@Merrick
I actually like the smooth glide under light acceleration.
My wife has already pointed out a perk I hadn’t considered in moving to a stop/start hybrid. She’s always avoided drive-thrus because of the wait, but now she can go through without wasting fuel.
If you get into any cold car and start it, it’s going to be louder until the engine runs through its pre-set cycle and gets efficient. It’s just a little alarming because it starts silent and then suddenly kicks on.
I don’t think my Maverick engine is any louder or rougher than other cars (mostly cheap 4-cylinder cars), but it’s different. It doesn’t idle quietly like most cars. It goes from silent to suddenly running at medium load, and it doesn’t always match the throttle input or the speed of the car.
@Dakota
I didn’t think about a couple of things until reading through the replies here.
When it starts cold, it’s obviously running at low RPMs, so the engine can sound louder at first. Plus, it’s weird that it’s already at speed even if the engine hasn’t fully kicked in. That’s hybrid life.