There are 2 generations of Meguiar's G220 machine out there now and it's only the first batch that suffered a lot of problems. We had many reports about them over on Detailing World, but full credit to Meguiar's customer service department, they sorted them all out in a superfast and efficient way.

We haven't had anywhere near the number of reported issues with the revised 2nd generation units so the problems were clearly identified and fixed.

Also consider the Kestrel DAS-6, which is very much like the G220 in terms of size, and operation.

However, those ^^ are both random orbit machines and the OP's initial suggested machine was a rotary (as was the Makita that was recommeded). Totally different types of machine polishers with their own specific working methods and techniques.

Silverline do a very good budget spec rotary which is used by quite a few members on DW and as far as I know, there aren't any problems with regards to lack of torque, and one of them has the 600 rpm start speed, which is what you want really (they do a couple at around the same price).