Where are you hearing this crap?!
The Original Drake has a decent waterspot. The Drake II a little bit less, but it has better bowl wash due to the double-cyclone.
Most people can't tell the difference between the 1.28 and the 1.6gpf toilets. For example, if I put the original Drake at 1.6 next to the Original Drake at 1.28 side by side, I doubt many could tell me which was which.
As to MAP ratings, forget about "Premium". It's a marketing thing at the moment, and not a very useful one. As to the regular MAP ratings, which you can look up anywhere, if it's over 500, it's probably fine, although some designs will flush better than others. All your Totos above builder grade (i.e. no cheaper than the Drake) flush magnificently, although there are different flushes.
One option if you don't like the look of the Original Drake is to look at it with the optional New Tank, which is like $30 more in the street price, which you can look at Terry's prices above to see what's fair. When he gets his new Cart up and running, I think he will have all the options not on there now. Just google CST744EN for the new tank on the elongated bowl. ("N" is for New Tank.) The new tank comes set for 1.28gpf, which should work fine.
If you want more bowl rinse, consider the Drake II. It's a great toilet. There's no waterline issues with these toilets. If all the folks badmouthing the Drake II were right, then it wouldn't be the most popular toilet of any brand regularly on a big internet retail site, and wouldn't rack up hundreds of great reviews.
All the toilets I mentioned are within your budget. We have two original Drakes, and love them. We also have a double-cyclone toilet, which is the skirted version of the Ultramax II, called the Carlyle II. We think that that's awesome, although it's pricier.
If you want a 1-gallon toilet, Toto is also now producing the Ultramax II in a 1G version, although the basic one is still 1.28.
Also within your budget would be one of the Aquia toilets, which is a dual-flush with great bowl wash (because it's a "washdown" flush, which doesn't have a siphon jet and uses all the water to rush down the sides). It does have a smaller waterspot, because more water is used in the flush, reducing the amount used in refill. But whatever you deposit will get washed free. Terry says that these have an almost-100-percent no-return rate. People install them, love them, and order more.
So...to review. Original Drake in 1.28gpf with New Tank may appeal to you and is a great-value option, even if it has a little less bowl wash. (I don't notice that; it always comes clean for me, but some people deposit stuff of a different consistency. Every part of the bowl gets water run on it (you can test this with pepper, for example, and I have), but just not as much as the old swimming-pool toilets, and not as much as the Aquia. Also, the Drake II with the double-cyclone is a good value in that it has CEFIONTECT standard, as well as Universal Height; if either appeals to you, then it's a good deal. (CEFIONTECT is a special glaze that helps keep it clean, but then you have to tell everyone not to use Comet or the like to clean it.)
Try looking on Youtube for the different flushes and you may see one that stands out for you.
Good luck, and come back with any questions!!
Original Drake with New Tank CST744EN