Dave
The Johnson motors used currently in the Aerus Classic and Aerus Legacy ARE of questionable quality. Take a quick look at used Shark motors on Ebay, & you will find some of the motors used in recent years bear a resemblance to the Johnson motor, & I do believe they likely are.
So, let me ask you this....would you spend $1G for a Aerus Classic to get essentially the same motor you would get in a Shark Navigator for under $350? I sure wouldn't!!
As for the warranty the Guardian Ultra came with, just to correct you, it had a 20 year warranty, NOT 30 years. NO Electrolux or Aerus model has EVER come with a 30 year warranty. The only model that ever came with a warranty close to that was the first Electrolux Guardian, it had a 25 year motor warranty. And, when you see how the Aerus Legacy has a 10 year motor warranty, the Guardian Platinum has a 15 year motor warranty, & the Guardian Ultra has a 20 year motor warranty, the reason Aerus gives you such a long warranty is you're literally paying through the nose for it! And the motors are dirt cheap to buy, it wouldn't cost over $40 for each motor I bet. So it pays for them to gamble with using cheap motors, because they're still making tons of profit even if you have the motor replaced once under a 10 year warranty. So you had better receive quality service from your Aerus dealer when they're making a killing off you selling a vacuum over $1G with a junky Chinese motor
I agree with Michael T, if you're in the market for a new vacuum and have your heart set on Electrolux, you're better off buying a used Electrolux model, replacing the motor & new accessories for it than you are buying a new Aerus. The quality simply isn't there to justify the price - especially compared to Miele.