Yahoo Autos 2023 Toyota Crown First Drive Review: Nonconformist to a fault
When the 2023 Toyota Crown was revealed as the de facto replacement for the Avalon, we were a bit confused. We weren't surprised that Toyota would be looking to drop the Avalon, a relatively unexciting model in a rapidly shrinking market. But, even with its tall profile, the Crown is, well, still a big sedan, not even a liftback. And then, the powertrains seemed unambitious. All models will be conventional hybrids, or at least that was the case at launch. A plug-in hybrid has since been announced. So it seemed like the Crown was just going to be an Avalon, but weird looking. But maybe it would all make sense when we finally got a chance to learn more of the details and actually drive the car.
Not really.
We did learn from Toyota representatives that company President Akio Toyoda decreed the Crown be something different from the usual line-up of vehicles. And while there have been tall sedans in the past (Subaru Outback SUS and Volvo S60 Cross Country), there's no question that it sure is different. So at least the shape and even the bold two-tone paint job option make sense in that context.
What's interesting, is that despite the significantly altered design, the dimensions of the Crown are not far off from the Avalon, with one exception: overall height. The Crown is about 4 inches taller than either the Avalon or the Camry. But in length, width and wheelbase, it's less than an inch different. Also, all the height is in the body, not with added ground clearance. The Crown has just 0.5 inch more air between the rockers and the road. So although it has a roofline like an SUV, we wouldn't try taking it on anything rougher than a well-graded dirt or gravel road, especially with the standard 19-inch wheels or the available 21-inch examples.
Perhaps not surprisingly, most of the interior dimensions are also extremely close to the Avalon. Differences in headroom are within an inch of each other and front legroom is identical. It does lose an inch and a half of rear legroom and a couple inches of shoulder room compared to the Avalon. That's all on paper, though. In reality, the Crown's interior feels a fair bit smaller. A major contributing factor is the headroom, which is very tight up front, at least with a sunroof. If you're 6-feet tall or more, you'll be rubbing the headliner. We don't remember this being an issue in the old Avalon, and we suspect the problem here is that Toyota has jacked up the seating position for that SUV-like feel. And that's also why it feels so tight despite the extra roof height. Fortunately, if you get a model without a sunroof, you get much more front headroom.
As for the back, headroom is still a schosch tight, but not bad. Legroom does feel reduced compared to the limo-like Avalon, but tall adults can sit front and back without too much trouble. The interior space isn't the only thing downsized, though. Cargo room is down by about 1 cubic foot to a total of 15.2.
In addition to feeling smaller, the Crown's interior isn't nicer, either. The Avalon had a surprisingly striking and cool interior design, with a prominent center stack flowing right down into the center console. The dashboard on either side was fairly uncluttered, and on the right trim, you got really gorgeous natural finish wood. On the Crown, regardless of trim, you mostly get black plastic. It's decent black plastic in most places, but it is just black plastic. The bronze-painted metallic trim is nice, but there's nothing here that particularly wows. At least the fresh Toyota infotainment system is more modern compared to the Avalon’s previous-generation system.
