First Look: Toyota Crown 2023 | Daily Drive | Consumer Guide® The Daily Drive

newsofmax07/15/2022

11 5 minutes read

First Look: Toyota Crown 2023 | Daily Drive | Consumer Guide® The Daily Drive

2023 Toyota Crown

Last night, Toyota officially revealed its latest production car, and that car bears one of the company’s first model names. The new Toyota Crown for 2023 is the curvaceous hybrid of an SUV and a full-size sedan – its unusual shape combines an SUV-like lower body with a fast and low roofline, but unlike Like the “coupe-style” crossover SUVs, Crown maintains a traditional trunk instead of an SUV-style liftgate. The Crown is also fitted as standard with a petrol/electric hybrid powertrain; In fact, Toyota offers two new hybrid powertrain options, both with electronic all-wheel drive as standard on request.

What’s New for 2023: Toyota

2023 Toyota Crown

The Crown name has a long history with Toyota — when Toyota began sales in the US in 1958, its first vehicle was the Toyopet Crown, and the Crown name remains a fixture in the brand’s lineup in Japan. Copy. However, most Americans won’t be familiar as Toyota hasn’t used the name here since 1973.

2023 Toyota Crown

Crown is built on a newly developed chassis based on the company’s GA-K platform, which underpins several popular Toyota models including the Camry, Highlander, RAV4 and Venza. Toyota is positioning the Crown as a “reimagined” large sedan, “premium” than the Camry in the lineup. While it’s certainly not a conceptual successor, the Crown essentially replaces the Toyota Avalon full-size sedan, which is being discontinued after the 2022 model year.

Perhaps the simplest description of the new Crown is that it is a “tall” car. In terms of dimensions, the Crown’s footprint is surprisingly close to that of the Camry – compared to the Camry, the Crown’s width is the same, its wheelbase is an inch longer and its overall length increased by an inch or two. inches. The big difference between the two is height: The Crown is almost 4 inches taller than the Camry. This allows for a higher seating position, like that of an SUV, giving the driver a sense of command and better road visibility, along with easier access to the vehicle that makes many buyers irresistible. Okay. Interestingly, the Crown has a wheelbase nearly six and a half inches longer than Toyota’s Venza two-row midsize SUV, and its bodywork is also nearly eight inches longer. But the Crown is about 5 inches shorter than the Venza, essentially splitting the difference with the Camry.

First Look: Lexus RX 2023

2023 Toyota Crown

Crown will be offered in three trim levels: XLE, Limited and Platinum. The XLE and Limited are equipped with the new fourth-generation Toyota Hybrid System (THS), which combines a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine, an electronically controlled continuously variable transmission (CVT) and two engines. Power is provided by a new high capacity bipolar nickel-metal-hydride battery pack. One of those engines powers the rear wheels through Toyota’s new “E-Four” all-wheel drive system when extra traction is needed. The system defaults to pure front-wheel drive, but it can send up to 80% of the power to the rear wheels. Toyota has yet to provide an estimated horsepower rating for this powertrain, but estimates it will achieve a combined city/highway fuel economy of 38 mpg.

The flagship Crown Platinum is equipped with the new performance-oriented “HYBRID MAX” powertrain tuned for low-end torque and produces Toyota’s estimated 340 hp. It pairs a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder with a six-speed direct-shift automatic, and here Toyota estimates 28 mpg in combination. Platinum also upgraded to the “E-Four Advanced” all-wheel drive system, which uses a water-cooled electric motor to power the rear wheels. The system default power allocation is 70% to the front wheel and 30% to the rear wheel; If necessary, the system can send up to 80% of available torque to the rear wheels.

Crown’s chassis uses MacPherson struts up front and a newly developed rear multi-link suspension; Crown Platinum includes standard Adaptive Variable Suspension with variable pressure shock absorbers. XLE and Limited models come standard with 19-inch alloy wheels; 21-inch wheels are optional on the Limited and standard on the Platinum.

The five-passenger interior is decorated with a combination of Toyota’s Softex fabric and synthetic leather on the Crown XLE, while the Limited and Platinum models come standard with genuine leather seats. Standard features on all Crowns include heated front seats, dual-zone climate control, a 12.3-inch digital instrument display, wireless charging pad and Toyota Audio Multimedia system latest (with its own 12.3-inch touch screen). Limited and Platinum models also receive a standard panoramic sunroof, and the Platinum also boasts a Bird’s Eye View Camera system that provides panoramic aerial views of the Crown and its surroundings. (The Bird’s Eye View camera is also included in the Limited’s optional Advanced Technology Package.) Platinum models are also available in the eye-catching Bi-Tone paint option, which combines one of four body colors with the paint. Gloss black on the upper horizontal surfaces of the body.

We were able to sit in the pre-production static examples of the Crown 2023 at Toyota’s reveal event. Up front, there’s plenty of space all around, including plenty of room for our 6’2” frame under the cover of the panoramic sunroof. Rear seat space is good, and we had just enough legroom to sit behind the front seats so far back that our knees didn’t touch the back of the seat. Headroom in the back isn’t as spacious as the front, but we had enough room to stay comfortable thanks to the tilt-up headrest. Crown’s standard wireless charger is a cleverly designed deep carrying case in front of the shifter to hold the phone vertically. The spring-loaded wedge automatically adjusts to the size of the phone to stay in place, and when in place, our iPhone SE screen remains visible. The trunk has a flat floor and is quite wide from front to back. The foldable rear seats can extend the trunk inward, but the trunk lid itself has a large crescent hinge that dips into the cargo area.

The Toyota Crown 2023 will be manufactured in Japan and is expected to go on sale this fall. Pricing and other details will be available closer to Crown’s sale date.

CG says:

Crossover SUVs have virtually replaced traditional sedans as the everyday vehicle of choice for American shoppers. Toyota’s new Crown sedan attempts to challenge this new normal with unique styling that attempts to combine some of the common SUV qualities with traditional sedan-like styling and bodywork. We got a sneak peek of the Crown’s unorthodox shape back in June, when we had a few minutes to peruse a locked static display model. This is a real preview where we don’t know any details about the car we’re looking at, or even its name. Now, after the official reveal and with plenty of details to be filled in, we’re still not entirely sure what will make up for this unexpected addition to Toyota’s lineup in the US. Tall all-wheel drive sedans are very unusual — we can think of the popular AMC Eagle sedan of the 1980s and Subaru’s Outback sedan that was available for about a decade before being discontinued. removed about 15 years ago. Our crystal ball is still very cloudy when it comes to how Americans will react to the 2023 Toyota Crown, and we suspect that Toyota is also quite murky. That said, we think the most interesting of Crown’s developments lies beneath its admittedly unusual skin. Two new hybrid systems with correspondingly updated electronic all-wheel drive are big news hiding in plain sight and we predict this hardware will spread to Toyota models soon. other.

Test Drive Gallery: Subaru Ascent Onyx Edition 2022