I've put a deposit down on an '06 Civic Hybrid that's supposed to come in next week. I've been reading around on the internet and I've found a couple of things that are making me rethink my decision.

On HybridCars.com I read a series of articles on what effects gas mileage. Everything mentioned is what I would expect but two things stood out...

In Winter Driving and Gas Mileage they say "In the winter, you use your headlights, defrosters, and heaters more. To make matters worse for Honda hybrids, the use of the defroster and heater will reduce how often the idle-stop feature kicks in. (The Honda Civic Hybrid manual says that auto-stop will not function below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.) The ability for hybrids to go all-electric during idle is essential to its fuel parsimony strategy."

In Air Conditioning and Gas Mileage they say "In the worst case, fuel efficiency for the Honda Civic with the air conditioning on was 27 percent lower than with the air conditioning off. In terms of miles-to-the-gallon, the Civic Hybrids averaged approximately 48 mpg without AC, but dropped to 35 mpg with the cool air blowing. The Toyota Prius was more than 20 percent less efficient with AC running, and even the mild hybrid Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck was 15 percent less efficient. The Idaho National Labs have not yet tested the 2006 Civic Hybrid, which was re-engineered to pull more energy from the electric motor to run air conditioning and other accessories."

Have the drivers here seen this kind of effect on their mileage from the weather? I'm going to use AC in the summer and I can't avoid the cold. In fact these conditions would affect me 8-9 months out of the year.

Also, I've read through many posts on these forums and it seems like most everyone makes an effort to garner the best mileage that they can. I just want to drive. I don't drive aggressive but I don't drive 10mph under the speed limit on the highway to get better mileage either. On a highway I'm more likely to drive 70 than 60. I might find that I'm scaling back in the future if I end up with the HCH but that's up in the air. Driving to work will be about 13 of 17 miles on the highway, fairly trafficky, so lots of speeding up to full speed and slowing down to <30, even stopping. Should I just get the EX at ~3K less (though I would get the $2100 tax credit from the HCH on next year's return)?

Thanks for the advice.