Review: 2023 Toyota Crown Platinum

– Ann Arbor, MI

Toyota’s “Crown” nameplate is one of the longest-running in the company’s history, but not as a model on U.S. roads in many decades. Historically a top-line sedan for Toyota in its home market of Japan, the Crown was re-introdued as a kind of high-riding sedan or low-riding crossover, depending on your specific point of view.

At heart, this sixteenth generation of the Crown will serve as a replacement for the recently discontinued Avalon full-size sedan. And while the new model doesn’t have as much interior space as the outgoing Avalon nor quite the utility of an SUV, it’s not without its own charms.

The bulked-up bodywork, sharply slanted nose, and tall stance of the Crown make it visually arresting on the street, especially in the two-tone paint of my bronze/black test car. This is the top-line Platinum trim, which isn’t cheap at over $54,000 as-tested, but it did elicit a lot of positive attention over my test week. Toyota hasn’t had a statement-making car like this since the 2019 debut of the current Supra.

I put my family of four in the Crown for hundreds of miles, road-tripping the sedan across Michigan and back. We had plenty of space for a very tall driver (I’m six-foot-five), an average-sized passenger, two car seats in the back, and enough luggage for an overnight trip. The Crown is down in nearly every interior measurement versus the old Avalon and has a smaller trunk, but reports of the cabin as “cramped” are unwarranted in my opinion.

The ride quality for highway cruising is excellent; combined with supportive and comfortable seating, and a really user-friendly infotainment setup (with wireless Apple CarPlay), the Crown is an excellent long-distance driver.

My Platinum trim, all-wheel-drive car was powered by Toyota’s Hybrid Max powertrain, which combines a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine with a pair of electric motors, for a total output of 340 horsepower. That setup allows the car to be really responsive to throttle inputs, even at highway passing speeds, though it never feels particularly racy.

Seyth Miersma

Since the Avalon was only discontinued in 2022, I suspect that owners of this vehicle will at least take a look at the Crown when they’re ready for replacement. Retaining those buyers might be challenging with the slightly smaller cabin and trunk on offer, to be sure.

But the real challenge might be similarly priced SUVs, like Toyota’s own Highlander. Crown and Highlander pricing has a lot of overlap, but the SUV offers a lot more in terms of overall, flexible interior space. Additionally, a traditional SUV has a lot more ground clearance – something to seriously consider if you need to drive off pavement or through snow, or if you just prefer the more comfortable ingres/egress height.

I’ll add that my Crown Platinum’s interior design was a letdown when compared to the well-resolved exterior. There’s nothing bad or ugly in the cabin, and the 12.3-inch display is a delight, but it’s mostly an unbroken expanse of black. Translating some of the weirdness and charm of the Crown to the cabin wouldn’t have gone amiss, in my view.

Seyth Miersma

The reality is that full-size sedans are a dying breed (which is almost certainly Toyota’s reason for the Crown’s quasi-crossover shape). The Volkswagen Arteon might be the closest traditional competitor as of this writing, but the company has announced that it will be discontinued after the 2024 model year. Meanwhile, the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, and Nissan Maxima are all done and dusted.

The good news is that the $41K-ish starting price of the Crown gets one into top trims of some very good compact SUVs with roomy interiors. I really like Kia Sportage Hybrid, Honda CR-V Hybrid, Mazda CX-50, and Ford Bronco Sport as (wildly different) cross-shops for this kind of money. Or, maybe you just want a gently used Avalon?

The Crown gets a few bonus points in this category. For one it’s a segment-busting or segment-creating shaped thing that we haven’t seen before, and its the return of a nameplate to the U.S. that’s been gone since the 70s. Some owners, now and in the future, will catch feelings about this one. Still, for most it’s an interesting driving appliance.

2023 Toyota Crown Platinum

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