What is a direct drive?

Direct drive removes the belt, pulley and coupling from the drive train, the rotor bolts straight to the drum. Fewer moving parts means fewer wear items and a quieter machine, and manufacturers who use it (notably LG) often back the motor with a ten year warranty. The trade off is that when something does go wrong in the drive system, the parts are electronic rather than mechanical, so diagnosis leans on error codes and a multimeter instead of looking for a snapped belt.