Newton, Iowa Maytags

[cehalstead]

I went to my "home-town" appliance dealer today and bought a new Maytag dryer. Here's the sad part of the story: Maytag makes but one washer and one dryer in Newton. The rest are outsourced. The salesman told me that if I had had Maytags since 1980, I would not be disappointed with the new dryer. I have a '97 Dependable Care washer, and believe it or not, the consoles are very much alike. If I hadn't had to buy new tires for my car today also, I might have given some thought to buying a new washer while they are available. Quite a contrast in manufacturing styles, compared to the post I just read on the vintage thread about all the different models Maytag made in the '60's......

 

[toggleswitch]

PICS PICS PICS!
please

 

[cehalstead]

pics pics pics

Will take pics as soon as it is delivered....which will be Saturday morning. They offered to deliver it next day (today), but I could not be away from work during their delivery window....

 

[jasonl]

Which one of the washers are still being made in Newton?

 

[deeptub]

This is the Newton washer, the design we still love.

http://www.maytag.com/mths/products/product.jsp?model=LAV3600AWW

 

[jasonl]

Love the LAV

The LAST, very last of a great legacy :'(

Well, at least there's Speed Queen

 

[mayken4now]

cool, wish you luck in getting the washer too. Just keep the faith.

Steve

 

[agiflow]

...umm..doesn't WP still make a porcelain tub washer with porcelain coated tops?

 

[gansky1]

Until you get to the very top of the line models, there is no porcelain on Whirlpool tops or lids.

Having said that, the porcelain on the Maytags is nothing to write home about, I've seen many a lid rusted all around the edges and the top lip of the opening rusted because the porcelain is sooooo thin. I think another memeber had some issues with rust in the wash basket as well - also rather thin coats of porcelain on them.

 

[tomturbomatic]

At a glance in that small picture, it looks almost like a WP control panel. This is what can happen to a company that is too conservative to innovate and then cannot keep up with the times. Maytag had time, from the beginning of the 1960s with the increasing capacity wars, to do something about their capacity, but it was 66 or so before they came out with the nominally larger tub. By the early 70s, even Frigidaire had gone to a redesigned larger machine, but Maytag would not. If management had done something then, Maytag would have had a large capacity machine in production and the increasingly poor management of the company would not have squandered money to buy a company like Norge, which deserved to die, to get a large capacity top loading washer which did more than any other Maytag appliance to destroy the company's reputation for quality and reliability. Maytag was known primarily for its washers and when the washers were no good, people got a very quick and rude education that Maytag no longer stood for quality. Most people came to know Maytag because of Maytag washers and it was on that product's good reputation that they ventured to buy other Maytag appliances.

 

[jasonl]

Kenmore elite top loaders have Porcelain on top, but a whole lot of plastic underneath.

 

[angus]

Greg- I had the tub rust issue with my LAT 206 after only one year. That was bad enough - but then on four separate occasions the replacement tub arrived in worse shape than the one I had in the first place.

 

[panthera]

Maytag was

quite something. I remember their "compare and buy" display, where they had pictures and samples of the different components they used and those from other manufacturers...I was especially impressed by their drive belts and water hoses.
You can fool people into buying a product because of the (formerly) valuable brand name once.
But once is enough - you now have made an enemy for life. Someone who will tell all their friends and acquaintances in great detail that "Maytag" is no longer quality but...
Actually, we don't know what it will become. Whirlpool might do something smart and use them as leverage to re-establish a reputation for quality in the US market.
Now wouldn't that be something?

 

[runematic]

1 pic

 

[runematic]

another

 

[runematic]

lastly

 

[johnb300m]

hope with whirlpool?

after what Whirlpool did to KitchenAid, a premium brand, i don't think there's any hope for Maytag. They'll go the way of KA, just watch.

 

[panthera]

careful John,

You are sooo right - but you wouldn't believe the mails I've got from some folks defending them as the last bastion of America...Funny, I have nothing but good to say about Frigidaire cause I like the Uni-, Multi-, even - möge die Götter uns beistehen - Rollermatics, but intellectually I know that today they are just another SOS part of an evil imperium.
And lots of folks around here see Whirlpool through the filters of their wonderful machines from bygone eras.
I was trying to be optimistic, sort of whistling in the dark. After all, evil Whirlpool may be - but they also know what happened to the US domestic car industry. Given a choice, Americans will pay more for higher quality once they have learned what defines it. Just look at the sales figures for Toyota versus GM...
(Though I must say, GM is really beginning to improve their quality - my folk's new Malibu was only in the shop three times in the first nine months.)

 

[agiflow]

Your constant knock of WP is TIRESOME, GIVE IT A REST PAL!! You are entitled to your opinion...anyone here for or against WP speak your peace....i see what you are saying...man can you just lay the F off?