2023 Toyota Crown Review: A Bigger, Comfier Prius
Our Take on the 2023 Toyota Crown
The 2023 Toyota Crown is the newest Toyota to enter the company's U.S. lineup, a car-crossover combo that picks up right where the Avalon left off. Its quirky shape might not be for everybody, but during our stint behind the wheel people couldn't stop asking us about it.
Optional Supersonic Red paint and 21-inch gunmetal alloy wheels do a lot to elevate the Crown's unique design, which caught plenty of eyes both around the New York City area and at Watkins Glen International, where I used it as a support vehicle during a recent grassroots endurance event.
Looks aren't the only thing the Crown has going for it. A spacious interior with lots of useful tech make it a lovely place to spend time, whether you're going long distances or just commuting to work. There's a seamless infotainment system that's easy to use and nice to look at, with wireless Apple CarPlay and a wireless phone charging slot that works well.
The Crown's ride is suspension for comfort, with a floaty ride and plenty of roll. Not the best attributes if you want to carve corners, but perfect for a car designed to be a painless daily driver.
What's New
The Crown is entirely new for Toyota's U.S. lineup for 2023, but it's been a mainstay in the company's home market of Japan for over half a century.
The first Toyota Crown went on sale all the way back in 1955, with sedan, wagon, fastback, and coupe body styles available throughout production. Spend a night in Tokyo and you'll see dozens of Crown taxi cabs roaming the streets. Now, it's finally available for buyers in America.
Pros
Distinctive, eye-catching looks
Pleasant, comfortable, floaty ride
Nice interior with lots of desirable features
Cons
Base drivetrain option could be more powerful
Optional 21-inch wheels look great, but aren't friendly to potholes
We wish it had a hatchback-style trunk opening
Performance, Engine & Horsepower
The Toyota Crown is available with two different hybrid powertrains. Go for the top-level Platinum trim and you get the company's Hybrid Max system, which combines a 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine and a six-speed automatic to an electric motor on the rear axle, making a combined 340 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque.
Choose either the Limited or XLE trims, and you get a 2.5-liter naturally aspirated engine mated to a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) and three electric motors, together making 236 hp.
Toyota says the Hybrid Max-equipped Crown can sprint to 60 in just 5.7 seconds, while the lesser hybrid powertrain can do the same job in 7.6 seconds.
Features & Specs
The Toyota Crown is meant to be a replacement for the outgoing Avalon, which ended production in 2022. As such, it's packed with a ton of standard features to help justify its $40,000-plus base price.
There are LED exterior lights, 19-inch alloy wheels, and a panoramic fixed-glass roof as standard. Inside you'll find a 12.3-inch infotainment screen and a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster, paired to a JBL 11-speaker sound system for Limited models and up. The front seats are ventilated, while both rows are heated. There's also wireless phone charging and a host of standard active safety features.
MPG/Range
The Hybrid Max powertrain in the Platinum Crown delivers 29 mpg city and 32 mpg highway, for a combined rating of 30 mpg, according to the EPA. The base powertrain is far more efficient, delivering 42 mpg city and 41 mpg highway, for a combined rating of 41 mpg.
Our Limited-trim tester had the base system, delivering about 39 mpg over a 400-mile weekend consisting of both city and highway miles. We were fairly aggressive with our throttle inputs throughout, so we can forgive the car for missing out on the EPA's estimates.
Test Drive
The Toyota Crown drives like a bigger, comfier Prius. It has a laid-back vibe, delivering a floaty, pleasant ride with no sporting intentions. It coasts over most bumps with ease, feeling more like a crossover than a big, tall sedan thanks to its high driving position.
Our Limited tester, with its base hybrid powertrain, wasn't very quick in a straight line. It took a lot of flat-footing to get to highway speeds, but it was easy to adjust to after a few hours behind the wheel. A small price to pay for 40-plus mpg.
Check out our full first drive review of the Toyota Crown right here.
Pricing
The Toyota Crown starts at $41,045 including destination for the base XLE trim. Jump to the Limited trim you see here, and you'll be paying $46,645 before options. If you want the big-boy Platinum trim with its Hybrid Max powertrain, you'll have to shell out a staggering $53,445.
Our tester had two options: a $425 charge for the Supersonic Red paint job and a $2950 Advanced Technology Package, which includes 21-inch 10-spoke wheels, a panoramic view monitor, and Toyota's Remote Connect, which allows you to connect to the car via the Toyota app on your phone.
Interior
The Toyota Crown's cabin is a lovely place to spend long drives and daily commutes. There's plenty of room for adjustability in the driver's seat for all body types, and tons of features to play with.
We're big fans of the standard ventilated seats, wireless Apple CarPlay, and the wireless phone charger which, unlike most offerings from other manufacturers, actually works consistently. There's also the panoramic roof, which gives the cabin a better sense of airiness.
Comfort
The Crown puts comfort at the forefront of the experience, providing a soft, comfortable, floaty ride that doesn't jolt the cabin. The ride is clearly tuned towards a more chilled, laid back manner, which is exactly how we like it for this type of vehicle.
One thing we'd take away from our tester is the Advanced Technology Package, as it adds a set of huge 21-inch alloy wheels. While they look great, they do make bigger bumps more present in the cabin—we suspect the base 19-inch wheels would make things even more comfortable.
Technology
The Toyota Crown's advanced tech becomes evident right as you step inside. There are two 12.3-inch screens, one for the digital gauge cluster and another for the infotainment system. Wireless CarPlay connects seamlessly every time you step in the car. Pair it with the surprisingly functional wireless phone charger, and you have a pleasant, easy-to-use electronic ecosystem to work with.
In addition to traditional fuel economy figures, the digital gauge cluster can display battery charge remaining in the hybrid system, and shows where the power is being distributed throughout the all-wheel-drive system. It's fun to watch and helpful for assessing your remaining charge.
Storage
The Crown is a big vehicle, which means it has lots of places to put things. The door cards and center console are large enough to fit most water bottles, while the trunk, with its 15 cubic feet of cargo volume, can swallow enough luggage for a short family trip.
Considering the Crown's looks, we initially thought it might have a hatchback rear deck, but alas, it has to make do with a more traditional-style trunk opening. And that's a shame, because we love hatchbacks.
Safety
The 2023 Toyota Crown comes standard with the company's Safety Sense 3.0 suite of active safety systems. It gets pre-collision detection, radar cruise control, lane departure warnings with steering assist, lane tracing assist, automatic high beams, and road sign detection. Neither the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration nor the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety have crash tested the Crown yet.
Trims
The Toyota Crown is offered in three trims: XLE, Limited, and Platinum. The XLE is well-optioned as standard, with LED lighting, wireless phone charging, radar cruise control, 19-inch wheels, a 236-hp hybrid powertrain, and a 12.3-inch infotainment screen.
Step up to the Limited trim and you get leather seats, a heated steering wheel, ventilated front seats, heated rear seats, an 11-speaker audio system, and a panoramic fixed glass roof. The top-range Platinum trim includes a 340-hp hybrid drivetrain, 21-inch wheels, and an optional two-tone exterior paint scheme.
Wrapping Up
The 2023 Toyota Crown is a smart choice for buyers looking for the efficiency and attitude of a Prius but need more space. This car is very good at delivering a pleasant, unobtrusive drive, and has most of the tech we like to see on cars of this price. While rational buyers will overwhelmingly go for the vastly more efficient XLE and Limited trims, we'd jump for the Platinum and its 340 hp, because we love speed.
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