The 2024 Toyota Crown XLE Is Just A Premium Prius, Or Is It?

This 2024 Toyota Crown XLE is more of an entry-level package, so it's quite a bit more affordable than the other Crown models. Powering this 2024 Crown SLE is a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter 4-cylinder paired with a hybrid system. Fuel economy stands at 42 mpg around town and then 41 on the highway, with power outputs of 236 horsepower! 

A Lexus With a Toyota Badge?

Now, taking a look at the hood, it's flat in the center, and then there is body line action on either side. The headlight design down below is really sharp, and we love how that kind of continues into the grill area, and the design at the bottom interestingly puts it all together. It looks pretty cool, but it also has a lot of similarities with the Prius. 

Now, on the side of the 2024 Toyota Crown, the tire wheel setup is 225/55R19 in the front and over in the rear, and the wheels get the silver mixed with the blacked-out elements. There’s also some cladding with the fender flares and the rest of the bodywork on the side as well. We do have some silver trim around the windows.

Taking a look at the key fob, we have our lock and unlock function, and we have the opening switch for the hatch as well as the Crown logo on the back. Popping into the back, we've got quite a bit of storage space, and we also have the pull tabs for the seats, so that you can lower those down for even more storage. 

Closing the boot, you have the Toyota logo there in the middle of the light bar, and then we got the Crown logo and then our HEV all-wheel-drive badge. 

Inside, The Crown Is Even More Impressive!

Now, at the door panel on the back, you’ll find soft touch material on top and then also down below. Inside, the 2024 Crown has more of a Lexus-like look and feel to it, even in the trim piece. The seats have cloth in the center and nice padding on the sides. Legroom in the back is good. We also have a little storage pocket. Here we've got vents, USBs on top of that, and you have a cup holder armrest. Not to forget, the headroom's good as well at the back. 

The front door panel has soft-touch materials at the top and down below, all of our window controls, and we also have our mirror adjustments with the power-fold and blind-spot monitoring features. Just like in the rear cabin, you have cloth on the seats in the center portion, plus power adjustments here on the side as well! 

Tech & Convenience Inside The 2024 Toyota Crown XLE

The steering wheel has nice padding all around, and you'll find contrast stitching on the center portion. It’s got practical controls like adaptive cruise control, steering assist, voice command controls, etc., and you’ll find the stock on the back. 

We have a fully digital gauge cluster here in the center, and we love the design of this new Toyota digital gauge cluster, and we think it looks cool! We have a fun animation when you change between the different drive modes as well, and in reverse, we do have a backup camera with trajectory lines that turn with the steering wheel. Plus, the resolution is also pretty good! 

The sound system in this one gets the job done, and you have a very handy shortcut bar here on the side of the infotainment screen, and it has a pretty good response time. Overall, we like the look of the touchscreen. Then, down below, you have the little volume control button. 

Interestingly, it's got a soft touch at the top of the dash and then down below as well, even above the glove box, and then the glove box is kind of smaller, a little bit. The 2024 Crown XLE does have dual-zone climate and heated seats up front as well. 

You have this crevice for the wireless phone charging pad, more soft-touch materials on the center console, some USBs and more cup holders, a shifter for that e-CVT, drive mode select, stability control button, auto-hold, EV mode switch, and then you have the parking brake completing the center console. And it's got cool center storage as well, which is usually found in Lexus. 

Let’s Talk Pricing

The Crown XL, with all the standard equipment and a couple of options total, has an MSRP of $41,523, so this is a little bit more expensive than a Limited Prius. That’s just to give you guys an idea of the pricing scheme for it. 

As we have been driving this back to back with a Prius Limited, and these are pretty close in price, we think the Prius Limited was like 39 grand; this is a little bit over 40 grand. So in XLE form, the Crown is a little bit more expensive than a limited Prius, but obviously, it's a different vehicle, and they're kind of going after a different segment. 

Drivewise, It’s Just A Bigger Prius

The seat comfort in the 2024 Toyota Crown is good so far, so that's a plus. The quality seems to be pretty good too, and the powertrain is smooth. You’ve got to love Toyota hybrids. We think they do a really good job with their hybrid powertrains, and interestingly, this feels identical to the Prius in terms of acceleration; again, this has more power than the Prius, but it's a little bit of a bigger car. It’s got good torque, and it does feel so much like a Prius.

The handling is good, and again, this drives just like the Prius except you sit a little bit higher, and the handling is not as good as the Prius because of the little bit higher center of gravity. You do feel a little bit of extra weight, and we think the best way to look at this version of the crown is to call it basically a lifted and slightly bigger Prius! 

Should You Get The Prius XLE Instead & Save $10,000?

So if you love the Prius but you want something that is a little bit higher off the ground and has a little bit more space, then that'll be it. But there are some downsides as well! First, the cost is obvious; you can get an XLE Prius for quite a bit less money than this. We think the price difference is almost 10 grand, and it's a pretty big difference. That's the first thing that’s going against the Toyota Crown XLE, and the next thing is going to be fuel economy, as the Prius gets like 50 miles per gallon, whereas this gets about 40 MPG roughly, so it’s like 10 miles per gallon less. 

So I guess you pay $10,000 to get 10 miles per gallon less than the Prius. Apart from this, we think the Crown is really cool, but it's kind of like, you're basically paying for a Lexus with a Toyota badge on the front end, so that's why there's a little bit of a premium feeling, and it seems it's got like the Lexus build quality and a lot of materials that you normally see in a Lexus.