The 1.8 variants of Corolla have latest 2ZR-FE engine and latest 7-Speed CVTi (auto) and 6-Speed manual transmission.
Altis 1.6 AT has 1ZR-FE engine from previous Generation Altis 1.6 and Gil 1.6 AT. The engine's injection system is newer than the previous gen and now it is equipped with SFI.
Basically Altis 1.6 is like previous gen Gli 1.6 AT, but with alloys and navigation.
I was interested in Gli 1.3 AT, but moved to Altis 1.6 because the difference was just 125,000 and I got a more powerful dual vvti engine, alloys and navi with reverse cam as standard.