We review the 2024 Toyota Crown the newest car in their lineup, which hopes to create a new segment. This Japanese-made Toyota is for those who want luxury without buying a Lexus.  All models come with a Hybrid drivetrain, and with a price spread of $40,000 to $53,000, there is plenty to like. Which car would you choose, Acura TLX, Lexus ES, Honda Accord, or Toyota Camry?

#cars #engineering #technology 

Index:
00:00 Interior and Exterior
5:20 Mechanical Impressions
8:30 Driving Impressions
16:54 Final Thoughts, Pros and Conds

This car globally is going to take many different shapes and iterations from hatchbacks, SUVs I'm sure.

When they pulled the sheet off this I was a little bit confused as to what it was trying to be.

It looks like an SUV thing or a Venza or a Crosstour I'm not really sure and with the two-tone paint it is going to have some people that are not going to like it very much.

And you know, when you do some digging around with the numbers, you will see categorically across the board, every brand that has least kept cars around has a hard time selling their sedans compared to their SUVs.

It's just the way of the world right now, at least in the United States.

So Toyota knew this and they're like, well, how do we keep a car around and make it look different?

And I think it'll be an interesting experience to see whether this sells or not.

This is not made in America, so my guess is the numbers or the volume is not gonna be that high for this vehicle.

It's blurring the lines between a Lexus product and it's trying to replace the Avalon.

It's built on the same architecture as the Camry and the old Avalon, and of course, the ES Lexus.

Now, whether you like the outside, not sure.

It has some of the new Toyota styling, the front and the rear end.

It does share some of its styling with the Prius.

And when you look at a color like this, and this bronze or gold, a lot of people have looked at it.

I don't know if it's in a good way, but people are really interested in it.

So on the inside part of it is where it kind of starts to separate itself from some of the other sedan products that Toyota's done.

At the higher end, 55 grand, and you can start at about 40 Gs.

So you're pushing the boundaries of that.

It's got a way better interior space in terms of layout than the old Avalon and the Camry, the existing Camry, and it's because it doesn't feel as cheap.

They're way more supportive than the other cars, and they don't feel like they have as much slop or give.

Even in the thigh cushion area, it feels more supportive.

Just a really good-feeling seat, and with the added heated and cooled seats as well, it feels more breathable, more usable year-round.

When you look at the things like the physical controls, it is also elevated quite a bit in here.

It's not near the Lexus ES levels of course, but armrests are really, really cushy, namely on the door, the door panel is really soft, all soft textures, while keeping all the physical controls and the door handles really solid feeling.

They've improved the entire center plane of the dashboard where they moved the frequently used things to physical controls up here at eye line versus by your knee like the auto brights and then they've kept the things you don't use quite often down below like the trunk release and the fuel door release.

The center stack area the HVAC controls are really really good Namely compared to some of the other Toyota products.

I mean they have actually improved them here, which is crazy Everything is almost 95% physical easy to use click you see exactly everything here It's pretty much it's a little bit below eyeline, but you don't have to like look down like Completely to use it And there's a lot of muscle memory here.

So that's smart The steering wheel controls are greatly cleaned up here to help you interact with the digital gauge cluster Which again is better than it used to be Even with the drive mode animations and there's like 6 different drive modes in here Why I don't know but it's there if you're ever gonna mess with it.

It feels far far less cheap than the previous sedans that they've done and the rest of the cabin is a result of that.

The storage is great in the doors, the center stack area where you put your phone, Wireless chargers are a curse in most cars because phones go flying, they never stay in place.

There's a ton of storage, and that's because the shifter's been shrunken down.

They took the LC or hybrid style shifter, so there's not a lot of wasted space.

The physical buttons are here so you have more, you can utilize this more.

And the armrest basically steals the dual hinge design out of the Lexus products.

It's about the same interior space as the Lexus ES.

The ES has more space in the back, but this has a little bit more up front, but it's so similar to all the other mid-sized cars on the market.

And compared to the Lexus ES, because you have a trunk, the back seats actually fold down here.

So you look at the trunk, it's kind of average.

It fits 2 31-inch luggages in the back, which are international size and maybe a backpack.

With the seats folded down, it's way better.

And the back seats are also pretty comfortable.

They have a vent in the back, although you don't have individual HVAC controls.

It comes out of the blower motor in the front.

But overall, it's a really interesting cabin space.

And the only negative here is the audio system, which is just not that good.

And I think some of it's speaker placement.

If you look at the graphs, they look okay, but for a car in this price point, I feel like it needs to do better.

There's not a lot of adjustment in the EQ either, so I'm just gonna show you the graphs and you can make your own opinion on that.

If you value really good audio, this is not the car for you.

But Let's head into the shop and we're gonna briefly talk about the drivetrain options.

This is built on TNGA-K, the same architecture that the Camry, the Lexus ES, and the old Avalon were built on, among other things.

As of right now, at least in the United States, you have 3 trim levels, XLE at $40, 000, the Limited at $45, 000.

