Purchasing a new machine needs to be a serious search. Quality of all the brands has gone down greatly in newer machines as the manufacturing and parts are not of the standard they used to be. When you look at a new machine, by all means take a look at the inside- they don't want you to look at it then don't buy from them. Also find out who can service it, what will it cost and what are they most commonly in the shop for. Many of your good old fashioned repair shops are being squeezed out by manufactures not willing to deal with them unless they sign up and deal their product. Find out who are your service options in your area and what the quality of their work is. We took a Pfaff we had bought for our daughter to the only Pfaff shop left in our town and the same one that had serviced mine 6 years ago. Turned out they had changed hands and the standards as well as quality were aweful. After the fact, and a long drawn out battle we found sewer after sewer who had simular stories and not one of them had felt they had the right to do anything about the shop. We have made it a point to inform anyone we meet who sews to let them know not to take their machine there as well as refer business to other shops with people we personally do business with and trust. We refurbish vintage machines and deal with shops for parts and or referals at times and we know who to trust. Also check the warranty on the machines- what exactly they cover, who can service, if it has to be sent to the manufacturer who pays for that, how long will it take and what gaurentees do you have of new parts as well as work being done that actually needs to be. One true mark of a good service person is one who will tell you up front if they can't fix it they don't charge other then a small inspection fee and they may refer you to someone else if they think that will help. You have to look beyond the bells and whistles. I personally have a Pfaff 1475 and am so blessed with it but if I abuse it, it will be in the hundreds and the closest person to work on a computerized Pfaff is 100 miles away I baby it more then ever and do my heavier work on a Pfaff 130 or Necchi BU or a Green machine Husqvarna/Viking.
Unlike most people I have a huge inventory to play with so having a machine down is not much of a problem especially since we service our inventory but for someone else having a machine down is a major issue so think before you buy on how often it'll be out for service and how much it'll cost.