I just got an 03 Civic hybrid. From everything I can tell it's very early. The vin ends in 427 as well as production date is February of 2002. Does anyone have any experience with the differences in the early ones? One immediate thing is that the key is a standard chip key not the laser cut key.

 

03-05 are essentially the same car.

 

Your IMA battery is hopefully slightly better built cells than later ones... thats about it from what I have gathered.