Moccamaster is the ‘industry standard’ quality drip machine here in Finland. It’s very well made with metal parts, and should last you at least a decade, so the higher cost is justified IMO. We have the highest per capita coffee consumption, so people like a dependable machine that can brew up to 3-4 pots every day, and Technivorm fits that bill.
IMO one of the features you want is a separate heater for the pot, so both water and ready coffee are held in their optimal temperatures. Cheaper machines have one heater that sort of does both. Ideally you’d have a thermos pot, so coffee stays hot without a separate heater. Glass pots are not very good at retaining heat! One of those thermos Technivorms would probably be my ideal machine, at least if brewing more than 1-2 cups at a time.
I wanted something a bit smaller, so I ended up with Kenwood Kmix. Wouldn’t say it’s superb, but it’s somewhere between a basic plastic one and a Technivorm.
Personally, I don’t like the automatic timer + grinder machines. The grinder makes a ton of noise, and the water tends to go a bit stale after sitting overnight. My ideal setup would be a regular drip machine + a separate grinder that does one weeks worth of coffee at a time. That seems to be an ok interval.