In the present day’s luxurious vehicles are good at completely all the pieces.
The most effective of them are pretty examples of the design arts — stunning in and out. They out-accelerate the muscle vehicles of a technology in the past and nook like little sports activities coupes. They’ve excessive creature comforts — buttery-soft leather-based, heated seats and steering wheels, and big panoramic glass roofs to let passengers sit back and take within the sky.
Luxurious SUVs have subtle all-wheel drive (AWD) programs that preserve you safe in foul climate and on the roughest roads whereas feeling straightforward and easy on ribbons of freeway.
They’re good at all the pieces. And so they’re priced prefer it.
What when you needed simply barely much less? What if, say, you needed a luxurious automobile’s cabin however had been glad with informal efficiency? What when you had been prepared to pay a bit extra for some luxurious trappings however not tackle a luxurious automobile cost to get applied sciences you hardly ever use?
For 2025, Toyota has a solution for you. Meet the 2025 Toyota Crown Signia – a midsize hybrid SUV with a bit of fashion and most of the creature comforts of a luxurious automobile however the efficiency credentials of a mainstream commuter. Name it Lexus gentle.
It’s one in every of two Crown vehicles you might need seen not too long ago. Toyota additionally launched a high-riding Crown sedan in 2023.
Per week within the Crown Signia confirmed me the virtues of being selective about what you need.
My tester was a Cown Signia Restricted in a dusty medium blue Toyota calls Storm Cloud with an inside of Saddle Tan Leather-based. It retailed for $49,385, together with the necessary $1,395 vacation spot payment.
That squeezes it in just below the worth of the most affordable Lexus RX midsize SUV, which explains this automobile’s motive for being.
Styled for Glossy, Not Rugged
If the Crown Signia stands out within the midsize SUV area, it’s as a result of it has no off-roading pretensions. Its styling leans towards glossy, with slit-thin headlights that lend it an nearly snake-like look.
The Storm Cloud shade of my tester obtained constructive feedback from pals, however Toyota additionally cribbed from Lexus in providing a copper-like hue known as Bronze Age that could be the automobile’s greatest look.
A Close to-Luxurious Cabin
The Crown Signia’s greatest angle is the one from the motive force’s seat. Its cabin feels a degree above what most mainstream vehicles present.
Even the bottom XLE mannequin will get heated and ventilated energy entrance seats with reminiscence settings for the motive force, in addition to heated outboard rear seats. Upholstery all through is leather-based, and it’s in every single place. The passenger is cocooned from the motive force by a curved leather-based footwell panel that makes the entrance passenger’s place really feel a bit like a first-class airline seat.
The driving force has a heated leather-based steering wheel and faces a giant 12.3-inch digital instrument display screen, with an analogous central touchscreen canted barely towards the motive force. All of it feels extra sculpted and intentional than many mainstream SUV cabins. It appears to be like nice in Saddle Tan.
Many components are taken immediately from the Lexus bin—the display screen housings, quantity management, and drive selector are Lexus components, not Toyota components.
It lacks a couple of of the highest-end luxuries you would possibly get from a automobile with a sculpted L badge on the entrance as an alternative. The sound system, as an example, makes use of pretty good JBL Premium audio system as an alternative of the distinctive Mark Levinson audio system in a Lexus product. Nonetheless, the cabin provides near-Lexus luxurious at a cheaper price. Therefore, the “Lexus” in “Lexus gentle.”
A Camry-Like Driving Expertise
The posh comparability falls aside whenever you stomp on the accelerator.
The Crown Signia is carried ahead by a properly balanced 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine mated to a few electrical motors for hybrid energy. It makes 243 horsepower and sends energy to all 4 wheels by way of an AWD system. A constantly variable automated transmission (CVT) passes it on.
It’s roughly equal to what you discover in a 2025 Toyota Camry and fewer than you’d get in a Highlander. Sufficient for a straightforward commute and a secure freeway drive. However that little Lexus shifter fools you. Shift it into drive, and also you received’t discover something like luxurious SUV energy.
Steering is gentle and unremarkable. I didn’t problem the AWD system with something greater than a dust highway, however discovered it well-balanced and straightforward.
All the pieces concerning the Crown Signia’s efficiency is, properly, straightforward. It by no means felt misplaced in a half-day highway journey beginning on a well-maintained freeway and ending on bumpy filth roads. However it by no means felt outstanding, both.
This automobile received’t excite you with its acceleration or cornering poise. That’s the “gentle” half.
An SUV With Priorities
For some consumers, that description most likely sounds unappealing. For others, it’s exactly what they want.
If you’d like a lot of the luxurious automobile however not all of it—need the luxurious cabin however see no want for velocity you’ll by no means use—the Crown Signia is for you.
Not each automobile needs to be nice at all the pieces. That’s how we get overpriced vehicles. The 2025 Toyota Crown Signia is genuinely trendy, snug, tech-packed, and completely at dwelling as a household automobile with nothing to show.