Good for you on your purchase. Don't forget that tire pressure and when the time comes remember to make the swap over to synthetic.

Good idea, I wish I would of reset my trip meter "B" when I first got my HCH as the dealer killed my mileage for at least the first 1000 miles. They had to of let it idle for 3 hours with the A/C on.

 

When coasting down a hill and watching the battery regen, I ntoice it puts quite a bit of drag on the car. If the battery is close to being full, would I be better off just holding the clutch in and/or putting it in nettral to coast down? I believe when the battery is topped off, the regen doesn't activate anymore. Any thoughts on this?
Also, does lean burn engage when the car is just coasting or does it need to be when in gear and the accel not depressed?

 

I move the car to neutral when the battery is above 7/8ths full. I was always told that, especially on smaller cars, that holding the clutch in for any length of time (even at idle), was a bad thing to do. But that was many years ago.

I am not sure about the lean burn engagement so I will defer to one with more knowledge than I.

 

I heard the same thing about pushing the clutch in years ago, I think neutral is a better way to go.

Personally I live on the edge and if several factors line up I cut the car off completely and go down hills in "Pinewood Derby Car" mode. You wouldn't do such a "reboot" in traffic, or if you battery was low, or if the hill was so steep you needed regen to take some speed off, or if the hill was too short or shallow. You might want to try it if you feel safe doing it and if the hill is fairly long (so you could coast for at least 2 tenths of a mile), and if the hill was of a nice medium grade so that it would roughly maintain your speed, and there is not too much traffic.

The HCH has electric power steering so a few seconds after a reboot you get you PS back. The brakes are the dangerous part of the process. The power brakes will still work so long as the power assist has vacuum. There is no telling how long that will be. In a new car with no leaks you will normally still have power brake BUT you may run out of assist! This has only happened to me a couple of times but you really need to stomp on the brakes to get the car to stop if you run out of assist. This is extra dangerous since you are expecting the PB to still be there. Please use with extreem caution and only if you understand exactly what you are getting yourself into.

 

You are correct on the regen not activating when the battery is fully charged. I've only experienced this a few times when driving across Oregon from east to west on route 26. There are some very long hills (2 to 5 miles long).