I would love to see this feature make a comeback, but it most likely won't happen.  I use the time-delay start feature on our WP Gold dw all the time to take advantage of the lower electric rates after 9pm, and to avoid running out of hot water when doing other things during the day.  As I may have mentioned earlier, we conserved so much electricity this past summer by hanging laundry outside, running certain appliances at off-peak times etc. that we didn't have to pay anything on our electric bill for Sept. & Oct.  Having this feature on a washer is great also in that when you get up you just have to dry whatever is in the machine, and that also frees up your water heater for morning bathing, and anything else requiring hot water.  All that being said, I've never seen this feature on any other brands.

I believe some of these new electronically controlled machines can be set to do the job later so the wash waiting for you at a later time.

Tim that's great that you can save that much power, If you are heating water with electricity you should look into a heat-pump water heater, the one that I installed in my partners house is saving between $20 and $25 every month and hot water capacity and delivery are better than the old 50 gallon electric water heater.

We have a natural gas 40 gallon Ruud heater w/ Power Vent.  It is 14½ years old, and the only times we've run out of hot water is when the dw, washing machine, and shower are all going at the same time.