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This is an interesting thread.
Personally, mine is my DD and I do a lot of highway commuting with an AutoX once a month or so. On the HW at 70-75 the car is approaching too loud for long rides. You have to really crank the stereo and it definitely adds to the fatigue level. Now, I've done 15.5 hour road trips and it's still one of the most comfortable cars I've ever owned, but removing the back seats and seat backs sounds like a recipe for hearing loss. Engine noise is fun; wind and tire noise and trunk squeaking and rattling sucks. I absolutely recommend just driving around with your rear seat backs down for a week or two to make sure it won't bug you in the long term.
It's been mentioned in passing now too, but removing weight from the rear will absolutely change the dynamics. The twins are already front biased by 3% and if you go pulling out seats and spares and whatnot, you're going to move that further forward. The battery is already behind the front wheel, so lightening that might help, but there's a chance you'll increase both your understeer AND oversteer.
Heck, I'd be more tempted to move the factory battery to the spare tire well (ok, maybe something a little lighter) - that'd probably put you right at 50/50.
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