Growing up, my mother had a top loader, which continued to be a thing for two reasons. The greater capacity was part of the appeal, but it was mainly one unmistakable advantage; if you found an errant sock or any item that had missed the load, you could just open the lid and add it.

While changing times means I have less space to play with, and a front loader requires less space, so I found myself with my previous machine, which did come with a pause feature, but it was a long time (especially if you are looking at it) before the door lock released and I could open it.
It really meant that the errant sock was not going in the active load.

So it was a revelation to find a front-loading machine that opens in a count of not much more the one-to-three after hitting pause.

This alone is worth five stars.

Capacity is reasonable at 9 kilos.

The jury is still out on the iDos system – however it seems to work for the handful of times I have used it, having now finished my regular box of powder and switched to liquids, which is no great shakes, provided you use a regular liquid, any brand of choice is good, which is convenient.

The machine has a good range of the usual choices, with hand-wash cycles and eco-cycles, and seems to do a good job. The range of time varies largely. Eco’ and cotton potentially take 5 hours for a full machine, but the quick 15 of 30 min wash, depending on the weight of clothes, works well for lightly soiled washes.

In conclusion, I really like this washer, and while I am paying a premium for the Bosch brand name, it does offer features that justify that price.
Reliability is something as yet untested, but it seems well screwed together.