All trim levels come with e-all-wheel drive and a hybrid system.

The lower trim levels, XLE, and the Limited get the 2.5 liter setup with an ECVT and an on-demand electric motor in the back.

The concept here is ultimate fuel efficiency.

So, 40 miles per gallon combined, and it's the first car, or 1 of the first cars, that runs 0W8 oil in the United States.

So as you get in these cars, the concept is more luxury, closer to a Lexus product, softer ride.

When you go to the hybrid max variant, you get more horsepower and 400 pounds of torque out of the 2.4 liter.

The difference in programming here, it comes down to, it runs a traditional 6 speed automatic transmission, which is a little bit quicker to respond because you have the hybridization, the electric motors to assist.

So it kicks down quicker, it upshifts quicker.

Now, whereas the regular hybrid setup on the XLE and the Limited is basically front wheel drive only as much as possible, that's an on-demand system that will send up to 80% of the power to the rear in slippery conditions.

Basically, never, as much as possible for efficiency.

The Hybrid Max is always sending power to the rear electric motor, which is also water-cooled.

So it's always kind of trickling about 30% of the power to the back, combined with the fact that it has stiffer anti-roll bars and of course, electronic dampers, which you don't typically see on Toyota products.

So the ABS dampers are there for drive mode consideration.

So if you're in Sport Plus, it can firm up.

If you go back in Comfort, it's a softer ride.

But even in Sport Plus, it's never a jarring ride.

When they talk about sportiness, the Crown is not about that.

Because Toyota has this thing where even at the limit They always think about their customers safety.

So if you go driving this like a maniac, it's always gonna understeer.

It's never really gonna rotate on you, regardless of what trim level you get.

So that's where the Hybrid Max version, if you're somebody that just wants to go quick in a straight line, it will do that.

It is a very quick experience, but it's not the most agile feeling car, added to the fact it grows about 350, almost 400 pounds on the Hybrid Max, it feels heavy.

So I don't think that you really want to spend about $53, 000 on the Hybrid Max.

You could probably go to a Lexus product and get a lot more, but that's where it's at right now.

I would say, you know, overall, this is an interesting car, what they're trying to do.

It is quieter than any of the other Toyotas that I've experienced.

It's more refined, and things like the Hybrid Max, it's the first vehicle or car to get 21-inch wheels as standard, which is mostly for appearance.

It is a very narrow tire, but more expensive tire.

We're gonna take this for a drive and I'm gonna detail the rest in the final thoughts.

Just because you hit the bench for 40 minutes every day and you have big muscles, it doesn't make you have a big brain.

It makes you cool like this two-tone paint before we talk about this car mark I want to tell our viewers story story time so you can crawl into your your bed pull the sheets over you So what's about a time this asshole and I were at Plano, Texas's headquarters for Toyota.

We're the Toyota HQ for their once a year Toyota confidential.

And this asshole was standing next to a bunch of executives who didn't realize was right behind him and they pulled the tarp off of the Toyota Crown.

♪♪ Okay, let me tell you why I had a reaction like that to this thing.

Because in my mind, I knew next to nothing about the Crown, but I did know 1 thing.

It was a Japanese executive luxury sedan.

Based on GAL, which is their global architecture luxury or large for their most premium products, like the LC 500 and the LS are on.

So when they showed this, which looked like an Accord Cross Tour, two-tone paint, it was on a front Wheel drive architecture that the same thing it shares with the rx and all the other GAK cars, which is essentially This is like the Avalon replacement I know they're throwing a hail Mary because people are like turned off by sedans and have to have SUV everything So they're like well, Maybe if we take the same car and make it look more like a hatchback, but give it a trunk.

I'm like, you look at it, you're like, okay, I can deal with the Strange proportions as long as I got a lot of space and then you pop it open, you're like, holy shit, what's happening here?

So, as we sit in traffic, we've just muddied the waters with this horrible story that nobody cares about.

If you're looking at the Crown, and you're looking for something that's not an SUV thing, you're, this is Toyota's offering now.

Okay, so, but it's on the same architecture.

What this does different than those cars is it does feel more like a Lexus.

I know this is a beating a dead horse with this.

This is the most upscale Toyota that you can buy.

It has an amazing interior space in terms of usability, physical controls, all those things that we love about Toyota, and what they've done here is they've given it road isolation, ride refinement, it's really, really quiet.

It is like a smooth sailing experience, Jack.

Something that we haven't seen from many Toyota products, with the exception of the Avalon, was pretty close to this.

The seats are better, all of it is better.

I mean, it's a great car to soak up miles and eat up miles.

This is, honestly, it rides 30% better than Ibenza does.

Ibenza's a long-termer for those who have long memories.

It didn't ride necessarily exceptionally well, and the seats weren't as comfortable as this.

And who cares about the performance in a car like this?

What I do care about is drivetrain isolation.

