Hi, the search for a used car continues unfortunately. I spent this weekend looking at a few older corolla's and civics, most of them in terrible shape (in contrast to their craigslist ad!). I did see a 2003 honda civic hybrid however, car ran well and looked reasonable however the owner said that the IMA battery pack is going bad (per mechanic). I was wondering, can I drive the car for years without the hybrid battery, and if so, can I just remove the battery pack altogether?