Good day everyone.
I have general questions about the CVT.

Background Information:

• 2012 Maxima SV with Sport Package and Tech Package
• Bought August 2012, new with seven miles; Upgraded from a 1999 Maxima
• Manufacture date July 2012 I think
• Current miles: Just under 5600
• Mostly driven from to/from college (50ish miles round trip) and work (about 4 miles round trip).
• Driving style: Varies, occasionally I feel like racecar, and do some spirited driving (No WOT yet), but I mostly like to do what one member here does, which is always challenge him/herself to get a higher average MPG / instant mpg each trip. Read: Hypermile-ing but with some sense to move over or accelerate a little when I want to let people pass me or if it's a one lane road, etc etc.
• Car general knowledge: I like to think I know enough, but any explanation is fine.

So, I have three questions:
1. I have recently started to drive around testing/trying the paddle shifters out, and have been getting some strange feedback from my car: When I am in manual mode, as I am downshifting with my foot off the accelerator and brake, I can feel the car jerk as it shifts; something along the lines of say, clutch disengaging, gear shift, and then clutch re-engaging. Before someone jumps on me, I do know I have a CVT, so no "gears".
Is this supposed to be normal (the jerking that is)? I think someone said that it is supposed to simulate a manual transmission, hence the "shifting" jolt/jerk, but I have also read people here saying that the car is supposed to just "slide" to the simulated gear ratio smoothly, with no mention of any jerking or anything at all.

2. I have parked in the same exact spot for years now, to the point that I have indents in my parking spot where my wheels rest when parked. So, now that I have these indents, I reverse into my parking spot until I can feel the car "falling" into place, shift into neutral, and let the car roll and settle into the spot. Here lies another strange feedback: As the car rolls back in to the spot, I can feel a small roll back, then something catching. So in full, roll back a little, something catching, full roll until the car changes direction again as it settles in the spot, small roll forward, catch, full roll, and repeat. Is that normal? Or is something loose like two gears that are not the correct size or distance from each other so there is this free space between the gears?

I'm concerned because my 4th gen never had any catch points, it was always a smooth roll and settle into the indents.

3. On occasion when I am driving, while in motion, I shift from D to Ds. When I do this, the engine RPMs jump from where it was originally to around 3-4 RPMs before dropping down again to around the original RPM. Is this normal?

Testing:
For the downshifting question, (question 1) if I am braking, I don't feel the downshift "jerk" as much. I have never tested it when I am accelerating and downshifting at the same time.

I'm on winter break from college, so I want to have these things checked out and fixed before my next semester starts, when I have no time left.

Thanks for all your replies.

 

Not sure about questions 1 and 2, but number three happens to me as well. I do this quite frequently and without fail Ds mode yields higher revs when initially switching from D mode. I just assumed this is normal.

 

I'm a giant idiot.
So, I decided to read the owners manual again, just because why not and because it just might happen to be explained in there; Question 1 is normal operation according to the 2012 manual starting at page 5-11.

I'm still concerned about question 2 though, the catching feeling.