Believe it or not, the current generation of the Toyota Corolla Altis is already turning four years old. Yes, 2019 has been that long, and that makes Toyota’s compact sedan due for a minor model change or a facelift.
Late last year, it’s the North American and Japanese-market Corolla that got a facelift. That version is known as the ‘Sporty’ face Corolla with its more aggressive front end and, well, sportier appearance. What we get in most parts of Europe and Asia is the ‘Prestige’ look, which is what we call the Altis. Given that the ‘Sporty’ Corolla was given a nip and tuck already, it was only a matter of time before the Altis got updates, too.
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Now, the refreshed Corolla Altis has made its debut in Thailand. Like the Japanese and North American versions of the car, the changes are relatively minor.
From the outside, the 2023 updates are mainly relegated to the grille, front bumpers, and wheel designs. The grille now features what Toyota calls the Polygon Design to give the car a fresher look. Bumper tweaks were made to accommodate the new foglight housings, but you’ll need a closer look to see what’s different. Finally, there are the new patterns on headlight clusters with a more Camry-like design.
There aren’t much changes to the interior, and looks largely the same as the one in the current Altis. Thai-market cars do get a different head unit that can support wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It also gains wireless charging for the higher trim levels. Speaking of higher trim levels, the GR Sport gets a fully digital instrument cluster.
While we’re on the subject of the GR Sport, this model actually gets unique steering calibration, at least according to Toyota. It also gets underchassis enhancements with sportier springs, a thicker stabilizer bar at the back, and a stiffer dampers.
All the engines are carried over from the current Corolla Altis. It starts with a 1.6-liter, but the Thai market also has 1.8-liter, non-hybrid on offer. At the top of the lineup is the hybrid that still uses a 1.8-liter engine paired with an electric motor.
