Students of automotive history will know the Toyota Crown has sat atop the aspirational ladder in Japan since the 1950s and hasn’t been part of the Big T’s portfolio in America since 1973 when it was replaced by the Corona. Our own Murilee can expound on this family tree in excruciating detail, which is one of the many reasons we appreciate his ramblings.
Now, the Crown in back in this country. Technically replacing the Avalon, it’s a hybrid-powered four-door vehicle (car? SUV?) with a conventional sedan trunk opening sitting on a structure that places it four inches higher than a Camry. If Toyota was looking to defy categorization as it brought the Crown name back to America for the first time in five decades, it has definitely succeeded.
There will be three trim levels, all of which will be familiar to the Toyota faithful – XLE, Limited, and Platinum. Powering the first two is a 2.5-liter four-banger which has a nickel-metal hydride battery pack and three electric motors as its dance partners. This configuration is good for a claimed 236 horsepower and knocks on the door of 40 mpg in combined driving conditions with its CVT. Thanks to the placement of those motors, these Crowns are all-wheel drive.
Platinum-grade models are the recipient of an annoyingly capitalized HYBRID MAX powertrain, which we henceforth will never capitalize again. Here, we find a 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine mated to a six-speed, wet-clutch transmission which does the two-step with a hybrid system made of a battery and two electric motors, the latter of which is liquid-cooled on the rear axle. Toyota says these gubbins make 340 horsepower, but fuel economy drops to an estimated 28 mpg on the combined cycle.
The snazzier hybrid system flings power to all four wheels consistently, while the XLE and Limited trims can be front-wheel drive in certain conditions. Thanks to the Hybrid Max’s rear motor which generates power through water cooling, Platinum trims can send up to 80 percent of its power to the rear wheels for – hopefully – tail-out action on loose surfaces.
But what about its appearance? What, indeed. Using the TNGA-K platform, it seems like the Crown is attempting to meld sedan driving comfort with crossover-like ride height. If you want to reference the Subaru Legacy SUS or AMC Eagle Sedan in the comments, we won’t stop you. Taking a measuring tape to the Crown offers an overall height of 60.6 inches (compared to 56.9 for a Camry), length of 194.0 inches on a 112.2-inch wheelbase, and 72.4-inch width.
For reference, a 2022 Highlander is listed as being 68.1 inches tall, 194.9 inches long (112.2-inch w/b), and 76.0 inches wide. If you’ve noted its wheelbase is identical to the Crown, give yourself a gold star. Both vehicles are built using the TNGA-K bones which currently underpin a yaffle of Toyota vehicles from Venza to Sienna and RAV4 to Camry. The old Avalon used it as well. The Crown’s interior is familiar to anyone who’s been in a new Toyota recently, which isn’t a bad thing.
Availability is set for this autumn, though Toyota was mum on price. For what it’s worth, the 215-horsepower Avalon Hybrid currently starts at $37,850 so we expect the Crown to push past $40k to start.
[Images: Toyota]
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Good gravy that interior is bland.
Other thoughts: Red-black is kind of lame here. 21″ are required for the Platinum trim, which are too big for a sedan for any sort of comfort.
And finally: You’ve lost the Lexus GS (JDM Crown derivative) and the Avalon (sturdy V6 sedan) and have been handed this. Happy now?
Dead Pool Limited Edition
I just measured my Volvo 244 and my C70, with the factory suspension from rocker to ground the 244 sits exactly 12 inches high and the C70 8 inches. If the Camry is a similar 8 inches and the Crown also 12, welcome back to 1993.
Not liking the styling though and apparently I can’t get a front bumper anymore for love or money.
Additional: I have a steep oddly angled driveway, I can’t even get the C70 or Corolla IM in on the higher side because of the angle (scrapes underneath) but the 244 has no issues. A return to a 12 inch ride height would be a welcome change in my book.
Was your Grand Prix able to do it?
Yes it could.
It sits high and has standard AWD but seems to be poorly packaged (mail slot trunk and swoopy roofline) for its size. It also isn’t exactly beautiful.
I’m not sure there is much of an audience for this sort of thing.
I’m not buying squat but this is something I’d check out (though I agree the swoopy rooflines on sedans is dumb).
I was sort of excited to see the finished product but after seeing it….. not really feeling the design. Maybe its the awkward paint job, the strange door moldings. In any event, that isnt going to get me to part with $45-50k or so which I suspect they will be charging.
There is a slight chance I might consider getting one of these in about 10 years. If I am still addicted to gasoline, that is.
…also after the facelift. There *will* be a facelift, right?
