Which washing machine to buy?

What experience do you have with washing machines currently available in stores? Which are good and which are bad? I have the impression that sellers rather recommend what they currently have in the store to sell. And they have no knowledge of failure rates or build quality. Does the brand matter? Are some brands significantly better than others? Bosch, Electrolux, Indesit, Samsung, or any others to look at? Or maybe it's the case nowadays that everything is made more or less of the same quality and the brand doesn't matter? So cheap Indesit will last longer than expensive Samsung, if we just find a good piece?