While crossovers and SUVs are the most popular sellers right now, Toyota’s 2026 AWD Crown sedan offers an alternative if you have an SUV or pickup and want a second or family sedan that offers more than your typical sedan.
Crown is a medium size sedan that almost borders on large. It comes with standard AWD and a hybrid powertrain. It has a slick, raked roofline that gives it a coupe-like look, and with a higher ride height, it allows for 5.8 inches of ground clearance to handle modest snow depths. This is almost as good as some crossover/SUVs. Its LED headlights are tucked under a full-width lid of sort for a custom, sleek appearance. And bumped-out fenders give a racy, sporty look.
Inside, heated/ventilated leather-trimmed seats are comfy and sensibly bolstered. Rear seats too are heated with ample leg and head room. And the doors open wide for easy ingress/egress. A 12.3-inch touchscreen sets within what looks like a one-piece display that includes the 12.3-inch instrument cluster. The touchscreen offers Apple CarPlay, Android Auto connectivity, satellite radio, JBL audio, apps, rearview and front view cameras and more. Below it are easy to operate HVAC controls comprised of piano keyboard style push-buttons that more carmakers are swinging back to because of touchscreen controls that may be confusing and unsafe to use while driving.
Over on the digital gauge cluster, and since it’s a hybrid, the tachometer was replaced with a power gauge for Charge, Eco and Power settings. This is helpful in that when keeping it in Eco mode, it provides the best driving economy. The gauge also displays driving modes, alerts, functions and features. In front of it and on the column of the heated steering wheel, is a sensor that keeps an eye on driver head movement and will give off a warning if it senses the head is turned away from center and the road ahead. On the console, a stubby gear selector controls the 6-speed automatic transmission that’s supplemented with paddle shifters on the steering column. It’s joined by a toggle switch for Custom, Sport, Normal, Eco and Rr Comfy modes, with selections displayed on the gauge cluster.
In front of the shifter is a vertical wireless phone charger that is nicely designed as the phone merely needs to be stood up in it, as opposed to laying it down as on many other chargers.
Back in the trunk and with the rear seats upright, there’s 15.2 cubic feet of cargo space that measures 47 inches deep, 43 wide and 20 high. Flip the rear seatbacks and cargo loading depth expands to 75 inches. Beneath the trunk floor is the space saver tire, jack and tools, but no free space to stow small items.
Crown Hybrid Max gets its spunk from a 2.4-liter, turbocharged 4-cylinder that gets paired with front and rear electric motors to produce an impressive net combined 340 horsepower and a whopping net 400 lb/ft of torque for EPA mileage estimates of 29 city, 32-highway mpg on the Platinum model. There’s certainly no want for power especially in Sport mode and when turbo kicks in. It’s a push-you-back-in-the-seat effect. And the engine was especially quiet in spite of all this grunt.
Ride wise, Crown was all sedan with smooth, quietness especially when in hybrid mode. Handling too was impressive for an AWD sedan as Toyota’s Adaptive Variable Suspension keeps the Crown planted in sharp turns and it smooths rough roads and unimproved railroad crossings that produce a mere ripple.
For a base price of $54,990, you’re not only getting AWD but a gas saving hybrid system that includes Toyota’s Safety Sense 3.0 w/pre-collision, blind spot monitoring w/rear cross traffic alert, lane change assist, traffic jam assist w/Drive Connect, front/rear parking assist w/automatic braking, Advanced Park (Crown can park itself), and more. The only option was for Premium Paint ($475) that with delivery, took the bottom line to $56,600. A competitive price for a sedan that goes above and beyond your typical sedan, some of which don’t offer AWD or hybrid technology – the latter of which Toyota has perfected.
But that’s not all. Crown Platinum earned top government safety scores of a perfect 5 stars as an overall score, 4 for driver frontal crash, 5 for passenger frontal crash, 5 for front/rear seat side crash and 4 for rollover.
Quite an incentive when considering an all-encompassing family sedan.
