2023 Toyota Crown Courts Controversy

UPDATE 8/3/23: This review has been updated with test results.

Nobody ever argued about the Toyota Avalon, which was universally described as “perfectly nice.” But Toyota, in case you haven’t noticed, is no longer content with inoffensive competence. So it replaced the Avalon with the 2023 Crown, a jacked-up four-door coupe-roof sedan that looks like a 1999 Subaru Legacy SUS and a Local Motors Rally Fighter had a baby. The fact that this thing succeeds the Avalon reveals a lot about Toyota corporate culture right now, which we imagine as Rumspringa in Toyota City. What will it build next, and will it be the result of a dare?

The Crown—a nameplate that dates to 1955 in Japan—is 3.7 inches taller than a Camry and twice as extroverted. The high-riding stance is mostly posturing, given that the Crown’s ground clearance is only 5.8 inches, just a tenth of an inch higher than the Camry’s. But its optional 21-inch wheels look concept-car enormous on a vehicle this size, and the Platinum model’s available two-tone paint brings some Maybach attitude to the near-luxury-sedan segment.

The Crown’s two available hybrid powertrains differ in more than just power output. It’s really like there are two Crowns—the base XLE and Limited for people who might actually be replacing an Avalon, as well as the Platinum Hybrid Max models that step brazenly into Lexus territory in terms of pricing and performance. All-wheel drive is standard either way, with the XLE and Limited using a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter four-cylinder paired with three electric motors to deliver a total of 236 horsepower through a continuously variable transmission. The rear axle is electric-only—there’s no driveshaft—and its motor makes 54 horsepower and 89 pound-feet of torque. That’s enough, Toyota tells us, to ensure that all-wheel drive remains available at all speeds, although we can’t imagine the rear end is doing much if you boot it at 80 mph. This powertrain isn’t the enthusiast choice, mustering a 7.2-second 60-mph time and a 15.5-second quarter-mile at 91 mph in a Limited test car, but the 4063-pound Crown did average an impressive 42 mpg while in our care (a 275-pound-heavier Platinum model only managed 28 mpg). Curiously, while the revised 2023 Corolla Hybrid gets a lithium-ion high-voltage battery, the upmarket Crown features a nickel-metal hydride unit with an estimated 0.6 kilowatt-hour of usable capacity.

The optional Hybrid Max powertrain, available only in the Platinum, more closely aligns the Crown’s performance with its bold sheetmetal. A turbocharged 2.4-liter four teams up with two electric motors to deliver 340 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque. In the Max, the water-cooled rear motor makes 79 horsepower and 124 pound-feet and is always engaged (the base powertrain goes front-drive until the rear wheels need traction). Stacking the gains, Toyota bolts the turbo four to a six-speed automatic that uses a wet clutch instead of a torque converter. Hello, silky rev-matched downshifts. Intriguingly, the clutch will allow a high-rpm launch-control mode, which Toyota says is in the works and would likely drop the Platinum’s current 5.1-second 60-mph sprint even lower. Keep the pedal down through the quarter-mile, and that benchmark is dispatched in 13.8 seconds at 101 mph.

The Platinum trim also gets adaptive dampers that make the Crown a surprisingly willing partner when the road gets twisty, though its 0.83-g of grip around the skidpad barely beats the Limited’s 0.82 g. When a corner looms at the end of a straight, the Crown demands an early stab at the brake pedal, given its trucklike stopping distances from 70 mph—189 feet for the Platinum and 191 feet for the Limited, both of which rolled on 21-inch all-season tires. For reference, the last Tundra Limited pickup we tested stopped from 70 mph in 185 feet.

Inside, the Crown’s cabin isn’t flashy but is impeccably assembled with quality materials. It looks as if a scuffed driver’s seat bolster might be the only tell when the odometer hits 200,000 miles. The Platinum’s leather front seats are heated and ventilated, and the rear seats are also heated. The sleek climate-control panel, immediately below the 12.3-inch touchscreen, would look perfectly at home in a $100,000 Lexus. The only letdown is the 11-speaker JBL audio system in the Limited and Platinum (XLEs get a basic six-speaker system). The JBL sounds as if 10 of its 11 speakers might be tweeters, and yes, we checked the settings and tried different cars. Toyota says the system was “acoustically tuned for Toyota Crown to match unique vehicle characteristics,” so maybe that means it expects the Crown demographic to listen to crime podcasts and NPR. At least it’s rather hushed inside when the stereo’s off: The Limited registered just 67 decibels at 70 mph, and the Platinum dropped the noise level to 66 decibels.

The Crown is built solely in Japan, at the Tsutsumi plant, and perhaps Toyota hopes that the Crown might capture a few potential owners in search of a signature anti-brand-snob Toyota luxury experience. Crown pricing starts at $41,045 for an XLE and ranges up to $53,445 for a Platinum. Is that too expensive for a Toyota sedan?

We’d say not, but the Crown’s value proposition is up for debate as much as its style. Toyota hopes to sell about 20,000 Crowns a year in the U.S., which is a healthy goal but not one that demands mainstream conformity. Maybe you hate the way the Crown looks—that’s fine. Toyota is fully aware haters gonna hate, and it truly doesn’t care. If we’re bickering over the Crown, we’re talking about the Crown.

To that point, you don’t offer two-tone paint if you’re looking for unanimous consensus. That option, only available on the Platinum, brings a gloss black hood, roof, and rear decklid, set against extroverted lower-body colors like our test car’s Bronze Age hue. The two-tone paint costs $550 extra, and we’d say it’s mandatory. But we’d be happy to argue about it.