Rather ungainly, AWD, four doors, and a trunk. An AMC Eagle sedan is surely smiling somewhere. Pity Toyota doesn’t offer a quarter vinyl roof…
I can’t understand why this exists. Who is buying this? Former Avalon buyers who are now so old they need a higher hip point vehicle, but hate crossovers?
Absolutely nothing about this vehicle — especially the interior — says “range-topping model.”
Boring as hell, but I’d be curious to see what a Lexus ES based on this might eventually look like, and if they’d try and compete with the Genesis G80 with something like that. Right now Lexus has the IS which will probably be old enough to get its own driver’s license by the time it’s finally put out to pasture, and a warmed over Avalon.
So Toyota built a unibody trar – basically picture a pickup truck frame with a car put on top, traditionally speaking.
I wonder how this massive change to the most ancient of Toyota nameplates will go over in Japan.
As for the car itself, is the market actually ready for a SUS _this_ time?
Isn’t the Crown more of a sub-brand in Japan with like 4 models? This is the only one the US will see.
I suppose “from Avalon to this” is what selling ever higher margin, ever cheaper to build commodities; to an ever more concentrated “market” of Fed-theft enriched has-beens in rapid cognitive decline; looks looks these days. A pure battery version cant possibly be far behind. Since nothing saves the world from the scary soda bubbles like single-occupant commuting in a vehicle with the weight and frontal area of a Mack truck and all….
The dimensions are a very close match to the unloved 5-series Gran Turismo from couple years back.
We’ll see how well this is accepted by the market, but if it fails, Toyota has also have three other body styles of Sedan, Sport (SUV), and Estate (longer SUV) waiting in its wings that they showed-off.
High stance, AWD, trunk lid? Legacy SUS.
The Honda Crosstour rides again!
The Crossturd was a hatchback.
I’ll take the wagon version, with Toyota’s new turbo 6 from the trucks, for $10k — and 1,000 pounds? — less.
I’ll need the money to get it repainted.
I sort of like it, but I’m puzzled by the use of NiMH batteries.
They are dead reliable and safe, but Toyota abandoned them long ago in favor of lithium ion in the Prius, for example. Lithium ion has more energy density, but finicky charging.
While the Prius Prime PHEV use lithium ion, most other Prius grades currently use NiMH, with the latest kid on the block being the bipolar NiMH recently developed by Toyota. NiMH tend to be more durable and reliable across temperature range and less safety concerns than li-ion. Better recyclability as well.
Patent issues make NiMH a difficult choice for BEVs, but they continue to be great for hybrids.
The theory-
Make a sedan baby boomers can get in and out of easily-but do not call it a sedan. The theory sounds great-but as stated the execution looks questionable.
What I see is not regal enough to be labeled as “CROWN”.
Looks more like an “AVALON II”.
Trying to determine exactly when Toyota lost the plot. (2017? 2012? Maybe earlier because of development time — and I’m talking across the entire portfolio, not any single product.)
[Every time I leave the house this past week I run across a different XV20, parked, just sitting there, taunting me.]
Unknown. In the driveway is a Lexus SC400, the coupe matching the famous LS400. It’s probably the only 20 year old car I’d let my kid buy-the build quality is amazing. I was at the dealer getting a part recently and saw a BMW-Supra there, along with a real Celica-Supra next to it. My mom had an MR2 once….what happened, Toyota ?
It’s almost like Honda decided to be Stellantis.
A Crown is the car the elderly cab drivers in Japan drive, immaculate and with a doily on the seats.
Toyota Crown has always been the Japanese Crown Vic/Town Car.
A conservative full size sedan of choice for the elderly, the police force, taxis and livery services. The last of Japanese sedans to keep frame chassis and even came out the same year as the Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria to keep the parallels alive.
And just like how the Town Car became the MKT, the Crown is turning into a crossover sedan thing to keep itself from dying off. Of course, this being Toyota, they’re doubling down by making 4 variants. This car above, a traditional RWD sedan, a crossover estate, and a crossover hatch (similar to Ioniq 5).
I don’t hate it, but don’t love it. It has some odd proportions, at least in pics. That two-tone red/black is hideous though, and the interior does not look at all premium to me.
Jacked up Toyota Stinger hybrid with a trunk.
Good idea despite my pithy summary but like the Stinger, it’s not really giving anyone what they want. Sounds like it might be quick in fastest trim, somewhat efficient in slowest trim and it looks interesting in all trims.
Kinda like a Stinger. Should’ve made it a full EV. Sort of like a bigger Polestar 2.