2023 Toyota Crown

Toyota has reprised its venerable Crown nameplate on a brand-new flagship “crossover sedan” model that’s in many ways a more desirable offering than similarly priced premium-badged products or even its Lexus stablemate.

The entry-level model is the Crown XLE, while the range-topper is the Crown Platinum, the latter putting the new Toyota flagship sedan in the same price ballpark as the Lexus ES 350.

The Crown is underpinned by the Toyota New Global Architecture K (TNGA-K) platform, which, in this application, provides the sedan with crossover-like ride height (about 10 cm higher than a Camry), offering drivers a more commanding view of the road, as well as making entry and egress easier in general.

The Crown is certainly an oddball from a visual perspective, especially in the two-tone paintwork that adorns the Platinum spec. It’s neither a conventional sedan nor an SUV, but, in our view, that’s not a bad thing.

We’d suggest the Crown’s mould-breaking design and proportions are a welcome departure from the frumpy styling that was a hallmark of the nameplate in its past generations. Its visual pizzazz could entice a younger set of buyers than the senior-citizen brigade that the model formerly attracted.

There’s a pleasingly premium ambience inside the cabin, and it’s interesting to note that the only Toyota badge on the car is the one on the bootlid. The logos on the bonnet, alloy wheel centres and steering wheel hub all feature the Crown motif.

The cockpit layout is neat and modern, with a 12.3-inch virtual instrument cluster showcasing key information in an easy-to-read format. The large infotainment touchscreen is also generally easy to scroll through, although the navigation can occasionally be slow to calculate the route when prompted for guidance.

We like the fact there are physical buttons for all the HVAC functions, so there’s no need to scroll through several screens just to alter the fan or temperature settings.

Although most controls fall easily to hand are nicely tactile, we found the transmission lever a bit fiddly to operate, so it’s easily possible to end up in “N” when you wanted to select “D” or “R”, although this became less of an issue over time.

The seats are nicely sculpted in both front and rear, although I found the driver’s seat a tad high for my liking. That said, the elevated position does at least make for good visibility in all directions.

The Crown measures a whisker under 5 metres in length and its transverse-engine format means there’s acres of legroom in the rear, although the tapered roofline means taller occupants may find headroom is tight.

Boot capacity of 430 litres is modest for a car of this size, but there’s still enough space to throw in a couple of full-size golf bags or suitcases.

Even the base model Toyota Crown XLE comes loaded with features, as the standard kit list includes heated/cooled leather seats (eight-way adjustable in front), eight-inch infotainment screen with Apple Carplay/Android Auto, eight-speaker sound system, 21-inch alloys, electric boot opener with kick sensor, panoramic sunroof, soft-close doors, LED headlamps and plenty more.

The Crown Platinum gets some notable extra features, including two-tone paintwork, heads-up display, wireless charging, 12.3-inch infotainment screen, 11-speaker JBL sound system, dynamic headlights and a powered rear sunshade.

There’s no shortage of safety features in the Toyota Crown as standard across the range is a pre-collision system, radar cruise control, lane departure alert, lane tracking assist, blind spot monitor, electronic park brake and brake hold, hill start assist, stability control, front and rear park sensors and tyre pressure monitor. Also standard are dual front/side/curtain/knee airbags and a rear-view camera in the Crown XLE, while the Platinum scores a 360-degree camera.

One of the key highlights of the Toyota Crown is the Hybrid Max powertrain that pairs a transverse mounted 2.4-litre four-cylinder turbo motor with a rear eAxle to serve up outputs of 345 hp at 6000 rpm and 544 Nm at 2000 rpm.

Even though the Crown tips the scales at a beefy 1,971 kg, acceleration is still lively as it dispatches the 0-100 kph sprint in comfortably under 6 seconds. There’s a wave of instant grunt that’s accessible right from the get-go. And as-tested fuel economy is respectable at 10 litres/100 km (10 km/litre).

The 2.4-litre four-cylinder turbo engine pumps out 268 hp and 460 Nm on its own and is a smooth unit that doesn’t get raucous even when you cane it. The fact that the rear e-motor kicks in an additional 82 hp and 292 Nm means there’s enough torque on tap to make for effortless acceleration and even half-throttle getaways from traffic lights will see you surge ahead of other vehicles.

The six-speed auto is also seamless and intuitive, so there’s little to fault in the drivetrain.

There’s clearly no lack of straight-line performance from the turbo hybrid powertrain, and it’s backed up by a chassis that serves up a tidy blend of ride comfort and agility.

Toyota says it has also worked hard to minimise noise intrusion to provides a cocoon-like cabin, while Adaptive Variable Suspension (adaptive dampers) in the Crown Platinum provides pillowy ride quality without reducing the car to a dynamic blancmange.

The suspension soaks up most road-surface imperfections in its stride, although sharp corrugations are transmitted through to the cabin. There’s almost total silence in the cabin at steady cruising speeds, with only a trace of wind noise from around the A-pillars disturbing the serenity.

One of the few gripes is that the lane-assist feature is overeager to keep you centred in your lane, but that can be turned off.

The steering offers a decent level of feedback, and the Crown Platinum can be flung at corners, although you will ultimately encounter understeer and body roll if you really push it. There’s also torque-vectoring by brake (Active Cornering Assist in Toyota-speak), which helps to quell understeer. But at the end of the day, this is luxury-oriented 2-tonne vehicle that stands almost 1.6 metres tall, so physics takes over at a certain point.

All in all, the Crown Platinum is an enjoyable and relaxing vehicle to steer, and we came away impressed by its comfort, refinement, style and surprisingly lively performance. It proved somewhat of a surprise packet as our expectation was that it would be a flaccid limo that erred towards comfort at the total expense of dynamism. The reality is otherwise, as the Crown is an entertainingly lively sedan that’s not averse to being hustled.

There’s certainly merit to the new-age Toyota Crown, and it’s a far more capable sedan than we had anticipated. It’s also a welcome sign the Japanese car-making giant is back to building desirable vehicles, as in the past decade or two it’s traded almost solely on brand value and reliability.

Photos by Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury