Hi Daniel,

I only have the 2005 HCH, but some of your questions might apply, so I'll offer my thoughts.

1) The tan interior holds up fine in my opinion. I play a lot of soccer, and end up dirty and sometimes muddy, and the interior has taken it all in stride.

2) My experience is that, on the highway, using the A/C is not that huge a deal; but in short city driving, it can be a big factor. And regarding whether the hybrid is more effected than other more powerful cars, I would have to say yes, just based on common sense, but I don't know for sure.

3) There is a thread called something like "New exhaust 2 1/4" by a guy labeled "Duc" that you might want to read. He seems to have have had great performance improvements; others might be skeptical. I have no idea which is correct, but I admit to being quite intrigued by the idea.

Hope that helps!