well congrats on ur purchase
whats the price u got it for.
well i usualy use the daily load option,only for realy heavily soiled clothes and curtains do i use the 2 1/2 hr option which is rare.but when i do use that mode, i press the eco button since it consumes less water in this mode but is available only for the 2 1/2hr options,its not available in daily load,and the clothes are infact dry 80% atleast and with a sunshine of about 30min,for cotton clothes 15min of noon sunshine is inuff and they are 100% dry in the climate conditions of bangalore,but clothes like jeans take longer .gentle spin doesn't do much or any drying at all and this option is renamed in the US version and is used to clean the washing machine.
but also the water that goes to my washing machine is softned so i am not sure whether the wash/dry differs due to that compared to urs.
and if u try any of temperature controlled settings it will consume quite a lot of electricity since it needs to heat the water,just like ur water geyser/heater.