper, but are really completely useless and serve no purpose in real usage and they are reasonably competitively priced.
I'm sure Ariston4life's mind is already made up, but thats my feelings towards them, I hope if you do go through with the purchase, that you're very lucky and get one that will last at least a few years without too many repairs.
Matt
Matt