The S230-series Crown is the most ambitious of them all, for Toyota has developed no fewer than four different vehicles: a crossover, a sporty crossover, a sedan, and a wagon that's marketed as a crossover. Internally referred to as S238, the latter will join Toyota's US lineup for model year 2025.
Joining the S235 crossover-type Crown, the Crown Signia is en route to dealers in the United States in two distinct flavors: XLE and Limited. Their starting prices are $43,590 and $47,990, respectively, sans the $1,395 destination charge. By comparison, the Crown XLE and Limited are currently listed by Toyota at $41,440 and $45,950.
There's little in the way of options available, but first, let's talk about what comes standard. Hybrid by default, the Crown Signia is backed by an 8-year hybrid components warranty in addition to the three-year basic new vehicle warranty. The high-voltage battery, meanwhile, is covered for 10 years or 150,000 miles (a little over 240,000 kilometers).
Leather seats, a heated steering wheel, 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment, auto up/down power windows, a hands-free and height-adjustable power liftgate, power-folding and heated side mirrors with blind spot warning indicators, 19-inch alloys with a machined finish, six-speaker audio, and heated/ventilated power front seats open the list. Other highlights include three USB-C ports in the front and two for the rear passengers, 60/40 folding second-row seats with an extension panel for longer items, as well as the Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 suite of active safety/driving assistance technologies.
The Limited builds on the XLE with the addition of better headlights, nicer wheels, an 11-speaker audio system from JBL, a fixed glass panoramic roof, Digital Key capability for your smartphone, rain-sensing wipers, and a digital rearview mirror. Exclusive for the Limited grade, the Advanced Technology Package adds quite a bit of stuff for an extra $1,865 of your hard-earned money, beginning with reverse tilt-down mirrors and puddle lights.
Photo: Toyota
Those $1,865 also get you front and rear parking assist with automatic braking, lane change assist, front cross-traffic alert, Traffic Jam Assist, and Panoramic View Monitor with Perimeter Scan. The former is a 360-degree camera system, whereas the latter is Toyota's way of saying bird's eye view.
Having mentioned that it's a hybrid as standard, care to guess what kind of powertrain is hiding under the hood? The answer is 2.5-liter NA four-cylinder engine, which is connected to – no surprises here – an electronically controlled continuously variable transmission rather than an automatic or a DCT.
The Crown Signia is also all-wheel drive as standard, but it doesn't have a transfer case or a driveshaft to send power to the rear wheels. Instead, a rear-mounted electric motor joins two motor generators. The first motor generator is primarily a generator, whereas the other is tasked with driving the front wheels. Located beneath the rear seats, the 230.4V traction battery has a capacity of 5.0 Ah.
Crown Signia is much obliged to hit 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour) in 7.1 seconds, while the EPA's estimate for combined fuel economy is 38 miles to the gallon or liters per 100 kilometers. Oh, and by the way, this crossover-ish station wagon can tow up to 2,700 pounds (1,225 kilograms).
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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