I have not found driving brake free more difficult with a CVT. If you release the accelerator pedal at any speed the engine revs drop instantly to 1,200 ish and the car slows gently with engine braking. I can only speak for a 1.5 CVT, I have not driven a 1.3 CVT.
That's definitely something new then. The Mk1 would occasionally offer engine braking close to what you can get in a manual but it was random. Most of the time on all the models I've driven (Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3) lifting off doesn't give much more than tyre rolling resistance. In fact both the Mk2 and Mk3 appear to dislike engine braking and on steep downslopes, if you deliberately select a low gear, will continually raise then lower the revs as if trying to relieve the pressure.
My daily commute takes me down a stretch of dual carriageway leading to the M40. It's about 1.5 miles long and around 30 degrees. I typically accelerate to 60 mph then take my foot off the accelerator and I'll usually still be doing over 50mph at the bottom even though it shallows. Then there's Rhuallt Hill on the A55 in North Wales. I'm usually doing 60mph at the top of that and again I lift off, by the time I'm near the bottom the car will be doing 70mph.
No way would either of those happen in a manual car. Not even in a 6th.
There is more engine braking in 'S' mode presumably by design so perhaps 'D' on the sporty model works like 'S' on the standard model. That might be another point in its favour. I've noticed when I drove a courtesy car earlier this year that on the facelifted Jazz if you floor the accelerator it fakes RPM changes. I didn't feel the 'gear changes' so it seemed to be just for show. Not entirely unpleasant but a bit sad that Honda have chosen to fake the effect because presumably so many drivers don't understand CVTs. That was only a 1.3 though as the 1.5 hadn't been launched yet.