I have no idea what has gone wrong with American appliances, apart from the general crappiness of using a top-loader washing machine in the first place, but I’ve had multiple different washing machines/dryers and dishwashers in the last decade and the efficiency programmes have been getting steadily better and better. Yes, they are European makes, Miele and Bosch, (evenly spread out across eight appliances) but they are fantastic at cleaning and drying. The new Eco 40-60 setting means that you can fill a machine with a whole range of laundry and go away, super helpful.