It's a shame....
I am all for innovation, product improvement, and just plain "making better", but I am terribly skeptical of new appliances these days. I have never openly embraced change anyway, which may be a bad thing, but there is just no comparison between a FF, even the final versions which I've heard had leak prone tubs and transmissions that leaked oil more quickly than their older siblings (just what I've heard). If you stand in front of a 1996 or later GE washer with a transmission(not the Hydrowave models), watch the machine while it's agitating and you can see the whole cabinet twisting and shifting due to torque from the transmission. I am instantly reminded of Mom's 1961 Kenmore 70, which I would rountinely sit on, and say "what a joke" that new GE might just collapse or bend if a 10-year old sat on it.
I firmly believe that most of the cheapening of appliances over the past 20 years or more is due to the inability of the appliance makers to maintain prices consistent with manufacturing costs, in other words - due to consumers, so we've been handed what we asked for. Since prices didn't go up, quality had to go down.
I paid $358 (on major sale) for a Kenmore 70 series new washer in the summer of 1986. It's retail price was $479. You can go to Sears and buy a Kenmore 500 for that today at certain sale times, more than 23 years later. Sears either made a mountain of money on my purchase, OR they've cheapened the new stuff. I think the later mostly.
Here's an interesting thought: Most of us here grew up fascinated with by the washing machines that were around us. I wonder what the 3-year olds of today who are doing the same would or will say about our old-school Kenmores, Maytags, and GEs when those kids are in their 20s? In the U.S., they've been exposed to the Hydrowaves, the Whirlpools that stop when the lid is opened, the poorly made front loaders ad nauseum, and the Calypsos and Cabrios (the list goes on). Could be some interesting insight one day to talk to one of those guys...
Gordon