I bought FLS 1183W in April 1999. It was used regularly, although it was kept in storage, between July 2002 and October 2004 for two years (no faults though).
It has given 7 years of reliable service but last week it started giving noise - I presume it's the ball-bearings.
My wife generally overloads all appliances including the washing machine, so it's a tribute to it that its ball-bearing lasted 7 years.
I did use limescale tablets once in 1-month/2-months or so.

I have owned a Zanussi FLS 1183W Washing Machine for 5 years now, and it is still running strong. I haven't had a glitch at all, and not a single part has been replaced. I haven't even had a single service.
I previously owned a Zanussi washing machine (can't remember the model) for 10 years before I bought this, 5 years ago to replace it. The old machine was not packed up, but the house was renovated, so I bought a new one. Highly recommended!