Compared: 2023 Toyota Crown vs. 2023 Toyota Venza
The revived Crown sedan is so tall, it's practically a crossover.
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QuickTakes:
If you're in the Toyota showroom looking at the Venza midsize two-row SUV, it's possible that the salesperson will encourage you to spend a few minutes with the new-for-2023 Crown as well.
The Crown isn't a crossover, but it's crossover-like. Its height and fastback roofline do a fair job hiding the fact that it's a sedan. The Crown also makes more power than the Venza and performs better in EPA testing. The tradeoff is that it costs more and has a smaller cargo area. It's also rather odd looking.
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Price Starts Lower for the Venza
Regardless of which Toyota you choose, you'll receive an all-wheel-drive vehicle with an electrified engine. Every Venza comes with a hybrid powertrain that pairs Toyota's 2.5-liter four-cylinder with three electric motors making 219 horsepower. The cheapest model available is the LE, which has a starting price of $36,000.
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You'll find a similar powertrain in two of the three Crown trim levels, only this version makes 236 horsepower. The base sedan demands $41,000, which is a sizable increase over the Venza. If you desire the Platinum trim's 340-hp hybrid — built with a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder — expect to pay about $54,000.
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The Crown's Interior Features a Few More Extras
Wondering what the Crown's $5,000 upcharge gets you? In terms of cabin tech, the dual 12.3-inch screens in the sedan are nicer looking than the base Venza's 7.0-inch driver display and 8.0-inch infotainment touchscreen, and many people will prefer the Crown's leatherette-trimmed, heated front seats to the crossover's cloth, unheated ones.
Otherwise, the models' standard equipment lists aren't so different. Both receive Toyota's comprehensive safety suite, providing adaptive cruise control, automatic high-beams, forward-collision mitigation, and lane-departure warning with steering assist. They also boast blind-spot monitoring, wireless device charging and smartphone mirroring tech, dual-zone automatic climate control, and proximity-key entry with push-button start.
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Higher up in the Crown lineup are leather seats, with heating for the second row, neither of which you'll find in the Venza. But then the crossover's top trim offers a head-up display and a digital rearview mirror, which are unavailable in any Crown. Plus, Venza shoppers can get the dual 12.3-inch screens by selecting the top trim, and the model's 29-cubic-feet cargo area is nearly twice as large as the Crown's trunk.
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Base Crown and Venza Models Nearly Matched in Fuel Economy
The base hybrid Crown with the 2.5-liter gets 42/41/41 mpg city/highway/combined. Selecting the top-level Crown Platinum and its more powerful powertrain drops fuel economy significantly, to 29/32/30 mpg.
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The Venza, meanwhile, returns 40/37/39 mpg.
All vehicle pricing includes MSRP plus destination charges (set at the time of publication) and will be rounded to the nearest thousand.
