Product review (5 stars): 5 years strong
I see that there are a lot of 1* reviews here and I'm hoping that everyone got theirs fixed or replaced and that Maytag has "righted" the situation, both for those here, as well as potential customers. On other sites, I saw many positive reviews, but I have trust in Amazon's review community, and it concerns me that there are so many unhappy customers. I was thinking of buying the matching dryer, but am hesitant, due to all these neg's. I bought this washer (MHWE450) in 2009, and have been very happy with it, for the past two years (UPDATE: 5 years!). Maybe I got one that was built when the "boss" was in...

We are two people, no kids, so we don't do a ton of laundry. Two or three loads per week, maybe. Only had one problem and it was when my man turned off the water (at the source) for a storm or vacation and forgot to turn it back on. The machine did all sorts of beeping and flashing, but once I figured out the problem and turned the water back on, it was fine and has been ever since.

The Fresh Vent spin system thingie is super-cool. Keeps laundry fresh by tumbling and blowing air for 10 hours after the cycle is done. Our machine is three floors away from our living area, so we often forget about the load - this has saved us NUMEROUS times! WELL worth it, for that feature, alone!!

We have noticed that we save a considerable amount of drying time, as most clothes are almost dry when they come out of this washer. We have an old, second-hand Maytag Ensignia Dryer that works quite well. And, we rarely ever use the jet-engine speed hi-RPM spin cycle in the washer! Often, our clothes will be in the dryer for 10 minutes, and then it beeps that they are done! And, they are! Amazing!

We have the white one and put it on a black 15" pedestal and it looks really sharp.

PS: to avoid "smelly washer syndrome", we ALWAYS leave the door & detergent drawer open, to air dry, after each load. Once a year, we use an Affresh tab in the Clean Washer cycle, just in case, but it never needs it. And, we use "Soap Nuts" (bought here) for detergent and some white vinegar in the rinse slot/section. We never, ever use fabric softener in the machine. - N.B.: the detergent drawer will get slimy/moldy after a while (we think we have highly-mold-susceptible water, since this happens to many fixtures in the house, despite a whole-house filtration system; plus, it's more prevalent than in ANY other home in which we've lived - so, you may not have this issue) - it's a good idea to pull out the detergent drawer monthly (open it, press the grey tab down & pull all the way out), look inside the machine and scrub with a microfiber cloth and your favorite mold-killing cleaner (we just use water and vinegar, as we do not keep bleach in the house), and also rinse/scrub the drawer as needed.

UPDATE (2012-Jan): After much deliberation (very much!), we decided to buy the "matching" dryer (mgd500) and stack it (saving space, and installing a sink). To do this, we had to take the washer off the pedestal. We inserted the orange transport bolts into the back, put it on its side, and removed the pedestal. I decided I wanted the washer to sit a few inches off the floor (for loading ease, as well as possible, minor flood protection), so the guys built a rolling platform (with locking wheels, of course) & mounted it to the bottom, where the pedestal was mounted. They righted the washer, rolled it into place, checked for level, locked the wheels, and I did a Drain & Spin cycle on Extra High, to test the stability. After reading all the negative reviews, I was really worried. To my pleasant surprise, it was amazingly quiet. Actually, it was even quieter than when it sat on the pedestal. The vibration was also reduced. With somewhat less hesitation, I gave the order and the guys stacked the dryer on top (after modding the staking kit I bought here), and, lo and behold, we think it sounds even better! We've been running it ever since (about 3 weeks) and it's still great, even with both machines running at the same time. We mounted a scrap piece of countertop on the pedestal (matches the counter holding the new sink up) and it makes a nice little storage area for under the sink.

UPDATE (2014-July): still running great! Also, added some more info in the comments section, for those who are interested.

I rely on Amazon to help me make informed buying decisions. I hope this review helped you in the same manner. :)