It's just smooth and refined and returns almost 30 miles a gallon in a vehicle this big, which is what I want out of my luxury sedan where all you do is drive straight or sit in traffic.

ES, well, it does have far more archaic of drive trains, like the hybrid in that, I don't think is as refined as the hybrid in this.

Yeah, I mean, it's a last generation product, but you still have the V6, which makes up for some of that.

You know, and you know the new ES is gonna be more like this.

You know, clearly with drivetrain options, this is like a sneak peek at what the new ES is gonna become.

I guess the question is, and we had this argument as we talked about the Mazda 3 and even some of it in the CX-90, which I know has nothing to do with this car, but there's a couple pros and cons.

This ride refinement and isolation and smoothness, and of course, the way that it isolates you out.

Like right, we're, we're in, somebody's in front of us in an Altima going 12 under the speed limit.

And we're going to get stuck behind them for another 25 minutes and we can't get anywhere.

Would you rather have me plowing through this corner at full speed and driving dynamics, or would you rather have that isolated calm ride that they've really mastered with this car?

Yeah, I mean, I don't disagree with you, man.

I mean, if the car isn't gonna be remotely sporty, it might as well be a total boat.

And I like the boat element of this and again for our roads and what we deal with and what I feel like most people deal with with cars is you sit in traffic, you get behind people who drive too slowly, You know, you've had a long 10, 12 hour shift.

You just want to get home and be comfortable.

This is an excellent, excellent car in that regards.

It's just this hybrid max variant with all the interior creature comforts and all the trim level bullshit is

I mean, you just answer your own, you don't think, like, this drivetrain, it's fine, there's nothing wrong with it.

It's quick, it's gonna rip the front tires off the car.

You know, it does all the performance things in a straight line that you like, but it's completely unnecessary in this car for 1 major reason, and it's got the Hyundai and Kia problem where you immediately come into a corner and it just wants to pull itself off the road.

So I don't think that this drivetrain is necessary.

I think you're going to get a lot of what you really like that makes this car good in terms of ride refinement and all that out of a lower trim level car.

We'll see, we'll see if anyone can get, If you get 1 of these in the mid 40s, and I don't have the trim level spec sheet in front of me, but I'm assuming you can, this is a good car.

This is a good replacement for something like an Avalon.

But again, when you fully load 1 of these things out, it is awfully expensive.

is an expensive car, But this is the pinnacle of the Toyota car lineup now, right?

And you have to expect the prices continue to inch up and up.

And I'm not saying that it's worth it, but it's a good car.

I mean, the outside stuff, you're going to argue about all day long whether you like the styling or not It's not traditional.

That's for sure, but they need to roll the dice on it I get it, but as a driving experience, they've mastered 3 things really good drive train calibration Amazing ride quality, which you know, we argue a lot.

This is how you tune a suspension for a car like this.

It just needs to be soft and comfortable and quiet.

They did a great job here and all the technology finally works on it.

And personally, that's where I'm going to leave it, Jack.

Mark, let's head into the final thoughts here where you can tell me all about Akio Toyota's crown.

I'm left a bit mixed on this overall and largely because of the exterior design.

When you looked at the Avalon, the current gen Camry, and of course the ES, they're traditionally good looking cars from most angles.

Most people's complaints had to do with the front of the car being with the grill and design and all that.

That's mostly what they had to fix, but they've thrown all of that away because they want to turn the sedan upside down because of sales.

If you're gonna make it look like a hatchback or a liftback and then still give it a trunk, you still have the same sedan problems you had before.

You're not getting the increased cargo capacity that people want from things like a Venza or an Acura Integra, where you kind of have the sedan shape but that lift back design.

So this is no different really than the old Avalon was or the ES.

So if you can get over that, what else is it offering?

Well, this is probably 1 of the most refined, best-riding Toyota products they've ever made.

The Hybrid Max with the adaptive dampers work great.

There's never a period of time or any pavement type where you're like, this feels unscrewed.

It feels way more expensive than it is, and hats off to their suspension and chassis engineers for getting this much out of this car.

However, the Hybrid Max, I feel like, is way too expensive for what it is.

You're getting the straight line performance, It's quick in a straight line, but whenever you want to do this and mash it, it's way too safe feeling.

It's completely pointless and you're losing 10 miles per gallon compared to the regular hybrid limited in the XLE.

Those still are going to be very quiet and refined compared to this.

So if you have to have straight line acceleration, you're kind of forced into this, but honestly at this price, I'm going to a Lexus ES every single time.

So the things that it does great is it offers a traditional six-speed automatic, but there's some weird stuff with the drivetrain calibration.

When you're rolling to a stop, sometimes there's this like shake or judderiness to it that I felt, which I've never felt with a Toyota Hybrid.

So that would also force me into the traditional Hybrid, the 2.5 liter with the eCVT.

So, you know, again, it's a strange car, and I think there's gonna be something here for everybody but take a look at it if you're in the market for a sedan Thanks for watching.

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2024 Toyota Crown | The Future of Sedans?