Why does every dishwasher I look at have terrible reviews?

The drying thing is real and it's not you imagining it. Most modern dishwashers use condensation drying instead of a heated element at the bottom like older machines had. The dishes heat up during the final rinse and the water evaporates off, but plastic doesn't hold heat the way ceramic or glass does, so it stays cool and the water just sits on it. That's why your old machine got plastic bone dry and new ones don't. Two fixes that actually work: use rinse aid even if you think you don't need it, and crack the door open when the cycle finishes so the steam escapes. With those two habits my plastic containers come out maybe damp at the corners instead of dripping. Also skip any quick wash cycle for full loads, the shorter cycles skip the heated final rinse on alot of models and everything stays wetter. As for the reviews, the pattern you're seeing is exactly why I stopped reading the 1 star rants as a signal of anything. A dishwasher selling tens of thousands of units will have a couple hundred pump failures and those people are loud. The 2 and 3 star reviews are the useful ones because those buyers are usally level headed about what actually annoyed them.

What worked for me after killing two cheap machines in about six years: buy the simplest model from a major brand, skip the wifi and app stuff entirely, and pay a bit more for quiet if you have an open floor plan because that's genuinely where the extra money goes. The electronics and smart features are what tend to die, a basic machine has fewer boards to fry. Costco install and haul away is a solid deal if the model you want is there. One last thing, run it on the heavier soil setting for a couple weeks before judging it. The auto or normal cycles on new machines are surprisingly gentle to hit energy targets and people think the machine is weak when it's just the cycle setting.

Gonna push back on the 'buy the simplest model' advice a bit. I did exactly that a few years back and the base model I got had the flimsiest dish racks I've ever seen, plastic coating peeling off within a year and rust underneath. Sometimes the cheap versions cut corners on parts that matter more than the smart features you're avoiding. I'd say check the racks and the door hinges in person at a store before ordering online, that stuff never shows up in the specs.

Agree with the rinse aid advice, I used to think it was a gimmick til I ran out for a month and my glasses came out cloudy again. Refilled and the cloudiness cleared up within a couple washes. Now I buy the big jug from the warehouse store and just top off the little reservoir whenever I remember. Also second the point about judging a machine after a few weeks, my sister was ready to return hers until she realized she'd been loading it so the spray arm was blocked by a tall pot every single time.