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Payne: Toyota Crown is a Prius in a big sedan’s body
Posted by Talbot Payne on October 19, 2023
Chicago — Happy Halloween. The Toyota Crown is a Prius dressed as a big sedan.
The Japanese automaker rocked the world 25 years ago when it introduced the Pious — er, Prius — a popular, virtue-signaling, green nerd-mobile. Three decades later and Prius’s DNA has spread through the Toyota family with hybrid powertrains populating everything from the RAV4 SUV to the Tundra pickup to the Crown.
On a 900-mile road trip with Mrs. Payne from my Oakland County domicile to Chicago to Charlevoix, Michigan, and back, Crown averaged 39 mpg thanks to the hybrid gerbil-wheel spinning under the hood.
Toyota loves to make big sedans, and they are plentiful across the pond in Japan. But in the U.S., Americans prefer SUVs, and sales of Toyota’s large Avalon sedan flagged. Shove a V-8 in a Dodge Charger sedan and we Yanks will take notice. But with the Crown, Toyota has decided to try something different.
It married a Prius and a Highlander SUV and named its offspring Crown.
Prius was once the ugly duckling of the family, but no more. The 2023 model is sleek, sculpted and simple — a design approach shared by Crown. A thin, horizontal light bar wraps around the front end like the glasses worn by X-Men superhero Cyclops. The design is echoed ‘round back in the high, thin taillight bar.
Crown shares Prius’s coupe-like profile — but for a black wedge hung above the car’s rocker panels. The wedge is there to mitigate the Crown’s tall, slab-like sides, which give away the model’s mission: sedan proportions with the lifted seating position of an SUV.
We own two sedans, and the Crown was noticeably easier to slip into. That’s because the Toyota’s hip point (seating position) is, by my measure, 21 inches above the ground — well above a typical sedan’s 15 inches, and closer to the 30 inches of an SUV.
Utes make up 70% of the non-pickup market, but Toyota still sees plenty of consumers who prefer the lines of a sedan to a boxier SUV. Think of 50-somethings coming off two decades chauffeuring kids in a Toyota Highlander SUV — but now want something with similar interior room but more style.
Crown sports the same 112-inch wheelbase as Highlander and is spacious inside — its headroom, rear legroom and cargo space pinched just an inch from the SUV. Crown’s increased aerodynamics (and 500-pound trimmer waistline) pay dividends in superior fuel economy (41 mpg vs. 35 mpg) even as the Crown/Highlander share all-wheel-drive, 2.5-liter 4-cylinder drivetrains.
It should be noted, however, that $41,415 Crown is smaller (by an inch in cargo and rear legroom) than the hybrid sedan it replaces, the $38,945 Avalon. And the cheaper, 500-pound lighter Avalon also managed to get better fuel economy (43 mpg) out of its hybrid 2.5-liter mill. Go figure.
Get used to hybrid 2-liter drivetrains powered by continuously variable automatic transmissions. Everybody has them these days, from Toyota to Honda to Ford to Subaru, as government emissions mandates force everyone into the same box.
Mashing the pedal entering I-94 on-ramps to Chicago, Toyota’s package droned a bit much compared to, say, the Honda Accord Hybrid. For those who want more grunt, Toyota won’t option you a Hemi V-8 — but it will offer its Hybrid Max drivetrain, which pairs a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder with an electric motor on the rear axle and a 6-speed automatic for another 100 horses over my 236-horse egg-beater.
It’ll also cost you eight grand more in the Platinum model. I’d stick with the standard powertrain since the chassis doesn’t like to be pushed hard anyway. Crown is content as a sippy boulevard cruiser. Did I mention it’s like a big Prius?
Like its hybrid pioneer, Crown’s interstate stops were not for fuel but for bathroom/lunch stops. Unlike Toyota’s pricier 220-mile range (ugh) electric brother, the bZ4X, I got 565 miles of range with the Crown at 39 mpg. Which means I only had to refuel once (for five minutes) on my 900-mile road trip while traveling at 80 mph.
The bZ4X, by contrast, would have needed to stop at least four times — and probably more since traveling at 80 mph can suck 20% from battery range. Time to fill up? The Toyota EV gains 130 miles in a leisurely 30 minutes at a DC fast charger, which is why EVs are best considered as metro cars.
Inside, Crown is cleanly designed like its exterior with twin digital screens and a compact shifter that frees console space. It’s quite a contrast to the guitar-shaped dash of the Highlander. But for its premium price — and royal name (my Limited tester with fancy 21-inch wheels and panoramic roof stickered for $50,169) — Crown cuts some corners.
Mrs. Payne’s $30K Subaru Impreza features adaptive cruise control that allows you to increase speeds by 1 mph (quick button push) or 5 mph (long button hold). Crown’s cheaper ACC package will just increase/decrease speed 1 mph at a time. The sedan’s infotainment system is a step behind competitors in its graphic presentation, and — for a big boulevard cruiser — Crown’s drive-assist technology isn’t very ambitious.
Navigating miles of Midwest highways, I found the system excelled at lane-centering but would give up on interstate curves unlike, say, a $10K-cheaper Hyundai Tucson.
Toyota’s reputation wasn’t built on building bleeding-edge tech, however; it was built on reliability. Toyota loyalists will no doubt forgo the latest goo-gaw in exchange for never having to visit a dealership for anything more than an oil-and-filter change.
The brand’s new design direction, however, looks decidedly premium — and is a nice contrast to the polarizing spindle grilles of the Lexus luxury brand. Lexus has, thankfully, abandoned its maddening remote touchpad interface for a touchscreen in new-generation models like the comparably-priced hybrid Lexus ES 300h. But Crown’s minimalist design and touchscreen may be the better combination.
Crown offers one more noteworthy feature: it comes standard with all-wheel drive, unlike Lexus or Prius.
As I pulled into Charlevoix, the temperature indicated an unseasonably balmy 80-degree October day. But winter cometh. And Toyota fans looking to upgrade their Prius may appreciate that Big Brother will have all four corners churning when the white stuff starts to fall.
Next week: Aston Martin DBX707
2023 Toyota Crown
Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive five-passenger sedan
Price: $41,145, including $1,095 destination ($50,169 as tested)
Powerplant: Hybrid-electric with 2.5-liter, inline-4 cylinder; hybrid-electric with 2.4-liter turbo-4
Power: 236 horsepower (hybrid 2.5L); 340 horsepower (hybrid turbo-4)
Transmission: Continuously-variable (hybrid 2.5L); six-speed automatic (hybrid turbo-4)
Performance: 0-60 mph, 7.6 seconds (mfr.); towing, 3,500 pounds
Weight: 3,980 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA est. 42 mpg city/41 highway/41 combined (hybrid 2.5L); 29 mpg city/32 highway/30 combined (hybrid turbo-4); 39 mpg (observed)
Report card
Highs: Simple styling, easy seating position
Lows: Continuously variable tranny continuously drones; cheap features for price
Overall: 3 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.