The Perodua Myvi now faces slightly stiffer competition in the facelifted 2022 Proton Iriz range, which were launched on 4-August 2021.

There's quite a lot of improvements (which we've covered in an earlier Old vs New article), so our spotlight here is on the range-topping Iriz Active.

Overview - Easier to pick one out now

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.

Also read: Priced from RM 40k, 2022 Proton Iriz MC2 facelift launched alongside crossover-like Active

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.

Also read: Long live the CVT: Why the MT option died with the facelifted 2021 Proton Persona and Iriz

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.

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.

Also read: Review: 2020 Proton X50 - all the pros and flaws about Malaysia's most-hyped SUV!

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.

Also read: 2022 Proton Iriz Active: Costs RM 3.6k to maintain over 5 years/100k km, here's the breakdown

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.

Also read: Proton Iriz Active still falls short of the Perodua Myvi on one crucial aspect

Meanwhile, the 2022 Proton Iriz facelift is priced as below:

Also read: Interested to buy a 2022 Proton Iriz? Here’s the minimum salary required