The Toyota Crown is Toyota’s Crowning Glory:
The Toyota Crown is the company’s flagship sedan in the United States. The Crown, first launched in 1955, was the Japanese carmaker’s first mass-production sedan in Japan and never really made its way to the US.
The third-generation luxury sedan continues to appeal to a unique customer base that is looking for a luxurious, reliable, and affordable new car. The 2025 Toyota Crown gets minor updates and a brand-new Nightshade variant. The updated base MSRPs of all the variants are:
- XLE: $41,440
- Limited: $45,950
- Nightshade: $48,765
- Platinum: $54,990
These Toyota car prices do not include the $1,095 destination charge of shipping your car from Aichi, Japan.
Why Choose The Toyota Crown?
This question could also be interpreted as ‘Why did Toyota make a full-size sedan when SUVs are all the craze right now?’ As Toyota’s entry into the American midsize sedan market, the Crown has been ingeniously designed as a sedan equipped with noticeable SUV features. The move is a bid to make people choose a sedan as their daily driver while still reaping the benefits of driving an SUV.
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With this Toyota hybrid, you get a five-seater car with edgy-coupe-like looks, a raised ride height and standard all-wheel drive. The Toyota Crown plans to check all the boxes for a luxury sedan owner and it does a damn good job of offering what it advertises. It is also the safest car in its category and has won the Top Safety Pick badge for 2024 from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
Interior Design:
The Toyota Crown sits higher than most sedans, affording an SUV-like view from the driver seat, which hits the spot for some and misses the mark for others. Nevertheless, its taller stature makes climbing in and out of the car much easier and also results in more interior space.
Inside, most surfaces feature soft-touch leatherette rather than plastic. The infotainment accepts both touch and voice inputs. The Platinum variant now gets a head-up display.
- Seats: The 2025 Toyota Crown comes equipped with 8-way power adjustable front row seats. With the latest facelift, all variants get front heating and ventilation and rear heated seats as standard. The Limited and Platinum trims get a seat memory function for the driver’s seat.
- All Crowns are now equipped with real leather upholstery. The 60/40 split fold-down rear seats come with an adjustable headrest and a center armrest with cup holders.
- Steering Wheel: The Toyota Crown gets a leather-clad tilt/telescopic steering wheel with mounted infotainment, audio, and driver assist controls. All variants get the Toyota logo and heated steering wheels, and only the Platinum gets paddle shifters.
- Flooring: Protect your Toyota car footwell from dirt and wear by opting for genuine Toyota accessories such as an all-weather trunk mat and all-weather floor liners. Or choose the add-on carpet floor and trunk mats instead.
- Infotainment System: Toyota USA equips the Crown with a 12.3-inch Toyota Audio Multimedia infotainment system with wireless Apple CarPlay® and Android Auto™ connectivity. Additionally, you get a 3-month subscription trial for SiriusXM®, which gives you access to 165+ channels, ad-free music, sports, podcasts, personalized Pandora® stations, and more.
- The Toyota Crown XLM gets 6 speakers as standard. Higher-end variants such as the Limited and Platinum come equipped with an 11-speaker JBL®23 Premium Audio system, which includes Clari-Fi®23 technology and a subwoofer.
- Storage Space: The Toyota Crown has 15.2 cubic feet of cargo space, which is average and suitable for most purposes. You can fold down the split folding rear seats to store even more luggage.
- The glovebox isn’t much to write home about, but the centre dual armrest gets convenient dual opening from either the driver or passenger size.
- Climate Controls: Dual-zone automated climate control with rear air conditioning vents is standard on all Toyota Crown models, along with dust and pollen filters.
Exterior Design:
The Crown treads the fine line between an SUV and a sedan. It’s a bit larger, taller, and heaver than your standard midsize sedan and more like an SUV in certain aspects. The Crown’s styling is bold and unique; it’s up to you to decide if the car is odd or innovative.
- Body Colors:
The Toyota Crown comes in six exterior paint finishes: Bronze Age, Heavy Metal, Storm Cloud, Black, Supersonic Red, and Oxygen White.
The top-spec Platinum variant gets a bi-tone finish that you can opt for in four additional bi-color finishes.
The new Nightshade variant is pretty much a cosmetic trim based on the Limited model and gets darkened badging and exterior highlights. It is available in only two color variants: black or a bluish gray color called Storm Cloud.
- Headlights and Tail Lights:
The base Crown variant gets bi-LED projector low- and high-beam headlights, while the higher-spec Platinum and Limited get a quad-LED projector low- and high-beam headlight setup. All variants get Automatic High Beams (AHB) with auto on/off functions.
