Thanks for the feedback, guys! Happy to learn that most are happy with their machines. Here's my 1-month (++) update:
I am very, very happy with the machine. My favorite part of it is actually the rinsing performance - even with WaterPlus set to higher water level and an extra rinse, my Miele W 1716 didn't rinse as well as this one does by default. If you activate SoftPlus and an extra rinse on the AEG, there won't be residual suds (or smell from perfumed detergent!) at all, even if you can't help overdosing a little on detergent like me. The water level of the rinses is very high with SoftPlus enabled, and while I wouldn't have enabled it if I lived somewhere like California that has fresh water scarcity, that's not the slightest concern here. The water level for the main wash is very low, but I've never felt it necessary to be high for that purpose - which brings me on to the cleaning performance. It is stellar! I've got an assortment of microfiber cloths that I use in the kitchen and around the house, and over the years they had acquired a lot of stains from being used on basically any mess, but a month later after I got the AEG, they are pristine again! Color me shocked. Even oxy bleach, prewashing and hot washes in the Miele did nothing to shift them, so I am really impressed with the cleaning action here.
A small thing I appreciate is the basically self cleaning nature of the detergent drawer, as it still looks spotless a month later. The fabric softener compartment does have some residue at the bottom after a cycle where I've used it, but it's contained to the bottom, and cleaned out on its own after a few cycles without softener.
AEGs algorithms for load sensing are also fabulous, as I tend to wash with only a half full machine, and it really does account for that increased mechanical action of the half filled drum wonderfully in terms of time savings. The rinsing - as I've configured it - is actually what makes the cycle times longer than they were in the Miele.
A minor annoyance is the fact that the machine limits the spin speed to 1200 for a lot of programs that would have benefitted from the full 1600 revolutions, such as the 20 minute express program, or the wool program.
On the whole, I've become very satisfied with the load balancing the machine does, and it's spun everything I've loaded it with beautifully - everything except my down pillows, that is. It will not spin them unless I pull them out of the machine after the main wash and the rinses and manually push most of the water out of them, which is my only complaint with the machine of a more serious nature. I can live with it, though - luckily it's only once every three months that I wash my pillows.
