I had a front loading IFB Bosch 5.5 kgs which lasted me around 10 years and in Dec 2005 finally gave up the ghost. The repairs were too costly, so I hunted around the net. The reviews of Mouthshut guys like Nilbhat really helped in influencing my decision. Firstly yes its costly but what would you prefer 10 years of peace or 4 years of Iraq!!. Secondly I found out that a top loading is more resource and energy consuming vis a vis a front loading one, it washes better too. Now a load of 7 kg was the deciding factor as I have a 5 member family, what with son in laws and diapered grandsons dropping in for vacations. Our clothes lines are ALWAYS full anytime of the year, which means that a daily/alternate days usuage. Its silent and only makes a aircraft engine whining noise when its into the spin cycle, even that is not loud. Ensure that you read the manual and that the engineer does a proper leveling or the machine tends to ’wander’ due to vibrations in the spin cycle. The price is Rs30990/ and I paid Rs28700/- which includes buyback of the old IFB machine.