Gary -
In your find, the water does continue to recirculate while the machine heats. It does this because the heating element is exposed, as you mentioned, but also because the heating element in the Superba is about double the wattage. The Superba does have a heater integrated into the drying unit, while on your find, the blower unit does not contain an integrated heating unit. You'll probably find the cycle times to be longer on your find because water takes longer to heat, depending on the setting of your water heater. Not sure if it's the exact same wash system in both machines or not, but they are at least close. I'll bet you'll notice no real difference in cleaning ability.
So, you gonna keep her?? Were you able to find the literature you wanted on the KitchenAid site?