This particular strain of VMW machines is interesting, because they actually work quite well, even on AutoSense, if you know the little quirks and tweaks of how it operates.
After using a Kenmore and Amana branded VMW machine in two apartments the past couple of years during our move to Augusta, (both identical machines aside from just the brand badge), these are a couple things I learned:
First, I assume your machine has two option selector knobs, a water level selector (Deep Fill/AutoSense, or whatever brand specific labelling they're using), plus two other positions that will add an extra rinse respectively. Then of course a temperature selector. I'm sure you've noticed by now that the Auto/Deep level differs between each cycle. The Normal/Regular cycle will obviously be the one that's more conservative, and the Deep setting technically won't do anything, except maybe add a few more seconds of water. Interestingly though, this doesn't seem to apply to the Normal-Heavy and Normal-Light cycles. Those cycles also do a much better job at accurately determining the water level than the Normal-Regular setting.
That said, because I'm a firm believer that soaking is much more effective at overall cleaning than adding agitation time, saving wear on fabrics and the machine alike, I would always set the machine to Normal-Light with AutoSense+Extra Rinse for a typical load of clothes, and after the fill was finished and a minute of agitation went by or so, I'd hit Pause and just set a timer for 15-20 minutes, and then come back and hit the Start button again and let it finish out. That would ultimately give about 10-12 minutes of agitation, then a spin and spray rinse, then a full rinse at the same water level, then another spray rinse, then final spin. That combo always did perfectly for getting out pesky deodorant/underarm stains from darks and colors among other soils from workout clothes, etc. than any additional, heavier agitation, plus didn't add any wear to the other laundry or the machine.
The thing to remember about these machines as well is that the only cycles that are restricted to a spray rinse only are the Normal-Regular/Heavy/Light and Quick cycles. The other cycles; Jeans/Towels, Bulky, Delicates, Casuals, should get a normal rinse when set to AutoSense, otherwise if you add the extra rinse option, you will get TWO complete full rinses. On Normal or Quick, your extra rinse will always be a final spray rinse before the spin, after a normally filled rinse.
Adding on to all this is that Auto water levels for Bulky, Jeans, and even Delicates are, from my experience, very much overkill, because if I'm remembering correctly, they all filled to a minimum of 4/5 of the tub full (and also didn't seem to change regardless of the load size, even a full drum of towels), with Deep Fill filling all the way to the top. Because of that, setting to Normal-Light was always the most versatile and regularly used cycle, paired with Auto+Extra Rinse. It would always fill to what I considered accurate levels per the wash load; to the top or near top for a full load of mixed clothes like jeans, shirts, underwear, etc, as well as just enough for a good flowing rollover for sheets. I did use the Towels cycle for actual towel loads though, with Deep Fill, because I'm always only going to wash a full load anyway and wanted a standard fill-to-the-top operation just like machines of the old days. My only complaint there is that the final spin was always the low speed, at least on those machines, so I'd have to come back and set to a Drain/Spin again before taking them out.
So anyway, feel free to experiment on your machines and keep in mind that there may be variations but so far in my experience with now at least 10 of these machines across family and friends that now have them, plus their abundance in apartments and starter homes, they all share the same programming regardless of brand, and in my opinion the Normal-Light, AutoSense+Extra Rinse setting actually gives the most reliable and traditional operation, if you're willing to pause the machine about 10 minutes in to let it soak depending on how soiled the load is and what it needs. Or if you'd rather it just agitate a lot longer (over 30 minutes worth), just select Normal-Heavy and get the same AutoSense performance.
***A note about soaking in any of Whirlpool's electronically controlled washers so far, top or front load: Pausing the cycle will only work so long as the lid or door is *NOT* disturbed after hitting that pause button. So long as the latch is not disturbed, it will sit for eternity until hitting resume and restarting, unless there's a limit longer than over an hour that I've never cared to investigate. IF the door/lid is opened or disturbed for even a second, the machine will start a 2-5 minute timer and then emergency drain out, unless the Start button is pressed to resume. If you do have to open the lid before you're ready for the machine to resume, you'll have to hit start and allow the machine to resume for a few seconds before hitting pause again. I believe this is the case for other brands as well, GE being one, but I only know for sure that this is how Whirlpool built VMW, VMAX, Oasis, and Duet/Alpha front loads handle pausing.
