Fifty years after it last appeared in the United States, the 2023 Toyota Crown returns to the U.S. market as a replacement for the 2022 Toyota Avalon, which tried mightily to shed its stodgy image as a geezer pleaser in its final years. Toyota replaces it with a new model that’s oddly traditional, but not conventionally so. Planned with the American market in mind, it’s one of four Crown models sold in Japan.
More than four inches taller than the 2022 Avalon sedan it replaces, the Crown is nearly two inches shorter, with a sloping fastback design that disguises the fact that this is a sedan, not an SUV or hatchback. With its oddly shaped grille and blacked-out c-pillar, the Crown’s short-but-tall proportion is exacerbated by a two-tone paint job that visually pulls apart the Crown’s design coherence, making its unusual proportions more apparent. (For the record, two-tone paint is standard on the top-of-the-line Platinum, and optional on the base XLE and mid-level Limited trims.)
There’s little in its design that indicates its top-drawer status aside from its size. This includes the interior, whose materials are average in quality, even in the Platinum trim. Perhaps designers were attempting to convey modernity and sportiness. Instead, it comes off as carefully budgeted, lacking the surprise and delight of design being done by Hyundai and Kia. Yet the new 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen, powered by Toyota’s U.S.-designed user interface, is a welcome change far easier to use than its older system, which used a fiddly, finicky mouse. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Bluetooth with Wi-Fi 4G connectivity for up to five smartphones comes standard, as does Qi wireless charging comes standard, USB-A and -C ports and a 12-volt outlet.
