2025 Toyota Crown Signia

When Toyota created Lexus, it did so not because people weren't buying Toyotas. It was done to get people who had more money to spend it on Toyotas.

But what will happen when Toyota-badged vehicles cost as nearly as much as Lexus-badged vehicles?

Will Toyota buyers pay Lexus money for them?

The success (or not) of the new Crown and Crown Signia will answer that question.

What It Is

The Crown sedan -- and Signia -- are the two-fer replacements in Toyota's lineup for the discontinued Avalon sedan. The Signia is basically a crossover wagon similar to the recently canceled Venza in terms of its overall shape and utility but more luxurious -- and priced more like a Lexus.

Both Crowns come standard with four-cylinder/hybrid (and all-wheel-drive) drivetrains rather than the V6 front-wheel-drive drivetrain that used to come standard in the Avalon. The Crown sedan is available with a hotted-up version of this drivetrain that may and hopefully will become available in the Signia wagon -- focus of this review -- in 2026. For now, the Crown Signia comes only with the same basic standard drivetrain as in the Crown sedan -- along with the much greater cargo capacity and versatility of the wagon versus sedan layout.

Prices start at $43,590 for the XLE trim, which comes standard with heated and cooled front seats, leather upholstery, a heated steering wheel, a digital main gauge cluster and a 12.3-inch secondary LCD touch screen. Cat's eye LED headlights are standard too.

The top-of-the-line Limited -- $47,990 -- adds a panorama sunroof with retractable shade, an upgraded 11-speaker JBL audio system and 21-inch (versus 19-inch) wheels and tires plus rain-sensing wipers and digital key capability that enables the owner to access/operate various vehicle functions (such as lock/unlock) remotely via their smartphone.

The Crown sedan stickers for $41,440 to start and tops out at $54,990 for the Turbo trim, which features the more powerful hybrid/four-cylinder drivetrain that may become available in the Crown Signia next year.

What's New for 2025

The Crown Signia is a new variant of the Crown sedan that replaced the Avalon sedan in 2023 that also takes the place of the Venza crossover that Toyota retired last year.

What's Good

-- For just a little bit more money than it takes to buy the Crown sedan, you could get the Crown Signia and have much more space for things you need to carry.

-- Averages close to 40 mpg.

-- Lexus-level luxury on the inside.

What's Not So Good

-- Costs near-Lexus money.

-- Sluggish performance from the one and only available drivetrain.

-- "Drowsy driver" eye movement monitor is arguably both creepy and (ironically) distracting.

Under the Hood

Both Crown Signia trims come with the same drivetrain, consisting of a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine paired with three electric motors and a battery pack to power them (the gas engine powering up the battery pack as well as providing most of the propulsive force). Total combined output is 240 horsepower -- about 60 down from the 3.5-liter V6 that was standard in the Avalon. The weight is also up -- by about 800 pounds.

The Signia weighs a hefty 4,210 pounds versus 3,570 pounds for the old Avalon sedan, and this explains why the Signia's mileage, though good for a two-ton-plus crossover wagon, isn't dramatically better than the mileage touted by the V6-powered Avalon: 22 mpg city, 32 mpg highway versus 39 mpg city, 37 mpg highway.

The overall difference is 11 mpg.

You'll also save time -- between fill-ups -- because of the Signia's much longer range, especially in city driving, where the hybrid drivetrain is most efficient. This Toyota can go about 565 miles in stop-and-go city driving on the same 14.5 gallons of gas that the Avalon consumed to go just 319 miles. On the highway, the Avalon could go 464 miles, but the Signia can keep on going another 72 miles (536) before the little dash light comes on telling you it's time to gas up.

That's a savings arguably worth more than the dubious savings on fuel costs -- in part because you can't get back time.

Toyota says the Signia can pull a small trailer that weighs up to 2,700 pounds.

On the Road

The Signia's hybrid-drive system is unusual, but you can't really tell that it is -- except by watching the power-flow display in the main gauge cluster. It shows the application of power to each wheel by the three electric motors, one of them independently applying power to the rear wheels as the system deems warranted. The other two work the front wheels. This layout serves as a form of traction/stability control as well as propulsion in that each motor can adjust how much power is fed to each wheel, and this can be used to control both wheel-slip in low traction situations as well as to correct the vehicle's directional line during cornering.

That said, it's not something you'd even be aware of unless you watch the display in the dash. The Signia drives pretty much the same as other hybrids, as far as the driver can tell.

There's an "EV" mode you can engage to allow for short-distance, low-speed driving on battery/motor power alone -- until the charge depletes or the speed increases beyond a fast walk. At that point, the gas engine automatically restarts, as in other hybrids.

The system also cycles off the gas engine automatically whenever it's not needed to propel the car, and these transitions are quiet and seamless.

However, when you need to accelerate, it's not as quiet as this Lexus-in-all-but-name ought to be. The four-cylinder/hybrid drivetrain doesn't make enough power to propel the 4,210-pound Toyota at anything faster than a tepid pace without sounding like she's given' her all she's got, cap'n -- in the words of Scotty from the original "Star Trek" series. The 3.5-liter V6 that used to come standard in the Avalon -- and which made 301 horsepower (61 more than the Signia's four-cylinder/hybrid drivetrain) would have been the perfect powerplant for this Toyota-badged Lexus.

At the Curb

The Signia is about 2 inches shorter overall than the Crown sedan -- 194.1 inches versus 196.1 -- but it has much more space inside due to its wagon-crossover shape. Its roofline is lower than that of the typical crossover, which makes it look sleeker than the typical crossover, and this does result in the Signia having a little less room for cargo inside than the typical (taller) crossover of the same size. But there's still a lot more room for cargo inside the Signia than there is in the Crown's 15.2-cubic-foot trunk.

To be specific, there's almost twice as much space (25.8 cubic feet) for whatever you need to carry around behind Signia's rear seats, and as in every other crossover, you can fold the rear seats down to expand the available space to 68.8 cubic feet, which, if you're doing the math in your head, comes out to about four or five times as much total available space for stuff than you could stuff inside the Crown's 15.2-cubic-foot trunk.

That's not the main draw, though -- because you can get the same versatility in literally every other crossover, and there are literally a dozen or more of them in this general class that also have rear seats that fold down and lots of space behind them too.

The Rest

In keeping with the near-Lexus (for less) idea, the Signia comes standard with pretty much everything. There are only the two trims, and they're both loaded.

The main available option is an Advanced Technology Package ($1,865) for the Limited that bundles a 360-degree Panoramic View camera system, power-folding outside rearview mirrors (with puddle lamps) and several additional driver assistance systems, including semi-self-driving features such as Lane Change Assist, which only requires the driver to signal a lane change.

The Signia then changes lanes on its own.

The Bottom Line

The only thing this near-Lexus lacks is an engine befitting a Lexus. But then, such engines are lacking in most new Lexus models too.

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Eric's latest book, "Doomed: Good Cars Gone Wrong!" will be available soon. To find out more about Eric and read his past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.