Daniel,
Stay away from European Whirlpool completely. Buy Miele, AEG, Electrolux -
Better, restore an earlier UK machine.
But modern Whirlpool and Bauknecht are just not worth the money.
I have had very good performance out of my LG, but have heard nothing good about their service outside of Germany.
Of course, if you have your heart set on a TL, then think of ways to maximise performance and minimise water use. I know folks in Colorado (serious water rationing) who reuse the wash water, (suds saver, but manually) going from the first very hot wash down to warm. Then the last rinse for the first rinse and so on.
As someone pointed out a while back on another thread, if you only listen to your head, you won't be happy, either.
(But at least your friends and neighbours over in green Germany will be rooting for you...)