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Hi I'm new to Honda, this forum, and CVTs. I just purchased a brand new 2015 civic coupe ex. Right now it has about 2k miles on it.

I was under the impression that shifts didn't really happen with a CVT? I notice that when braking the rpms slow to about 1000 and hold until the engine speed hits about 15 mph. Then the tach shows a downshift whicxh can be slightly felt.

I was wondering if this is normal as this is the only CVT I've ever driven?

 
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Welcome! It's normal.
It may do other things some people aren't used to too.
If there is any question whether or not something is normal, go to your dealer and test drive another identical new car.
Shifts don't really happen the same way people are used to, but they programmed it to mimic some actions of a regular automatic at times..i.e. using "ranges" instead of making it drive like a wound up rubber band..

HTH

 
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I'm fairly certain you are experiencing engine braking. With your foot off the gas the car doesn't really use any fuel, it uses the momentum of the car and the spinning of the wheels to keep the engine turning. At a certain speed that momentum will no longer be enough to consistently keep the engine turning, so the engine switches to running on fuel, and as such you feel a change in force, as the engine went from slowing you down rather quickly, to maintaining/very slowly reducing speed.

 
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Thanks. I just felt like it drives kind of awkward. For example if you are driving on a highway and are coming up on a side road and are slowing to turn. Since the downshift or whatever it is occurs are such a low speed, it can be felt while turning which feels strange.

 
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Oh yeah, everything about the CVT feels strange if you are used to a regular transmission.
But you get used to the little quirks, and it also pays off:

That 484 mile tank cost me 24$ to fill up

 
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Nice mileage. I think my best so far is 42 mpg and average is at 35 mpg