Bro, I also from Cressida i6 era.
i was in standard 3.
Altis 1.8 and 2.0 now uses CVT.
Is this CVT fundamentally different from the Honda City / Jazz CVT.
If similar, I rather buy the 1.6 Altis!
CVT for any cars are basically the same, its just nowadays virtual gear ratios can be created electronically compare to the early CVTs like the one in Subaru Justy (sometime in 80s) even though CVT gearbox goes way before that.
Unlike Honda's CVT, Toyota's CVT has better reliabilties (the reason why new Honda City uses normal automatic gearbox, no more CVT like he old one)
even though it feels sluggish, but remember when in conventional auto reach 2nd gear, the CVT may already be in 70th ratio.. or even 1000th ratio (the fact that the gear ratios in a CVT is infinity)
another factor worth considering is CVT gearbox is likely lighter to normal AT, and with superior ratios to bring the best engine output to suit vehicle speed at all time, fuel consumption will be better too.
while the CVT may feel sluggish, one must try the acceleration between a 4 speed (or a 6 speeder) auto to see the actual fact that CVT is not that really slow.
example
city 1.5 vtec 2004 versus city 1.5 vtec 2011 (5sp) versus vios 2011 (4sp)