I’ve used superautos for well over a decade (before discovering the Evo Leva !). As the brew groups of a given brand tend to be the same across many models (based on my Gaggia/Saeco and Delonghi experience), there is little point in the higher end models of the common brands unless you’re interested in milk beverages (with more and more cleaning required as the price/convenience goes up) or fancy electronics/displays (not necessarily a good thing with water/steam and ground coffee around).
With good maintenance (rinsing the brewgroup weekly, descaling when required, lubing and changing some seals after a few years), the Gaggia/Saeco and Delonghi machines can last a long time. My Gaggia lasted for over 14 years of daily use (the electronic board failed then, and there was some rust on the painted steel parts, but after replacing the control board it works again).
Just do not expect real expresso (1:2 ratio or thereabouts, good temperature stability despite mfg claims, etc). I did spend a lot of time tweaking the settings on both machines, measuring things, etc. and its a fool’s errand to get things perfect and consistent with them.
