The hesistation when switching from reverse to drive appears to be normal. Other threads have covered this quite a bit. My own thoughts on this are that it is likely backlash in the part of the drivetrain that reverses the power from the engine when switching between forward and reverse. The 2nd gen CVT is supposed to be lighter and smaller, so it wouldn't surprise me that backlash might be creeping into the design.
The low speed effect you mention has been described as a "lurch" by others on the forum. It's another thing a lot of folks on the 2013 have noticed, including myself. The CVT doesn't actually shift from "1st to 2nd" as there is no first and second when it is in Drive. It is something about how it changes ratios at low speeds, but nobody has a really good idea on what causes it. It's probably in the programming, but it's hard to know for sure. (EDIT: hallux may be right here too)
That said, I only notice the lurch effect when trying to hold low speeds (<15 mph) and my foot is constantly tweaking the speed. When accelerating, I don't really notice it. So while it sounds like the lurch effect, it may be different.