Besides this Active (which supercedes the pre-facelift's 1.6 Premium), Proton now offers only three variants of the Iriz, with the 1.3 Standard and 1.6 Executive completing the rest of the range.
Owing to the fact that hardly anybody bought one, the manual transmission has been dropped from the Iriz line-up, a decision echoed by the 2022 Proton Persona facelift as well.
The CVT is tweaked slightly to offer 5 virtual ratios, and now comes with a drive mode selector that offers Eco and Sport modes. We'll share what we think of that after we've reviewed the car.
2021 Proton Iriz facelift powertrain
Variant
Powertrain
Standard
1.3L, NA 4-cyl
95 PS @ 5,750 rpm
120 Nm @ 4,000 rpm
CVT
Executive
Active
1.6L, NA 4-cyl
109 PS @ 5,750 rpm
150 Nm @ 4,000 rpm
CVT
Exterior - Never has an Iriz looked like this
This facelift exercise lends the Iriz range a much cleaner look, as Proton has done away with the pre-facelift model's chrome trimmings up front.
Much like its stablemates, the B-segment hatchback now gets a redesigned front bumper, complete with the family 'Infinite Weave' grille.
LED headlights finally make it to the Iriz, but it's only available on the Iriz Active while the rest gets halogen headlamps.
By and large the most glaring thing about the Iriz Active are its thick black cladding around its body, lending the hatchback a rugged SUV feel. Ride height sees a 10 mm increase over the Executive (20 mm against the standard) is due to its roof rails only.
It also takes a few pages off the Proton X50's lookbook by adopting a few of the SUV's colours. This Passion Red (with black roof) is one, with the other being Citric Orange.
Claddings aside, there's new 15- and 16-inch wheels for the range - variant dependent, of course - but the Iriz Active's certainly stands out.
The rear-end stays familiar, keeping largely the same design but now complemented with a new trim below the number plate recess.
Interior - Refreshed and revamped
The revamped exterior is matched by a refreshed interior, with the most notable change being the redesigned dashboard and new floating-style infotainment touchscreen.
A larger eight-inch unit is installed in the Executive and Active variants, and the latter exclusively gets voice control to go with that. The Standard variant meanwhile makes do with a regular radio.
The air-conditioning system has been revamped too, with restyled vents and a new digital control unit.
On the comfort front, the Iriz Active gains semi-leather seats, and leather upholstery on the steering wheel.
The largely black interior is broken up by red detailing - bright red seatbelts, as well as red stitching on the seats and upholstery.
That's not all though, as other improvements in the cabin include a new centre armrest, 6 USB ports (1 of which is for the dashcam), LED map lights, and a tweaked instrument cluster.
Conclusion - Best Iriz update yet
Though some may term these changes as 'minimal', they make an already good-looking car even easier on the eyes.
It's helped along by a smattering of new niceties, but we still need to see how the car performs.
Whether or not the Iriz's second facelift in seven years brought upon meaningful changes to the CVT is a question we're sure is on everyone's minds.
With humble beginnings collecting diecast models and spending hours virtually tuning dream cars on the computer, his love of cars has delightfully transformed into a career. Sanjay enjoys how the same passion for cars transcends boundaries and brings people together.