2023 Toyota Crown Review: Slick New Flagship Sedan Leaves Us a Bit Crownfused

The verdict: The new Toyota Crown is stylish, smooth-riding and quasi-sporty — but ultimately a confusing new offering from Toyota that’s sure to appeal to someone. Who that might be remains a mystery.

Versus the competition: The Nissan Maxima and Kia Stinger are both lighter and more sporting than the Crown, with roomier interiors, but the Crown is likely to outlast them both in showrooms as the Maxima won’t continue past 2023 and the Stinger is rumored for extinction.

Big sedans keep disappearing as peoples’ tastes shift toward SUVs — or that’s what we’re being told, anyway. One cannot dispute that the roster of big sedans continues to shrink: The Chevrolet Impala and Ford Taurus are gone, all of the big Buicks and Cadillacs have departed, the Kia Stinger isn’t expected to be around much longer, Nissan will call time on the Maxima after 2023, and Stellantis announced that 2023 will be the last year for the Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300.

Add to that list the Toyota Avalon, which sees the 2022 model as its last year — but this doesn’t mean Toyota showrooms will be down a model. Appearing in its stead (notice I did not say replacing the Avalon) will be the 2023 Toyota Crown, a five-seat, hybrid-powered, mutant mishmash of a crossover and sedan that feels as much an experiment in seeing what Americans are interested in buying as anything Toyota has ever made.

Related: 2023 Toyota Crown Up Close: What Exactly Am I Looking At?

We wondered who it was for when we first saw it in person at the 2022 Detroit auto show. Toyota told us at the Crown’s first media drive in Nashville, Tenn., that the target market is “young empty nesters” who still aren’t ready for an SUV and would rather have a sedan, but who want SUV attributes like a higher driving position and some sportiness in their sedan. After driving the new Crown, we’re still wondering who this car is for because it left us feeling what can only be described as crownfused.

Can’t Fault How It Looks

Toyota admits that the new Crown is not a direct replacement for the Avalon — and after driving it, I can confirm that this was indeed not Toyota’s goal. The Crown is aimed at a different place in the market than where the Avalon resided, and people who enjoyed that big, comfy, full-size sedan are likely not going to be interested in a Crown. It won’t be for the way it looks, however, as the Crown is frankly a fascinating breath of fresh styling air for Toyota.

Yes, it has a gaping grille like nearly everything else in the Toyota showroom, but it’s integrated well into the overall look, and when you combine it with the right two-tone color combination (go for red or bronze, not white, if you do the “bi-tone paint” option), the Crown turns heads like no Toyota sedan in recent memory. Full kudos to Toyota for being brave enough to bring something to market in the U.S. that boldly stands out from the crowd. The styling of the new Crown is a high point in its overall offering.

The rest of it, however, is decidedly mixed in terms of success.

Can’t Fault How It Goes

Powering the new Crown is a choice of two hybrid powertrains. The two lower trim levels (XLE and Limited) pair a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine with two electric motors, a continuously variable automatic transmission and an electric on-demand all-wheel-drive system that favors the front wheels and can disconnect the rears, allowing for improved fuel economy. The Crown’s standard fuel economy is rated at an automaker-estimated 42/41/41 mpg city/highway/combined (EPA figures aren’t official yet), which is decent for a big, heavy sedan. The standard hybrid powertrain makes a combined 236 horsepower and has enough oomph to get the heavy Crown moving smartly in most driving conditions. It does drone a bit when you put your foot down on the accelerator, however, thanks to the nature of a CVT and the not terribly sonorous aural aspects of that 2.5-liter engine. A fair amount of that noise gets into the cabin on hard acceleration, which is surprising given Toyota keeps calling this its brand flagship sedan; I’d expected a flagship to be quieter.

The situation improves a bit when you step up to the Platinum trim with the first-ever Hybrid Max powertrain, which Toyota is billing as a performance hybrid package. It combines a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine with an electric drive and a six-speed automatic transmission sending power to a full-time AWD system. It pumps out a more robust 340 horsepower combined and provides a noticeable difference in acceleration versus the regular hybrid powertrain.

It, too, is louder than one might expect, but it doesn’t have the whirring drone of the base powertrain thanks to its geared six-speed automatic. What it does have is crisp shifts, quick responses and plenty of power whenever you call for it. There’s no turbo lag with this powertrain as the electric bit takes up the low-end torque duties and gives you instant grunt when you call for quick acceleration. It’s a beautifully blended combination of gas and electric systems, and the fact that it’s this smooth using a more traditional six-speed transmission instead of Toyota’s typical CVT is a testament to the powertrain calibration engineers. It’s quick, it’s entertaining and it still manages to get an estimated 29/32/30 mpg city/highway/combined, which ain’t too shabby for something this quick.

