The 2025 Toyota Crown Signia Is Imperfect, Yet Intriguing: Review

The 2025 Crown Signia carries on a long-standing Toyota tradition of vehicles that refuse to be categorized. Like the Venza it replaces, the Crown Signia is a bit too tall to be a wagon, but too short to be an SUV. It rides like its Crown sedan sibling, but it’s closer in capacity to a Toyota RAV4. Its $45,000 base price is higher than a typical non-luxury-brand crossover, but it’s more luxurious than all of its direct competitors.

While this independent-minded design has strengths—look at how gorgeous it is—it is confusing. Its drivetrain is a little too Toyota to woo Lexus buyers, and its price is a little too Lexus to woo many RAV4 shoppers. Rationality aside, I couldn’t help but enjoy the Crown Signia, if for no other reason than it feels truly different. 

Looking at the Crown Signia is the easiest way to tell it’s different. It has a car-like ride height of just 6.7 inches and measures just 64.0 inches tall, despite a wheelbase 6.0 inches longer than a RAV4 (at 112.2 inches). Its roofline is slimmed down for a wagon-like visual impact, even though it possesses the physical dimensions of a crossover. In the Limited trim, it gets enormous 21-inch wheels; paired with the Bronze Age metallic paint on my test vehicle, it looks about as close to a road-legal concept car as I’ve seen from Toyota in my lifetime. Its styling is one of its greatest selling points.

The interior is shockingly luxurious for a Toyota, delivering a Lexus-like sense of poshness. Every leather-upholstered seat in the house is heated, there’s ventilation for front occupants and a heated wheel for the driver—all standard. Brushed rose gold accents and a plain-but-tidy center console, topped with a 12.3-inch screen equipped with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, finish off the cabin. Physical buttons for climate control and stereo functions abound, as well. At its base MSRP of $44,985, it undercuts equivalently equipped luxury SUVs like the Acura RDX and Infiniti QX50 by thousands, all while having a more intuitive user interface. 

Photo by: Victoria Scott / Motor1

Pros: Lexus-Like Luxury, Plush Ride, Fantastic Mile-Eater

The package is quite comfortable, but don’t be fooled by the wagon-esque profile. The Crown Signia’s seating position is still very crossover-like. This, combined with the low roofline, leads to a lack of headroom. I am 6-foot 1-inch, and my head wasn’t touching the ceiling, but it was close. This was where the first of my gripes with the higher-end Limited trim manifested: It has a panoramic glass roof panel, which removes an inch of headroom. The cabin benefits from the airiness, sure, but if you’re over six feet tall, you’ll want that extra inch. 

The rest of the trim upsells—like impractically large wheels—don’t make a great case. The Limited also costs quite a bit more than the base Crown Signia, at $49,385. This test vehicle, with the optional Technology Package and other niceties like the gorgeous metallic paint, punches in at $52,585—more than a Lexus RX350 Hybrid, which starts at $52,475. (An equivalently equipped RX Hybrid does still cost a few thousand dollars more, however—so you’ll have to ask how much that badge is worth to you.)

Photo by: Victoria Scott / Motor1

Photo by: Victoria Scott / Motor1

Photo by: Victoria Scott / Motor1

If the engine were a bit more graceful, this pricing would be easier to overlook—but it’s not. The Crown Signia’s sole drivetrain pairs a 2.5-liter inline-four with an all-wheel-drive tri-motor hybrid system. The engine isn’t especially good sounding, and it groans under heavy load, which makes this otherwise-premium car feel cheap. It’s not quick, either, at roughly 7 seconds to 60 miles per hour. The Genesis GV70 2.5T—which starts at roughly the same price—pulls buses on the Toyota; start spending a bit more to reach BMW X3 or Audi Q5 territory, and you’ll get vastly more exciting drivetrains.

The tradeoff is excellent mileage. The EPA rates the Toyota Crown Signia at 38 miles per gallon combined, a number I almost achieved despite using winter gas in cold weather. This compares favorably with most hybrid two-row competitors, but hypermilers will need to look elsewhere, as the Crown Signia has no EV-only mode or PHEV variant to boost mileage further in cities. This is less of a weakness against luxury competitors, but compared with a similarly-equipped Hyundai Tucson PHEV Limited ($48,790 and 80 MPGe), it’s a hard sell.

Photo by: Victoria Scott / Motor1

Cons: Slow & Loud Drivetrain, Compromised Headroom, Expensive

The Crown Signia does offer a uniquely compelling ride. Literally: the ride is unlike almost any other modern crossover I’ve driven. It’s tuned to be soft, not sporty. Body roll is noticeable, and there’s moderate pitch on hard braking. It’s a welcome departure from the wisdom of the market; I have long thought that modern vehicles are too clenched up. I don’t need to carve canyons in a crossover. Switch on the (excellent) lane-keep assist and cruise control, turn up the jazz on the 11-speaker JBL system, and relax. 

It retains all of its crossover-like usefulness, too. The Crown Signia has 68.8 cubic feet of total cargo capacity, which is less than the RAV4 Hybrid on paper. However, the wagon-like length means it’s eminently usable: I shoved a full 88-key Yamaha in the back, for an idea of its dimensions.  

Photo by: Victoria Scott / Motor1

Photo by: Victoria Scott / Motor1

As a whole, the Crown Signia is intriguing. I don’t know how many buyers still want the svelte looks of a wagon. Or if comfort is still a selling point. Or if saving a little cash but not having a luxury brand is a tradeoff that the average $50,000 crossover shopper will make. If you’re here to save pennies, it’s probably best to look at a RAV4 or a Sportage; if you want to flaunt your money, you’ll almost certainly be happier with a Lexus or a BMW. 

But for the few who prize style and a comfortable ride above all, a Crown Signia drive will be enough to fall in love—as long as you’re not too tall.

16

Victoria Scott / Motor1