Does the energy rating of a washing machine matter unless you use the (3 hour) eco cycle as that's the program used to calculate the eco cycle?

[wellAverage]

I'm buying a new washing machine and wondering if it's worth paying extra for an A rated machine when I'm not sure if we'll use the eco cycle?
The machine we're replacing is about 17 years old and didn't have an eco cycle.
Generally, I think we'd want to use a quick 40 degree wash which would take no more than 40/50 minutes.