Front load machines are superior to top load machines
As someone who has both a front loader and a top loader, I 100% disagree with this. We got a Whirlpool Duet I think in 2007 to replace our older direct drive. Trashing that direct drive was the biggest mistake I ever made especially since, looking back, all it needed was a new motor capacitor. While you are correct that front loaders do use less water, are gentler, and spin faster, every single top loader I have ever used has done a vastly superior job cleaning. Any dog hair, hard crumbs, or even dirt never comes out with the front loader. It can't rinse worth the plastic it's made of.
I currently have a 1994 Maytag Dependable Care LAT4914, and it runs circles around the front loader. The Maytag, even on the regular fabrics heavy soil cycle on extra large, a load is completed in only 30 minutes. Sure, front loaders have a quick wash cycle that can compete with top loader times, but if your clothes are actually dirty, quick wash is not going to actually clean them. Quick wash only works if your clothes just barely smell bad. It's useless beyond that.
I also have a 1986 GE Filter-Flo WWA8320 that I bought in late 2019 and refurbished. I haven't used it as much, but it does an even better job cleaning than the Maytag. I washed a large blanket in it that was covered in dog hair on the regular fabrics with extra rinse cycle, and on the first rinse it had collected so much hair in the filter pan that a massive hairball spilled over the rim of the pan back into the wash LOL.
I can soak my clothes in mud and let them dry and both my top loaders will get them completely clean in only 30 minutes, whereas my front loader will take 95 minutes to maybe get most of the dirt out. My college dorm has Speed Queen front loaders and even they don't do as good a job. My clothes always come out smelling musty, and yes we leave the doors open.
People like to argue that old top loaders tear up your clothes and praise front loaders for being gentle. I have been using that Maytag as my daily driver my entire life, and during that time it has only ever ripped one article of clothing, which only happened because it was severely overloaded. I am currently wearing a 10 year old tshirt that has no holes, rips, tears, or loose threads and it's still just as thick as it was when it was new. It has seen regular use since the day I got it and it has only ever been washed in my 27 year old Maytag. This isn't the only old shirt I have that's just like new either. Never once have I had to buy new clothes because the old ones wore out. Heck, I have 30 year old towels that are still very fluffy and have only been washed in my Maytag and its predecessor, an LAT4910. Top loaders only wear your clothes out or rip them up if you load them incorrectly, overload them, select the wrong water level, or select the wrong cycle. If you use them correctly, your clothes will last just as long as your top load washer. Maybe even longer.
One more thing I would like to add, I hate the ergonomics of front loaders. It is so uncomfortable having to squat down and bend over just to load and unload the thing. I hate it so much. Yes, I know they make pedestals for that very reason, but why would I go buy a pedestal for my front loader when, for the same price, I could just go buy a refurbished direct drive that doesn't even need a pedestal?
