Miele G 7160 SCVi AutoDos Review
An expensive yet incredibly powerful integrated dishwasher
Verdict
There’s no denying that the Miele G 7160 SCVi AutoDos is expensive, but it’s also one of the best performing dishwashers around. With its smart app and automatic dosing system, this dishwasher makes short work of tough cleaning jobs.
Pros
- Cleans brilliantly
- Flexible space inside
- Auto programme and auto detergent dosing
Cons
- Expensive
Availability
- UKRRP: £1349
- USAunavailable
- Canadaunavailable
- Australiaunavailable
Key Features
- Place settingsOffering space for 14 place settings, there’s sufficient room for clean-up after a large dinner party
- Smart featuresThis dishwasher connects to your Wi-Fi network, so you can control it via the app
Introduction
There are two things everyone wants from a dishwasher: excellent performance and sufficient room to fit in your dirty dishes and cutlery. And that’s exactly what the Miele G 7160 SCVi AutoDos integrated dishwasher delivers. It’s expensive – but with automatic dosing and a smart app, it’s also one of the most feature-packed dishwashers I’ve tested.
Design and features
- Automatic dishwasher dosing
- Smart app for remote control and monitoring
- Soft-open door
As a fully integrated appliance, the Miele G 7160 SCVi AutoDos will be enclosed in a kitchen cabinet, with a front panel fitted to its front so that it matches the rest of your kitchen. Miele also sells its own range of panels, if you’re looking for a slightly different finish while maintaining the integrated look. How the appliance looks, then, will really depend on the panel finish you choose.
What won’t change is the inside, and here Miele has worked wonders to provide a huge amount of space. This dishwasher is rated to take 14 place settings, which is about as much space as you can get, with Miele adding a huge amount of flexibility on top.
Miele’s usual attention to detail and build quality is present, delivering in many ways. The top basket has two height positions, selectable using the handles on the side. This makes adjustment easy, since you don’t have to remove the basket first.
Even with the basket in the lower position, taller wine glasses may still hit the cutlery rack above. However, there’s a trick here, too: the left-hand side of this rack can side-open, which leaves space above – enough to hold my very tall wine glasses.
It’s possible to adjust the angle of the right-hand side of the cutlery rack, too, to provide more or less height for larger utensils. It’s impressive design, providing more room when you need it, and a huge cutlery rack when you don’t.
Since cutlery sits in the top rack, there’s plenty of room in the bottom rack for plates, bowls and saucepans, with the front set of tines folding down to provide maximum space for larger items. My problem, if anything, was trying to find enough items to fully load this dishwasher.
On the inside of the door you’ll find the standard rinse aid compartment and a sliding compartment for detergent, but this dishwasher also takes Miele’s Power Disk dishwasher detergent.
Use this and the dishwasher is capable of using its AutoDos technology to adjust the amount of detergent based on the soil level of your plates. Replacements cost £9.99 each and last for 20 washes.
You’ll need to add salt when prompted, using the funnel provided in the box to top up the compartment. When the salt runs low, you’ll receive a message on the machine’s LCD screen to prompt you to top up – how often this happens will depend on the water hardness level you set (a testing kit is in the box).
Selectable programmes from the front panel include an Eco 50ºC mode for regularly soiled items, although you’ll be prompted to run a higher-temperature wash regularly to kill bacteria inside the dishwasher. There are also options for gentle 45ºC, QuickPowerWash 65ºC and Intensive 75ºC, increasing in intensity from lightly soiled to heavily soiled items.
There are also a couple of special washes, selectable through the LCD, including PowerWash 60ºC and ExtraQuiet 55ºC – the latter of which runs for longer, but more quietly. You can also turn on the Express option to speed up wash times, while increasing temperature, and use the Timer option to delay the start (and finish) of a cycle.
That’s all fairly standard, but the Auto option is one of the most useful, especially combined with a Power Disk. Using this, the dishwasher will automatically adjust water temperature and the amount of detergent based on how heavily soiled your plates are.
