The suspension of corolla is far better than city, road grip is also better than city because front suspension of 1.8 Altis only is independant mcpherson struts, other variants have semi independant suspension. As far durability is concerned, you won't need any work on suspension upto 200,000kms.
This is my first automatic and believe me it's way responsive than all other automatics because of CVT, I would recommened you to go for automatic one instead of manual, but if you wanna go for manual than you can go for Altis 1.8 6speed manual.
Yes, front is bigger and length is one feet more than a city.
Corolla Altis 1.8 variants can't be compared with city because they are 5 steps ahead of city in everything.
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