Product review (2 stars): Not impressed at all
I have to stand up in the midst of these glowing remarks and speak my peace.  While these washers seem to be wonderful - mechanical (which was one of our requirements when we were looking), stainless tub, top load, real water temp (hot is really hot) - they don't wash dirty clothes worth beans.  The washing cycles are too short, and they don't rinse out well - even with the second rinse.  In addition, for example, my son came home the other day from hiking with his friends and the bottom of his pants were dirty and sandy.  No problem, right?  Throw them in the washer with the second rinse and we should be good.  After all, that is as simple as it had been for the last almost 20 years with my Maytags.  Sorry, major fail.  All it did was migrate the dirt to other clothes in the batch and to other parts of the pants!  Not only that, there was dirt and dirty water in the bottom of the tub. And no, I did not over-load my wash.

Other minor issues:  The top discolors quickly and easily - it's just paint, not porcelain.  The hinge on the lid also squeaks and has to be lubricated.

These are ok for those who may not need heavy duty washing as we do since we have four kids at home.  But if you really need good cleaning - try something else.  Our friends who bought the Samsung front loaders have been very pleased over the last 2.5 yrs they have owned theirs.  This Speed Queen was a mistake.  My dryer review will list separately, but it has been even worse.

We have had ours for about two years now and we are thoroughly disappointed.  If we could afford to dump these and get the Samsungs that we should have bought in the first place, we would do it in a heartbeat.  I give it two stars since it does at least function and nominally wash clothes.  But hate it we do.

Update as of February 2014.
This washer continues to disappoint.  It does not rinse all the soap out, continues to wash poorly and leaves dirt and sand in the bottom of the tub.  When you look carefully, the holes in the tub are not positioned for the dirt, sand, etc. to drain out of them with the water - the holes are more up on the side so the heavier sediments just gather on the bottom of the tub.  Not only that, but that sand and dirt just seems to get re-distributed throughout the load and onto different parts of the dirty clothes.

The company is not helpful in trying to deal with these things. Come on, it's a washing machine - after all these years can't you get it right?

UPDATE as of 12/19/2014
Well, I updated my rating for the washer to two stars.  It has been doing its designed job in an OK fashion.  We have adjusted to its challenges, kinda of, but still not happy about the fact that the wash cycle is so short and it won't wash really dirty clothing very well, just transferring dirt around to different parts of the clothing (usually pants my kids have been camping in).  Still noisy and since the top is just painted, it is starting to discolor now as well.

FINAL UPDATE as of 2/7/2015
Well, the washer left the house last Thursday, never to return.  Goodbye short wash cycles, inability to get clothes clean when they are really dirty, goodbye poor rinsing.  Sorry, but it just didn't balance out the manual controls, straight hot water and a wash tub that actually filled with water.  It just couldn't wash clothes very well.

In it's place is now a Maytag MHW7100dw front load washer.  After just a few days, we have found that it can wash clothes in very little water just as well - in fact better than the Speed Queen did - RIP.