2025 Toyota Crown

The Toyota Crown is now in its second year and, so soon after its debut, returns without major changes. Much like the Avalon that it replaced, the Crown is a bit of a tweener: not quite a full-size sedan but definitely larger than a typical midsize sedan. But Toyota has done a lot to make it different from most other sedans, including giving it a tall profile, an available two-tone paint job and standard hybrid power.

Edmunds spotlight: All Crowns are hybrids

The Crown is offered in two hybrid versions, both featuring four-cylinder engines and standard all-wheel drive. One of them puts an emphasis on efficiency, while the other skews more toward performance. In the XLE and Limited, the powertrain makes 236 horsepower and gets an EPA-estimated 41 mpg. That's impressive for a big sedan especially since it has standard all-wheel drive. For the Platinum trim, Toyota gives the Crown a performance-oriented hybrid powertrain called Hybrid Max. It produces a stout 340 hp, though you will give back 11 mpg combined for that power boost.

Competitors to consider

Thanks to the Crown's funky, lifted stance it doesn't have that much in the way of rivals. While it might not be the most obvious competition, the Subaru Outback shares the Crown's core attributes in that it's large, high-riding and outside the luxury realm. The Outback offers superior cargo space and can be had with a punchy turbocharged engine. That said, the Crown's hybrid powertrains and slightly more upscale interior materials might sway some prospective customers toward Toyota. Truly, it's hard to go wrong either way — it simply comes down to whether you want a nicer cabin (Crown) or more space (Outback).

We've yet to get a Crown in for testing to see if the formula is really working, but we have to give Toyota kudos for trying something different.