[M!]

Most of the time I'll put it into neutral before it starts downshifting. There doesn't seem to be any good reason to have it do the down shifts and the braking is smoother.

i'm a little confused as to why you would put into N in this situation.

at what speed or distance to the light are we talking about?

if your CC is going to automatically downshift to a stop, obviously the car is going at a higher speed and decelerating quite quickly. (vs it will just carry on in the same gear and roll down to a stop and pop to N itself).

if your CC is not really automatically downshifting and you intentionally downshift to engine brake for whatever reasons... holding the rev so you can get out of the light in a rolling start if you are clear in front?

compare to approaching a stop in N, when the CC blips and downshift, you will still be in gear. granted braking in N seems to be smoother, but isn't it safer to be in gear?...