"Does the battery charge during gliding put any drag on the engine? The car seems to coast less freely than I am used to and not sure if that is a function of the CVT or the charging process.
When the Auto Stop is active, I've been allowing the engine to come fully back to the idle RPM before accelerating. Is this the proper way to use the feature? Is there a way to maximize Auto Stop, i.e., is there a way to get it to kick in during the end of a glide to a stop or have you found it takes too much brake pressure?"

In a "glide" you're not charging the battery. If you let off the brake you are coasting/charging. Gliding is when you put your foot back on the gas pedal just enough until the charge bars disappear but you're also not using any assist...you'll also notice the MPG will be 100. When coasting, your car will slow down faster than in a glide.

As for the autostop at the end of a glide, I've noticed that if you glide all the way down to ~10mph the gas comes back in. I figured out that by the time you get down to that 10mph, if you put your foot on the brake just slightly it will glide all the way to 7mph and then obviously shut off. I do this a lot