Can Maybe Question How It Handles

The sporting pretense of the top Platinum trim, however, does leave me a bit befuddled. While quick, its ride and handling are decidedly tuned for more relaxed, comfortable driving instead of sporty shenanigans, which is frankly what we’d expect from a big Toyota. But Toyota said that their goal was to put the top Crown Platinum up against performance sedans like the Kia Stinger and Nissan Maxima, yet both of those models are far more sporting with tighter, more responsive steering feel, exhibiting flatter cornering and firmer rides than the Crown.

The Crown simply doesn’t feel sporty, not even in its top Platinum trim with the Hybrid Max powertrain, 21-inch wheels and performance AWD system. The brakes are late to engage and require more effort than you’d expect to stop the car, again making it feel heavy, which it kind of is — the top Crown Platinum weighs more than 4,300 pounds, which is anywhere from roughly 300-700 pounds more than a Kia Stinger. With the combination of this portliness, noticeable body roll and steering that’s accurate but ultimately numb, the Crown is not a car you want to drive particularly quickly or aggressively. It’s far more adept at comfortable cruising, with a nicely isolated ride (especially with the standard 19-inch wheels on the XLE trim). There’s nothing wrong with that — it’s just not how Toyota is trying to sell the Crown, and it shows a bit of a gap between how the car is billed and what it delivers.

Can Definitely Fault the Cabin Space

So it’s quick but not as sporty as it’s promised to be. It’s attractively styled, but does that styling work for the interior space? No, it does not. You don’t fall into the Crown because it rides high and its seats are positioned fairly high in the interior for easier ingress and egress, but these high-riding seats run up against the styling decision to have a swoopy, coupelike roofline. The windshield is steeply raked, and that means scant headroom inside any front and rear occupant approaching 6 feet tall.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, my head was hard up against the headliner and driver’s overhead grab handle. Bumps in the road had me smacking my head against the hard plastic. The fixed panoramic roof on higher trim models eats away at this headroom even more. It’s worse in the backseat due to the sloping roofline and back glass, forcing average-size people to slump in their seats and crouch to actually get in. Legroom isn’t tight, but it isn’t what one would expect in a big sedan or SUV, both of which the Crown seemingly purports to be.

Packaging up front is also a bit odd. In pictures, the Crown’s interior looks big and spacious, but once in it, you realize things are smaller than they appeared. The 12.3-inch Toyota Audio Multimedia screen is present, and while it’s a massive improvement over previous Toyota attempts at multimedia, it still lags behind the best in the industry from Hyundai/Kia, Stellantis and even Ford. It works well with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, using all of that big screen real estate to its advantage, but the native Toyota system seems to waste a lot of that screen, only allowing one system at a time to be viewed. The digital gauge cluster is also of mixed utility: While it does provide some interesting displays and customization, like most of the Toyota digital gauges, it tends to be dimmer than one would like and can disappear in bright sunlight.

Interior quality is beyond reproach, however, with Toyota delivering another well-built, solidly constructed cabin that provides a nice mix of hard buttons and onscreen controls. Most controls are well laid out, though Toyota still puts some buttons way down by the driver’s left knee where you can’t see them in what can only be described as some kind of perverse company tradition. The interior materials look quite nice both in the top Platinum trim and even done up in the XLE’s cloth upholstery. Does it scream “flagship model”? No, not really. It’s nice but not terribly special in any way, and if you told me this was the new Camry interior, I wouldn’t have any reason to doubt it. As a mass-market brand’s top model, it’s acceptable.

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So What Exactly Is It?

The Toyota Crown is exactly what it appears to be: a high-riding sedan-crossover with an optional high-performance powertrain that’s aimed at people who still want a sedan, but who will now be required to get some SUV characteristics with it — except headroom, of which it doesn’t actually have much. Crownfused yet? Well, at least it’s not outrageously expensive: Prices will start at just a tick over $40,000 (including destination fee) for a base XLE and will range up to around $53,000 for a loaded Platinum.

Even the lower-spec cars are comfortable and well equipped, while top-line models have the slicker looks and better acceleration. Yet we still have a hard time seeing people cross-shopping these with the Kia Stinger and Nissan Maxima; driving enthusiasts won’t be interested once they compare the experience with those cars. And returning Avalon owners won’t be happy with the Crown’s smaller, space-compromised interior; where those buyers go to replace their Avalon will be anyone’s guess (looks like it’s SUV time for Grandpa).

It was telling that Toyota claimed that their sales goal is a mere 20,000 units a year for the 2023 Crown — Toyota typically sells more Camrys every month — making this truly more of an experiment for the company in producing something decidedly left-field and simply seeing who might go for it. We’ll be interested in seeing who goes for it, too.

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