By: Joshua Lee
July 25, 2023
Sedans seem to be a dying breed as the market is saturated with the production of SUVs and crossovers. Why buy a full-size sedan when an SUV can do so much better? The Toyota Avalon has been discontinued, and we don’t think we’ve seen a fifth-generation Avalon on the streets before. Will this spot be filled with yet another SUV, or will the Camry take over from now on?
Making its return after 50 years, Toyota is bringing back the Crown to the North American market. Toyota Canada has given us the keys to the 2023 Toyota Crown Limited to see whether this new sedan can distinguish itself from the lineup. The Toyota Crown is a hybrid with a 2.5L four-cylinder engine and two electric motors, making 236 horsepower and 136 lb-ft of torque. The CVT transmission is smooth, and the drive has been quiet all around. Acceleration is decent, and handling is composed. There are three different driving modes, but they don’t offer much differentiation. If you wanted something with more power, you must go for the Platinum grade to get the 340 horsepower Hybrid Max powertrain.
The Crown has received a lot of stares during the week, with a few “what car is that?” Toyota calls this a crossover sedan; it has the stylings of a sedan, sporty elements from a sports car, and the space of an SUV. Our AWD Limited trim came in Oxygen White, 19″ alloy wheels, a panoramic fixed-glass roof, LED lights, and rain-sensing wipers. We don’t mind the look as it’s quite polarizing for a sedan. The front is sharp and agile, which is nicely contrasted by the swooping roofline and curves of the rear body. However, the 19″ wheel size seems a little small, which makes the Crown look slightly awkward in proportions. We also would’ve liked this to have been a hatchback for added practicality. The dimensions are quite similar to the Camry; the Crown having an increase of four inches for length and height, but we wouldn’t call it a crossover as it has the same ground clearance as its mid-size sedan.
The cabin is a nice place to be as we found ourselves quite comfortable in the 8-way power-adjustable seats with 2-way lumbar support. A heated steering wheel and heated front and rear seats are standard while our Limited trim adds on ventilated front seats, smooth leather finish, and driver seat memory. Toyota has added a lot of sound deadening and acoustic glass to make the inside as serene as possible. Toyota’s new 12.3″ infotainment system sits perfectly at eye level with the 12.3″ full-color multi-information driver’s display. The driver’s display is highly configurable with what types of information you’d like to see from the left and rear gauges, as well as the center area. The interior isn’t over-styled; there are a few physical buttons and copper accent trim that brings some styling flare to the Black and Chestnut SofTex leather. There is a vertically mounted wireless charger that we found works well with our iPhones as the regular lie-flat ones are a hit and miss as the camera bezel causes some interference.
Other features in the Limited include push-button start, a backup camera, intuitive parking assist, and an 11-speaker JBL Audio system. That fastback design does have its flaws; we didn’t adjust the height on our seats but felt that our heads were quite close to the roof already. The rear outboard seats are comfortable, but the center seat feels cramped as it sits much higher. Cargo capacity is 430L, and the rear seats offer a 60/40 split folding.
The Toyota Crown comes with Toyota Safety Sense 3.0, which includes autobraking with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, lane departure with steering assist, lane tracing, road sign assist, automatic high beams, and proactive driving assist.
According to Toyota, the Crown is rated 5.6L/100KM for the city and 5.7L/100M for the highway and combined. Toyota’s hybrid systems work extremely well, and the Crown is no exception. We’ve hit 5.7L/100KM as well and went as low as 4.0L/100KM in city driving.
Only three trims are available; the XLE starts at $48,804.50, the Limited at $54,204.50, and the Platinum at $63,204.50. Our model comes up to $54,459.50 with taxes included. The Limited is the trim to get for a sensible daily driver, but the Platinum is the trim we’d go for as the 21″ wheels and two-tone paint finish look better and are equipped with a more powerful powertrain, an eAxle rear differential, and adaptive variable suspension.
We could see this as an alternative to customers who might be looking for a Prius but wanting a bigger vehicle. Looks are debatable for the Crown as there isn’t another vehicle on the market that comes close in comparison, but we would swap out those 19″ wheels for something else. With its fuel-efficient powertrain, premium styling, and updated tech, the Crown is more of an elevated Camry, which isn’t a bad thing as this could also sway customers into their new model. The problem that Toyota will face is that the Crown is a melting pot of cars they already sell. For the price of the Limited, you can get the Toyota Venza Limited, and the Camry XLE Hybrid is priced lower too. Was it worth the risk to redefine the sedan? We would have to see the sales numbers to find out.
