swajames

Strange topic, I know, but bear with me.

I'm on a business trip to Asia and after a few days in Malaysia and China I took a trip from Beijing to Tokyo this afternoon.

My car from Beijing city center to PEK was a new S Class. Very nice. Now it may be the never ending gin and tonic talking, but goddammit if the Toyota Crown I'm taking to downtown Tokyo isn't smoother, quieter and more refined than the current generation S Class I took in China.

Honestly, if you'd blindfolded me and asked me to pick which car of the two today was the S Class out of the two I'd have picked the Toyota ten times out of ten.

Have to say I'm very impressed!

RX469

iTrader: (1)

I'm bearing with you because this has been in the back of my mind for some time as well.

However, with all things being equal, meaning, the current model(s) being the same current production models, I wonder how a real world comparison would stack these two wonderful cars.

Edit: I know the S would probably crush the performance part but past that, how would luxury & beauty compare?..

yowps3

The Toyota Crown is an impressive machine.

These things have never got the recognition that they really deserve

A mate of mine has a '84 Crown and it's lovely!

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

The current Crown Majesta Series has lots of goodies that would surely parallel the S-Class...

Marklouis

< wow that is Impressive

spwolf

which Crown was it exactly?

SW17LS

I have not driven a new S, but I do troll their forum. One issue with the way they ride is the wheels. The people who have 20s complain about ride issues, so much so that some people have actually gone down to 19s or even 18s. I'd bet the S you were in in China had the 20s, and the Crowns I've seen never seem to have big wheels.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Is it the Toyota Century that's available with the V12? Crown only gets up to a V8 right?

doge

Is the crown a bespoke car or does it share its platform with the LS?

SW17LS

Its a different platform than the LS. The Crown is more closely related to the Aristo (GS).

swajames

I actually don't know, albeit I do think it was a reasonably recent model. I just remember being very impressed with the quality of the ride and the level of refinement on offer.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

have them run on the same grade of road and we can tell. for the most part, japan has some of the best road surfaces around. so it's hard to really test out comfort.

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

I'd kill for a Crown Athlete. All of the Crowns are amazing though.

Motor

Crown Majesta, Crown Royal and Crown Athlete.

RR601

Been a toyota fan since my first (1985 supra). But now think the are to the point of decline and miking the reputation. While the other can afford to not keep getting better to build that reputation.
Just like my first couple of lexus, They were built like tanks and had twice as long in R & D.
My experience and common.
Lexus LS460= Poor quality interiors. Sticky and melting dash boards. Very expensive problems with control arms and air shocks.
Toyota 4Runner = Cracking dashboards. Mine started after the recall ended by one month.
Tundra = frames rusting out.