This combination of automatic detergent and wash programme puts the Miele G 7160 SCVi AutoDos one step ahead of the Samsung DW60R7040FS, which has an automatic programme but lacks dosage control.
You get a timer on the LCD screen that displays the duration of the programme, although this isn’t visible once the dishwasher’s door is closed. You can quick-wash lightly soiled items in under an hour, but expect the dishwasher to run for more than three hours for the more intensive and eco washes.
As well as operating the dishwasher from the front control panel, you can hook it up to your Wi-Fi and control it via the app. The caveat is that the dishwasher has to be in its remote control mode (this has to be done each time the appliance is turned on) for safety reasons. From the app, you can select the desired wash programme and any extras. I didn’t find it hugely helpful for this, but the notifications for indicating a wash programme is complete are quite helpful. And, you can check to see how a cycle is going, too.
Wash programmes finish with the door being opened to aid natural drying. Rather than springing the door open violently, which is what most dishwashers do, Miele has a robotic arm that gently opens the door and holds it open just a crack.
Performance
- Excellent cleaning results on automatic settings
- Low running costs
To test how well the Miele G 7160 SCVi AutoDos cleaned, I put it through its paces using a selection of soiled items, placed around the dishwasher. I started off on the Auto cycle, to see how well this adapted to the soiled items.
First, I started with a wine glass stained with dried red wine. Here, the Miele left a clean, smear-free glass.
It handled my dirty coffee cup with aplomb, too; it looked like it had never been used before. So far, so good on the Auto programme.
Next to the tougher tests. Ketchup can leave traces of mess if it has dried on, but the Miele G 7160 SCVi AutoDos removed the stain without issue.
Likewise, the dried on Weetabix proved no problem at all for this dishwasher, with even the hardest bits easily removed from the bowl.
That leaves the toughest test of all: the scrambled egg test. The majority of dishwashers struggle to remove leftover scrambled egg out of a glass mixing bowl, particularly when the bowl is placed on the top shelf. Not the Miele G 7160 SCVi AutoDos, which blasted through this test.
If you look very very closely, you’ll find a couple of minor marks left behind. If I’d have given the bowl a slight rinse before it was placed in the dishwasher, these would have gone.
In Auto mode, the dishwasher used 0.406kWh of power and 11.2 litres of water; that’s less power but more water than the Samsung DW60R7040FS. Dropping down to Eco mode, the Miele G 7160 SCVi AutoDos used just 0.307kWh of power and 9.3 litres of water.
Based on the energy label, where the Miele G 7160 SCVi AutoDos has a decent B rating, this dishwasher’s average use of water and power per cycle is 8.4 litres and 0.64kWh respectively. That works out at just 12p per cycle, and under £0.01p per place setting.
Over a year, given the average of 254 dishwasher cycles per household per year, this dishwasher would cost around £30.44 to run.
The Miele G 7160 SCVi AutoDos is also exceptionally quiet in use, measuring 42.9dB. That’s so quiet that you’d have to really listen in to hear if the dishwasher is operating.
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Should you buy it?
If you’re after a quality integrated dishwasher that cleans exceptionally well then this smart model is for you.
If you’re looking for something a bit more affordable, then the Miele’s high price is likely to be a turn-off.
Final Thoughts
Excellent build quality, a useful app, brilliant cleaning (particularly via the automatic settings) and low running costs make the Miele G 7160 SCVi AutoDos an exceptional integrated dishwasher. The main downside is the high initial cost – this dishwasher is hugely expensive to buy. If you can afford it, the space inside and cleaning quality are worth it. If you’re after something cheaper, check out my guide to the best dishwashers.
How we test
We test every dishwasher we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
We measure water and energy usage for each dishwasher to see how efficient they are.
We use real-world mess to test a dishwasher’s ability to clean.
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FAQs
It has 14 place settings, split over two main racks and a cutlery rack at the top.
It can be controlled via the optional app.
This is Miele’s integrated detergent disk, used to automatically dose the dishwasher load correctly.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
