2024 Toyota Crown Platinum

Test Drive Notes Library

Pros
Interior. There’s a clean, uncluttered, high-quality vibe inside of the Crown. Rather than lard it up with screen controls and capacitive sliders and other cheap annoyances, Toyota has provided solid, weighty-feeling knobs and switches for all the things you use regularly. And it’s that thoughtfulness, and the quality of the switchgear itself, that makes the Crown feel luxurious. Sure, the materials and surfaces are good too, in our Platinum version. But it’s the feels-good-to-the-touch, everything-you-need-and-nothing-you-don’t quality that left the strongest impression on us.
Room. The Crown is a skosh bigger than the mid-market Camry. Inside, it reads like a full size car, with broad, comfortable, and supportive seats in front, and a wide, comfortable, heated bench in back. The trunk is huge, too. And because the Crown is higher off the ground than the Camry (though not quite crossover height), it’s especially easy to get in and out of without falling down into the seats and climbing back out of them.
Fuel economy. The Crown comes with two varieties of Toyota’s hybrid drivetrain. The top-trim Platinum model we tested came with the highest powered, 340 hp electric/gas Hybrid Max combo that features a 2.4L turbocharged four-cylinder engine, paired with a six speed automatic transmission. Hybrid Max means that instead of using a hybrid system purely to increase fuel economy, this hybrid system is geared towards increasing power first, and fuel economy second. As a result, our Crown Platinum saw “only” 27 mpg, which is still quite good for a large, powerful, all-wheel-drive car. But if you opt for the 236 hp standard hybrid with a CVT, the EPA says you can expect to see more than 40 mpg.
Power. We didn’t drive the 236 hp version, but we can tell you that the 340 hp power plant is more than enough, providing ample acceleration in all situations. Like pretty much every Toyota hybrid we’ve driven, the switching between electric and gasoline power is pretty seamless, with one exception (see below). Once underway, we rarely even noticed what mode we were in. Engine noise was mostly well-muted.
Comfort. The inside of the Crown Platinum, as we say, is a nice, upscale place to be. The ride is geared towards comfort. It’s not as soft as its predecessor, the Avalon, but it handles better. Unlike the wallow-ie Avalon, handling is firmly predictable and secure. Not sporty, but very competent. Steering feel has a bit of weight to it, but not enough to make piloting the Crown unpleasant in city driving.
Price. At least in Platinum trim, the Crown feels like a well-priced car. Listed at $54,600, you get 340 hp, all wheel drive, lots of room inside, a near-luxury experience, pretty much every modern safety and convenience feature, 27 mpg, and a likelihood of better than average reliability and longevity. At $46,000, the Limited trim might be an even better deal, with less power, fewer amenities, but 42 mpg.

Cons
Not so smooth startups. We noticed, oddly, that starting off from a stoplight sometimes caused a momentary hitch. We would guess it's something to do with the switch between the electric, initial push off, and the gasoline engine takeover. Like we said, most Toyota hybrids operate seamlessly, but perhaps because this one emphasizes power, it’s not quite as smooth when starting off. We would hope that it could be corrected with software, but don’t know.
No head up display. This is surprising, given that most luxury or even near-luxury buyers expect at head up display these days, and that the Crown, with its price and position in Toyota’s lineup, clearly expects to compete for those buyers. It was also introduced in 2023, so it really should have been included in the development process. We’re baffled.