The Toyota Crown sports a sleek red LED brake light running across the trunk in the rear and LED taillights located below it.
- Wheels and Tires:
The Toyota Crown XLE and Limited variants get 19-inch two-tone multi-spoke machined-finish alloy wheels as standard. The Limited variant can also get 21-inch 10-spoke dark metallic alloy wheels as part of an optional add-on package.
The top-spec Platinum variant comes equipped with 21-inch 10-spoke machined-finish alloy wheels with black accents, while the Nightshade trim is equipped with exclusive 21-inch 10-spoke wheels with a matte black finish.
- Side Mirrors: The Crown gets heated and powered side mirrors that come with puddle lights, blind spot warning and turn signal indicators, and a power-folding function.
- Door Handles: The XLE, Limited, and Platinum trims get color-keyed or body-colored door handles. The Nightshade trim comes with black-colored outside door handles instead. All variants get front door touch sensors with locking and unlocking features.
- Windows: These Toyota models come with powered windows with automatic up and down functions as well as jam protection. Standard equipment includes a rear window defogger to ensure optimum visibility.
- Roof: The Limited and Platinum variants get a fixed panoramic glass roof, which gets a power sunshade to block out direct sunlight whenever needed.
Safety Features:
Toyota Safety Sense™ 3.0 and the Star Safety System™ included in the standard package equip the Toyota Crown with a wide range of safety features, including driver assistance systems and technology.
Car Braking System:
The Toyota Crown gets power-assisted ventilated 12.9-inch disc brakes in the front and 12.5-inch rear disc brakes with a hydraulic brake booster. The braking system is further equipped with Active Cornering Assist (ACA) and an Electronically Controlled Braking (ECB) system.
Advanced Tech Package:
The Advanced Tech Package is an optional add-on for the Limited variant and is included in the standard equipment for the Platinum one. It comes bundled with a Panoramic View Monitor with 360-degree Overhead View in low-speed drive and reverse, Digital Key function, Traffic Jam Assist, Lane Change Assist, Front Cross-Traffic Alert, and 21-in. 10-spoke dark metallic alloy wheels.
Airbags:
The Toyota Crown gets 8 airbags as standard.
Car Safety Ratings:
The 2025 Crown has not been crash-tested by any organization yet. However, it is structurally identical and features the same powertrains as the 2024 model.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gave the 2024 Toyota Crown a safety rating of five stars. It also won the Top Safety Pick+ Award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and scored good ratings in almost every category.
Powertrain Specifications:
The new Toyota Crown 2025 features the same powertrains as its previous generation iterations. You get two engine choices, both hybrids.
The Toyota Crown XLE, Limited, and Nightshade variants are equipped with a capable 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine with two electric motors that generates 236 hp and eCVT transmission as standard. The Platinum trim gets a more powerful (and gas-guzzling) Hybrid Max system generating 340 hp and the more traditional six-speed automatic transmission with optional Adaptable Variable Suspension.
Top Competitors Of The Toyota Crown:
The Toyota Crown is a larger full-size car with no direct competitors in the midsize car segment. You could opt for the more spacious Hyundai Sonata, the far more expensive Honda Accord, or the run-of-the-mill Volkswagen Arteon.
If you like the Crown but find the average cargo space to be a deal breaker, you’d be better off opting for Toyota SUVs such as the upcoming Crown Signia, which is basically the Crown but with an SUV body.
If you don’t mind paying a little extra, the Genesis G80 base model costs just a bit more than the Crown’s top model. The added cost gets you three years of complimentary maintenance instead of the Toyota service maintenance of two years.
Or if you want to cut costs, the new 2025 Toyota Camry offers great features at enticing prices.
Concluding Thoughts On The Toyota Crown:
The Crown offers luxury and convenience on par with its price. It feels like a far nicer car than it is, embodying an almost Lexus-like approach to luxury. The Crown’s unique design ensures that you’re always standing out from the crowd. Moreover, as the flagship sedan of Toyota USA, the Crown offers the highest level of luxury, reliability, and safety that the immensely popular marque offers.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Is the Toyota Crown a hybrid car?
The Toyota Crown is Toyota’s flagship model in the USA and is available in two powertrain options, both hybrid. Thus, the Crown is strictly a hybrid car.
Is the Toyota Crown an SUV or a sedan?
The 2025 Toyota Crown is a full-size sedan that incorporates certain features that are SUV-specific. For example, it is larger and rides higher than a typical sedan. Since sedans are not as popular as SUVs, Toyota hopes to increase the appeal of the Crown as a daily driver.
