My first Bernina, bought over 20 years ago, is still my main sewing machine and sews as beautifully as the day it came home. It's a 153 QE. I bought it with money I inherited from my dad's estate. I'd made up my mind I was going to get a new sewing machine with it, and I wasn't going to wait any longer.
Working full time and having 2 children meant I had to go to the shop on a weekend. It was winter, and the weather was awful - but I was going THAT day, lol. The closest sewing machine store was a Penn Yan Sewing, a Bernina shop - and that, really, is the only reason I went with Bernina. I am so glad it worked out that way! This machine can do anything - I've sewn through several layers of both cotton and batting when making bags, it never hesitates.
I've since purchased 2 smaller Bernina's, both used. A 245 that lives in our FL home (and is rarely used anymore; we didn't even go down last year due to hurricane damage in the development) and a 350 that is my sewing day/class/retreat machine. Both also sew beautifully.
The constant "climb", if you will, to make Bernina's do more does nothing for me at all. I have no desire to have hundreds of decorative stitches and do not like machine embroidery. My shoulders are not going to allow machine quilting of anything large, so my quilting is done by check (taken to a long arm quilter). I wish they would make another full size, basic machine like my 153QE! I know that, given how old it is, the electronics - rudimentary as they are - will go at some point and it will not be able to be repaired. I'm not sure what I will do at that point. Possibly Pfaff, I used one at a class and liked it. Possibly Juki.