I know but wondered if the MK 3 Sport 1.5 was a prerunner to the MK4
Mk3 had several 1.5, the Otto cycle direct fuel injection for EUDM (the same of HR-V), the Otto cycle port injection for Australia and some south east asean markets, the Atkinson cycle for the JDM hybrid dcd, there was also a turbodiesel 1.5 for India.
A prerunner for the Mk4 should be considered the atkinson cycle of the i-DCD hybrid, due to several technical solutions (compression ratio, i-vtec settings, manifolds, ...). Atkinson cycle engines (i mean the "fake atkinson) are different from Otto, the compression ratio for instance, the timing setting (LIVC, late intake valve closing or EIVC, early) and seldom exhaust manifolds. You cannot take an Otto engine and switch it to Atkinson simply modifying the valve timing and ECU configuration: RC for the MK3 Sport 1.5 is about 10.5:1, RC for Honda Atkkinsons (MK3 1.3, MK4 1.5, ..) is 13.5:1.