+1. The older appliances use mechanical timers and simple switches that are fairly easy to troubleshoot and replace. The parts are often standard between brands so they can be bought at a lot of places for a reasonable price. Newer machines have lots of proprietary circuit boards that can cost over $200 and sometimes membrane switch panels that change from model to model and are also expensive. Building machines this way is cheaper for the manufacturer and makes for a very "high-tech" looking appliance, but they are expensive to fix.
When we think about the actual work that a washer and dryer do, the high-tech approach seems counterproductive. Even reducing water and energy use doesn't require high-tech, just good design.