I found the front load washers to be significantly more expensive (more than I had to pay at the time), so we bought an older but completely refurbished washer dryer set off Craigslist about 6 months ago for about $300 for both. I have no idea how much laundry you'd have to do to recoup the difference between a front load and an older model (between water and electricity). In my area, it was $150 for a top load model compared to $600+ for a front load. The matching dryers were priced accordingly as well. We mostly looked for a brand we recognized (I can't remember what we actually ended up with), and the opportunity to put it through its paces before we took it home (rather than its unhooked in the garage so you have no way to know it actually works or not).
Its always a gamble though, sorry I don't have much more advice. Hopefully you'll get someone with more technically knowledge to respond.