Your concern is valid, especially since it includes measurements on a real project. But I'm not sure it's a major concern. One can (and you already do) use qsort when binary sizes become a concern.

This is an interesting optimization, but it's not suitable for a beginner-to-intermediate C++ audience, which is who Stroupstrup is addressing. The sensible default is to use std::sort.

If someone can (and it looks like you have) measure a benefit in doing something special, then she should have at it. If an entire project, again with measurements, can prove that std::sort shouldn't be its default sort algorithm, that's fine too.