Aoa,
This is based on my personal experience. I bought Corolla Gli but found it to be extremely underpowered so sold it after 2 months.
Later I bought the Altis 1.8 Cruisetronic. For performance chose manual and auto for comfort.
There hell of difference between Corolla & Altis, the most important difference is the engine.
Just go for it, you will not regret it.