Mumsy:
So far as I know, all clothes washing machines are the same in that regard. They all use something called a water inlet valve, which looks like this:
The hot and cold water hoses connect at the locations marked "water hose connections". Each water hose connection has a solenoid that controls it.
When you select a HOT water wash, then ONLY the hot water solenoid gets electricity, allowing only hot water to flow into the washing machine. When you select a COLD water wash, then ONLY the cold water solenoid gets electricity, allowing only cold water to flow into the washing machine. When you select a WARM water wash, then BOTH the hot and cold water solenoids get electricity, allowing both hot and cold water to flow into the washing machine so that the resulting wash is in warm water.
I think you're thinking that the washing machine heats the water to the selected temperature, kinda like some dish washers do, and that isn't true. A clothes washer simply allows water from the hot water supply hose to flow into the machine, regardless of whether the water in the hot water supply piping is hot or not.
If your hot water heater is located at the opposite end of your house, and you do your laundry first thing in the morning when the water in the hot water lines is still cooled down from the night before, then you're going to get cool water flowing into the washing machine through the hot water supply hose until the water heats up.
Because of that difference in how long it takes for the water to start running hot in the hot water supply hose, AND the actual cold water temperature, you can have substantial differences in your wash temperature from summer to winter. Where I live, during the winter months, the cold water coming out the faucets during the winter will only be about 40 degrees. F., whereas during the summer, the cold water coming out of the faucets will be about 60 deg. F.
For more consistant and predictable results, run the hot water faucet at the laundry tub until the water runs not, and then start the wash cycle.