On a related note, my family bought a front loader a couple of years back. And we recently switched to a Toploader and it's much much better.
With the front loader you have to bend down to get clothes out, you have to leave the door open when not using it, lest there be a mildew problem that develops, it holds less clothes, and repeatedly ours did a poor job washing clothes compared to our top loader.
While top loaders may not be as efficient as front loaders, they are more efficient now than they were in the past, and they just flat out do a better job of washing clothes in my opinion / experience.