I have a Miele (the model before the honeycomb design, so I can't speak to wear and tear issue). You can really pack the clothes in despite the small drum size, so normal loads are not a problem. Today I did a load with full and fitted queen size sheet, several towels, and misc. underwear, shirts, socks. No problem.

My mom has the Bosch and after being at my house for two weeks says my machine gets stuff cleaner than hers. For one thing, the temperature goes higher (190--got whites that haven't been white in years really white again), and you can customize the loads a lot more.

The big downside to the Miele is a regular load takes 146 min., though there is a 40 min. "quickwash". I kept my old dryer since Miele doesn't make gas dryers and they are more energy efficient than electric, according to the sales man.

Not knocking Bosch (my mom likes hers), but I'd buy Miele again in an instant.

We bought the Bosch premium set, mainly because the extra capacity Mieles came out AFTER we had ordered and received the Bosch (and after our electical lines had been installed). If I were doing this over again, I would probably go with the Mieles because of the superior engineering and customer service, in addition to the features such as the honeycomb design (my son's soccer short drawstrings have gotten stuck in the Bosch's drum), durability, plus - and this is important - vibration, which I understand is somewhat less in the Mieles because of their use of hydraulic suspension. Bosch uses a lot more plastic inside and out. That being said, we've been quite happy with our Bosch W and D - partially because they replaced 20 year old Kenmores that didn't clean, used 50 gallons of water per load, and sounded like 10 cats were being strangled while loads were being washed. They use very little water, get our clothes very clean, accept delicate items, etc. We've learned to live with the vibration (even after the solution proposed by Bosch was to use double-sided tape on the floor...sigh). I also loved the fact that Mieles now come with stainless exteriors as an option, which I acknowledge as a cosmetic indulgence but pretty dandy in our pretty open laundry alcove in view of our all-stainless kitchen! Good luck!

Does the Miele really take 2.5 hours to do a regular load???

I have a new(er) Miele (purchased it in Jan '06). The "normal" cycle takes 58 minutes, the sanitize cycle takes 144 minutes. The one thing I've found very odd with this set compared to what I was used to is that the dryer has my clothes dry long before the wash cycle is finished. I was used to the dryer going two hours vs 35 minutes for a wash cycle (old Maytag washer and gas dryer).

Top Loaders almost always reversed the times that you have now. It does take that long to clean and rinse properly depending on the cycle. The drying time is short due to high spin speeds that extract more water

The total amt of time you spend now is probably the same as before, however now your clothes are clean

I've had the Bosch Axxis+ (2460) washer & Axxis (3510) dryer for 4 four years and want to get larger capacity now. Looking at either the Bosch 700 or new Miele 4840. I know Miele is supposed to be better quality, but I don't understand why there's no profile wash and why a 4.0 capacity washer would recommend you not wash a comforter that's bigger than full size. I have a king and really want to be able to wash it. Is that just a cover-their-butt recommendation? It's in the user's manual.