2025 Toyota Crown Signia Limited Review: Weird, But In A Good Way

For an automaker with such a sensible reputation, Toyota's enthusiasm to make its Crown series work in the U.S. feels like an oddity. At least this 2025 Crown Signia — second to bear the nameplate after the Crown sedan arrived in 2023 — capitalizes on the perennially-popular SUV trend, even if the head-scratching kicks off early with the unusual styling.

Toyota does have a track record with "not quite a wagon, not quite an SUV" models, mind. The Crown Signia's predecessor, the Venza, was similarly tricky to compartmentalize. Built for the North American market specifically, the Venza hit the key talking points that the Crown Signia returns to: hybrid powered and more practical than a Camry, but not quite as large as the typical SUV or crossover.

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From the front, the Crown Signia looks a little like a Prius that took its gym goals seriously. The hammerhead shark fascia, with its neatly-integrated lamps squinting through bodywork slashes, and distinctive grille are a welcome change from the outsized proportions and hyper-masculine detailing most SUVs lean on. 

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Things are somewhat less eye-catching from the rear, but the 21-inch wheels on this Limited trim (from $47,990 plus $1,450 destination) fill the arches nicely.

Someone at Toyota has clearly been paying clandestine visits to the Lexus design studio. Like with the Crown before it, the Crown Signia delivers an elevated version of what we've come to expect from Toyota models. You might not entirely like the cabin aesthetic, but it's a clear step above what's in most of the automaker's line-up.

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Soft-touch materials abound and, though you could question some of the swooping trim, the bronze detailing is a lovely flourish. It looks particularly striking with the saddle tan leather option; the full black interior is, in contrast, somewhat sober. While the switchgear is, for the most part, taken from Toyota's regular parts bin, there is at least no shortage of physical buttons for things like the climate control.

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It's a five seater, with both rows well-proportioned for headroom and legroom. The 25.8 cu-ft trunk is, rear seats-up, slightly down compared to the Venza's 28.8 cu-ft, but dropping the back bench flips the advantage: the Crown Signia has 68.8 cu-ft total, almost 14 cu-ft ahead. And, while the Venza never got an official tow rating, the Crown Signia can handle 2,700 pounds.

Wisely, Toyota makes most of the toys standard. Both the XLE (from $43,590 plus destination) and Limited trims get leather, heated and ventilated front seats, heating for the steering wheel and rear seats, a digital gauge cluster, and a 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen. That supports wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, though Toyota also throws in five USB-C charge ports, a wireless phone charger, and a 12V/120W charge port, too.

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Only the Limited has the 11-speaker JBL audio system, digital rearview mirror, and digital key support. And, while adaptive cruise control, blind spot warnings, and Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 — with pedestrian-detecting pre-collision support, lane-departure alerts with steering assistance, and lane-tracing assist — are standard, the $1,865 Advanced Tech Package is only available on the Limited trim.

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That includes a 360-degree camera, lane-change assist, front cross-traffic alert, and front/rear parking assist with auto-braking. It also adds Toyota's Traffic Jam Assist, which supports hands-free driving on the highway, albeit only at speeds under 25 mph.

Like the Crown, the Crown Signia is a hybrid, though not a plug-in hybrid with external charging support. Instead, Toyota's fourth-generation hybrid drivetrain pairs a 2.5-liter four-cylinder gas engine with two electric motors and an electronically-controlled CVT (continuously variable transmission). All-wheel drive is standard, with one of those electric motors dedicated to the rear wheels.

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As with a lot of hybrids, actually figuring out total power can be tricky. Toyota says the Crown Signia musters 240 horsepower total, only eight hp more than the 2025 Camry, and a full 100 horses behind the Toyota Crown with its optional Hybrid MAX drivetrain. The rear electric motor — which kicks in automatically, when all-wheel drive traction is required — has 54 hp and 89 lb-ft of torque on its own.

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There are Eco, Normal, and Sport drive modes, along with an EV button that promises a small degree of all-electric driving. It's only usable for short distances at lower speeds, though, and beyond that — or if you get anything more than cautious with the accelerator — the gas engine will be quickly roused.

Despite the fairly sporty looks, the Crown Signia doesn't encourage enthusiastic driving. Driven normally, it's plush and quiet: capable, in fact, of giving a Lexus a run for its money. Electric power provides you with a gentle shove from a standing start, leaving the whole thing feeling crisp in city traffic.

Press on, though, and the Crown starts to slip. Toyota's gas engine isn't particularly sonorous, and its swooping grumbles as the CVT slurs make for a noisy cabin and not a great amount of pace. As we've seen in Toyota's other recent hybrids, there's not necessarily a parallel between what your right foot is doing and how hard the engine is working, too, which makes the middling soundtrack all the more noticeable.

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It's a shame, as the Hybrid MAX version of the Crown is positively perky, though the downside there was underwhelming fuel economy by electrified standards. The Crown Signia is rated for 39 mpg in the city, 37 mpg on the highway, and 38 mpg combined. My own 33 mpg fell short of that — snowy conditions did probably keep the rear drive active more often, too — but was still impressive for a crossover of the Crown Signia's size.

Toyota's decision to relaunch the Crown nameplate in the U.S. with the original, odd sedan remains a head-scratcher. The 2025 Crown Signia, in contrast, seems far more suited to the tastes of the North American driver. Even with its atypical styling, outside and in, its crossover silhouette is far easier to explain.

Sales seem to bear that theory out, too. Toyota sold a mere 810 of the Crown in the U.S. in the whole of 2024, a precipitous drop from the 2,271 of the previous year. Yet the Crown Signia, despite only being on sale for half of 2024, still sold 2,794 examples.

Big, by Crown standards; tiny, by Toyota SUV measure. Yet there's something weirdly, unexpectedly charming about this hybrid oddball: a Lexus-on-a-budget which — if you approach it as a more luxurious option, not a sporty one — starts to feel like the hidden gem in Toyota's range.