[jamesqf]

The flooring it, or just driving hard enough up hills to get the assist going for more than a few seconds will give you a good idea of pack condition. There are basically three things that can happen: 1) The battery indicator goes slowly to a low level - you've got a really good pack. 2) It goes slowly part way, then drops quickly - it's somewhat weak, and you may want to look into rebalancing it &c, and/or learn to drive so as to stay in the good area. 3) After a few bars, the indicator drops quickly, and the IMA light may come on - definitely look into rebuilding. Also pull the #18 fuse (IIRC) from the box by your left leg, and wait 10 seconds to reset the IMA.

Other things to watch out for. First, if the lead-acid battery goes bad, the car will not start, and may even quit running. You'll get a couple of red lights lit on the dash that seem to have nothing to do with anything - I think the seat belt & brake. These can come on sometimes while driving (about once every few months for me, usually when I've had to really punch it). Seems to be an overload of the DC/DC converter that powers the accessories. The car will run fine for some time, but the 12-volt won't be charging. To clear it, just stop and turn the ignition off for a second or two.

If you get some jerkiness driving on the level at about 50 mph, it's the EGR valve. You can clean it, or buy new (about $125), and a fairly easy replacement.

That's really all that I've had to do to mine that'd be any way different from a normal car - and in fact, except for replacing brake pads and an O2 sensor, it's all I have done in 7 years/ 100K miles of owning mine.