Toyota Crown and Crown Signia: Everything You Need to Know

What Car Shoppers Need to Know

• The Toyota Crown is a large fastback sedan, and the Crown Signia is somewhere between a wagon and an SUV.
• Hybrid all-wheel-drive powertrain standard for both
• Crown is available with 340-horsepower, turbocharged Hybrid Max powertrain

A large, high-riding, AWD fastback sedan and its wagon-esque sibling, the Toyota Crown and Crown Signia, are difficult to classify. Cars.com Detroit Bureau Chief Aaron Bragman headlined our first in-person encounter with the Crown “What Exactly Am I Looking At?”

The Crown and Crown Signia are easier to contextualize if you remember the Toyota Avalon. The Crown replaced Toyota’s paragon of no-fuss comfort when it debuted for 2023; the Signia arrived in 2025. But whereas the Avalon was a basic big sedan — spacious front and rear seats, cushy ride — with available hybrid power and AWD, the Crown and Crown Signia defy classification and feature standard hybrid AWD power. No matter how you categorize them, though, the Crown and Crown Signia are good — mostly.

Related: 2023 Toyota Crown Review: Slick New Flagship Sedan Leaves Us a Bit Crownfused

Pricing

Despite equipping the two almost identically (for their shared trim levels), Toyota charges a premium of over $3,000 for the Signia. The Crown starts at $42,635 and the Signia at $45,985 (all prices include destination). Perhaps recognizing the more limited market for station wagons and their lookalikes, Toyota also limits the Crown Signia to just two trim levels, whereas the Crown is available in four — although the Nightshade is really just a Limited with black wheels and trim.

Pricing for the Toyota Crown and Toyota Crown Signia is as follows:

Crown

• XLE: $42,635
• Limited: $47,145
• Nightshade: $49,960
• Platinum: $56,185

Crown Signia

• XLE: $45,985
• Limited: $50,385

Trims and Features

On both the Crown and the Crown Signia, the base trim is the well-equipped XLE.

Both Crowns’ XLE trims feature 19-inch alloy wheels, full LED exterior lighting, and keyless entry and start. Inside are leather upholstery, power-adjustable front seats with heating and ventilation, heated rear seats, a heated steering wheel, dual-zone automatic climate control and a tilt/telescoping steering column. Cabin tech in both vehicles consists of a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a 12.3-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless phone charging and a six-speaker audio system. The only differences are that the Crown Signia XLE also gets a hands-free power liftgate and driver’s seat memory.

There’s greater differentiation between the two models in their Limited trim levels. Both add a panoramic moonroof, rain-sensing windshield wipers and upgraded headlights, as well as an 11-speaker JBL sound system and a power-adjustable steering column. Since this is where the Crown Signia tops out, 21-inch wheels are standard on that model’s Limited trim level.

The Crown Nightshade is identical to the Limited, but with matte-black 21-inch wheels and black exterior trim. At the top of the Crown range is the Platinum. It adds a hands-free power liftgate and head-up display, as well as digital-key capability that allows owners to use their phone as a vehicle key and for remote monitoring.

Both vehicles include Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 as standard equipment, which consists of forward collision warning with pedestrian detection, automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane departure steering assist, lane-centering steering, road-sign recognition and automatic high beams. Blind spot monitors and rear cross-traffic alert are also standard on both vehicles.

The Crown gets front and rear parking sensors with automatic braking as standard equipment, and those features are bundled into the Advanced Tech Package for the Crown Signia along with other advanced safety technologies that are standard on the Crown Platinum. Those Crown Platinum features consist of front cross-traffic alert, lane-change assist, traffic-jam assist, a 360-degree camera system and automated parking. Automated parking is not available on the Crown Signia.

Fuel Economy

Both Crowns come standard with a hybrid powertrain that combines a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine with electric motors front and rear. Toyota says the setup is good for 236 hp in the Crown and 240 hp in the Crown Signia. Both use a continuously variable automatic transmission. City EPA fuel-economy ratings are close for the two models, but the Crown’s lower curb weight and slipperier shape give it a decided edge in highway efficiency.

More important than the 4-hp difference between the Crown and Crown Signia is the former’s available turbocharged Hybrid Max powertrain. Here, the 2.5-liter four-cylinder is swapped out for a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder, upping total output by more than 100 hp, to 340. The standard AWD remains, but the CVT gets traded for a six-speed automatic.

Interior

Both Crowns’ interiors are among their greatest assets, so long as you’re not above six feet tall. The high seating position and low roof conspire to limit headroom. While the Signia’s longer, flatter roof means it has slightly more headroom in the rear, its front occupants actually get a bit less than they do in the swoopy Crown. The vehicles have identical wheelbases, but the Signia’s rear-seat legroom is also tighter than the Crown’s by an inch. With 25.8 cubic feet of cargo space with the rear seats up, however, the Signia betters the Crown’s 15.2 cubes by nearly 70%.

A Lexus badge would not be out of place on the Crowns’ steering wheels. The pair’s cabins are of exceptionally high quality, with rich detailing, contrast stitching and extensive use of soft-touch materials. We also appreciate the separate panel for the climate controls, which is populated with real buttons instead of distracting, imprecise touch-sensitive controls.

Do We Like the Crown and Crown Signia?

The Crowns’ posh interiors make these easy vehicles to love, but the cabin is far from the lineup’s only draw. Fuel economy approaching or exceeding 40 mpg in something this size is refreshing, and if you’re willing to settle for “just” 30 mpg combined, the turbocharged Hybrid Max powertrain makes the Crown Platinum genuinely quick.

That model’s six-speed automatic transmission also cuts down on the engine drone that plagues the other models’ CVT under hard acceleration. But despite Toyota billing the Platinum as a performance hybrid, the lack of steering or brake feel, as well as relaxed body control, mean even the quick Crown is better suited to long-distance and around-town driving.

Other than the tight headroom, our biggest gripe about either Signia is the infotainment system. Its 12.3-inch touchscreen is a fairly standard size, and the graphics are crisp, but the menu structure is rather unintuitive, making for lots of unnecessary poking into menus and backing out of them to find the functions you want.

We like the Crown Signia better than the plain old Crown for its increased rear headroom and cargo space. But if you’re not regularly cruising with a passel of six-footers, the Crown’s superior fuel economy, lower price and wider trim range make it a solid choice, too.

Read More About the Toyota Crown on Cars.com:

• How Much Is the 2026 Toyota Crown?
• How Much Is the 2026 Toyota Crown Signia?
• 2025 Toyota Crown Signia: A Less Crownfusing SUV
• 2025 Toyota Crown Signia Up Close: Toyota Made a Sweet Hybrid Station Wagon
• Research the Toyota Crown
• Research the Toyota Crown Signia
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