The 2023 Toyota Crown Reinvents a Legend

• The new Crown will be offered with two hybrid powertrains and standard all-wheel drive. Base Crowns use a 2.5-liter I4 mated to an eCVT and a pair of electric motors to deliver 236 hp combined.

• Climbing up the market, Toyota’s showing off a new system called Hybrid Max with the Crown, making 340 hp with a turbocharged 2.4-liter I4. The Hybrid Max powertrain is certainly quieter and smoother than the base hybrid.

• If the Crown’s styling will be polarizing, so will its price, starting in base trim at $41,045. That’s well above the current Avalon's starting point of $37,920.

Toyota’s Crown sedan introduced the United States to Toyota back in the 1950s. While this little Japanese sedan lived in the shadows of American icons of the era, it laid the groundwork for every Toyota you see today. Its time in the US might not have been a resounding success as the company decided to stop importing the Crown in the 1970s, but the Crown chugged along in Japan in perpetuity. Eventually, the Crown became an oddity looked at from afar in the US by folks who want what they can’t have. That time has officially come to a close, and the Crown is back in the US as a wholly rethought idea of what a sedan should be in 2022.

Simply put, the Crown is a full-size sedan that fills the void left by the departing Avalon, and it's offered with two hybrid powertrains and standard all-wheel drive. Base Crowns use Toyota’s tried and true 2.5-liter I4 that mates with an eCVT and a pair of electric motors to deliver 236 hp combined. Climbing up the market, Toyota’s showing off a new system called Hybrid Max with the Crown, making 340 hp from its turbocharged 2.4-liter I4. The Hybrid Max powertrain uses a six-speed automatic transmission to manage the engine’s power and sees a more powerful pair of electric motors. This extra power comes with a significant punishment in fuel economy, with the base hybrid system boasting 41 mpg combined and the Hybrid Max powertrain offering 32 mpg combined.

But the Crown represents a new take on a traditional sedan, and it's more than a three-box sedan with a hybrid powertrain. The Crown’s Chief Engineer Akihiro Sarada says through a translator the development team started from a clean sheet with the intent to build an innovative design that was comfortable and still drives like a sedan. That new design clearly bridges the gap between crossovers and sedans.

Styling might be the Crown’s most polarizing point. Its presence in person gives a similar feel to a lowered BMW X6 or Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe. The Crown's fender and lower body cladding reinforce its hybrid leanings, and its design is radical enough that there’s also a more traditional sedan making its way to the Japanese market.

If you’re wondering if it drives like a crossover, the answer isn’t as clear. The Crown offers a high seating position with a commanding view of the road like you’d expect from a crossover. But it also has the same headroom problem you might find in a sedan. If you’re opting for a Crown with a panoramic roof and are over six feet tall, your head will probably meet the sunroof shade. Reclining the seat absolves some of these issues, but that might not be your ideal seating position.

Dynamically, the Crown dips and dives like a sedan. The Platinum grade’s large 21-inch wheels sacrifice some ride quality for style, but the suspension does a good job of wrangling the large rims. The base model and Limited’s 19-inch wheels help the suspension work like a floaty, comfortable sedan.

The base powertrain offers more than adequate oomph off the line and easily launches the Crown onto highways. But the base powertrain isn’t exactly smooth, and the internal-combustion engine makes its presence known in the cabin with some unrefined noise. The optional (standard on Platinum models) Hybrid Max powertrain is remarkably quiet and smooth. The extra power helps push the Crown more quickly down the road, but acceleration feels linear and natural. With its six-speed transmission, the Hybrid Max shifts smoothly and quickly without upsetting the cabin. At highway speeds, the Crown's cabin is quiet and pleasant.

Regardless of your trim or engine choice, the overall layout of the interior will be effectively the same. All Toyota Crowns sport a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system, positioned to the right of a similarly sized digital instrument cluster. Platinum models get extra tech such as eye-detection sensors that remind you to focus on the road ahead. Toyota positioned the small, monostable gear selector in the center console, where it’s out of the way. The multifunction controls are well laid out regardless of model and are quickly mastered. Toyota made sure to include a volume knob, in case you reject the steering-wheel-controlled future.

Surprisingly, the interior design doesn’t change much as you climb the trim grades. The base XLE model features most of what you’d want out of the Crown. The cloth seats are comfortable, and you’re only missing a few soft-touch accents.

Toyota is launching every Crown with a standard suite of safety features. This package, dubbed Toyota Safety Sense 3.0, or TSS 3.0, comes with radar cruise control, pre-collision braking, and lane departure with steering assist. The Crown will also come standard with blindspot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert. Fortunately, other than the cruise control, there wasn’t a chance to test the safety features.

If the Crown’s styling will be polarizing, so will its price. Toyota will sell you a base-model Crown for $41,045, including destination charges but excluding any market adjustments or extra fees. That number climbs to $46,595 for Limited models and $53,445 for the top-tier Platinum Crown. That’s not cheap—well above the current Avalon's starting point of $37,920—but it does include standard all-wheel drive and the hybrid powertrain.

The Toyota Crown might reset the concept of a sedan and inspire more of these unique body styles in the future. But that will only happen if Toyota buyers jump at the Crown when it goes on sale early next year.

Do you think the Toyota Crown shines? Or is it too far of a departure from a traditional sedan? Tell us your thoughts below.