Crown review
 

Not to beat a dead horse, but I watched an actual review of the new Toyota Crown by Doug DeMuro on You Tube last night. I only really care because we had lots of discussion on this a while back in terms of what it meant for the next ES. While he often gets a lot of facts wrong, especially with older vehicles, his reviews can be fairly thorough and do give great images of the cars. In this case, the test car wasn't that dreadful red and black version that was seen all over the place when first released, but a pretty standard silver version that looked normal (if somewhat boring) and what most people would likely end up with; the wheels in particular were really sharp IMO. The whole sedan thing rather escapes him, but he was fairly positive for what it is, a comfortable and competent sedan, though he was hard pressed as to why someone would actually buy one versus a crossover, perhaps not an unreasonable point.

Nevertheless, if you want to actually see this thing in better detail it's worth a few minutes to watch. There remain a lot of things I don't care for about it, like the use of that dreadful black plastic cladding on the wheel arches and on the doors, and, as expected, the coarse 4-cylinder engine we are going to have to deal with in the next gen ES. Could this be morphed into a new ES? It would take a lot of work if the same platform were used, but I suppose it's a decent starting point. Time will tell.

How about a link?

Linky:

I'll watch later... I always turn the volume off at the start. I hate Doug's "THIS" and the subsequent spit flying everywhere. I want my car Youtubers to be unforgettable.. between this guy and the other one who man-spreads in every thumbnail, and the standard slow cheesy cliche slow walk towards the camera with finger tips touching reading off a specs sheet and introducing the history of every car during the intro, unfortunately this hasn't happened yet lol.

My favorite car youtuber is mat from carwow. nothing cheesy, no stupid "proper" poses or walks to the camera. no spreading. just off the cuff genuineness and fun..

I think once we see the next Camry, we may have a idea of the direction the ES will go in. Either traditional or jacked. while I'd like jacked, i think it may be traditional. I just hope it doesn't look like that ugly gray silhouette floating around showing those 20 cars. that illustration is downright ugly with its massive chevy impala sides. The ES should have classy elegant design and proportion and should at least be plug-in. Also a bit less sport would be nice... The ES is trying to compete with BMW and be stiff riding and hard handling. No matter what, I hope 8ES will be what classic ES has always been: soft and cushy cruiser. I want it to bounce like an old Town Car with worn suspension. Also can we get a front bench seat?

Doug is annoying AF, but most "YouTuber" car reviewers are. I prefer real world ownership videos which are harder to find but are generally out there.

The black plastic cladding, while awful, is there on the Crown for the same two reasons it's on SUVs: 1) to look "rugged," and 2) to minimize the vehicle's height by creating horizontal stripes on the tall slab sides.

To explain why the Crown exists in its niche weirdness, I think it has to be viewed in the context of the whole Toyota lineup. Toyota and Lexus both have plenty of SUVs for those who want that. They have the Camry XLE for those who want that. They wanted a Toyota-badged sedan that was a step up from the Camry for empty nesters, and the Avalon wasn't capturing those people anymore. So they asked themselves, whether rightly or wrongly, what would attract an empty nester to a costlier-than-necessary sedan today? And their answer was: SUV height with attendant entry/exit and visiblility advantages, distinctive style, with cargo-carrying practicality a distant third.

Will it sell? Personally I don't think so, but time will tell. Will the next ES be like this? Thanks to Carmaker_1 and his sharp-eyed posts about Lexus's 2021 reveal picture as described elsewhere on this board, no. The next ES's dimensions will be virtually identical to the current one's.

Savage Geese (stupid name) is by far the best YouTube car reviewer IMO. Watched a bit of Doug’s review last night but gave up after a while.

Interior looks very ES like. Also the Crown gets heated rear seats but the 7ES does not???

Well it does in foreign markets. In Europe, for instance, they sell the executive type package for the rear seat like we have here for the LS.

i've been watching Savage since they were amateur hour with Jeff Turbowski. probably 2014 ish. he didn't contribute much though so he changed it up and added the BMW fan boy.

They're cool but a bit pretentiously track bro which is kind of annoying. i still watch them.

Camry gets heated rear seats in foreign markets too.

Great assessment of the Crown sales strategy. I just wonder if that target market understands the differences of Crown's dimensions to a typical sedan. I know my wife (who prefers only SUVS) wouldn't:)

They’re still my favorite reviewers but Jack gets tiresome with his “everything has to be sporty” mantra; just like many in the automotive media, if it’s not sporty he thinks it’s worthless, Mark is a lot more balanced and realistic- and he really likes the ES.

As far as the 8ES as having the same dimensions as the 7ES, I hope not. At least not for the interior. The 2023 Accord surpasses the ES in legroom.

So if the next Camry wants to compete with the 2023+ Accord, it should have 81.8" or so of legroom. If the 8ES stays the same as the current one, it will have less legroom than the next Camry.

If the 8ES has the same or similar legroom to the 2023+ Accord, and the next Camry has similar, it means its logical the 8ES is based on the next Camry.

Will be interesting to see how it plays out between these three models.

Legroom measurements are what I base all my purchases on

SG is my favorite as well. His candor is refreshing, and I find him a no-nonsense, relatively BS-free reviewer. For example, my 2019 Honda Accord Touring had heated rear seats. I, however, sit in the front and never have passengers. So if I'm to be driven around like Ms. Daisy and need heated rear seats, my car selection would be reflected by that. But I'm not, so I don't.
Statistically, the Lexus ES owner tends to be older and often has few passengers, like children, versus Honda Accord and Camry owners, who are likelier to have children or drive SUVs. Therefore, these vehicles are more likely to have heated rear seats. The Crown buyer is also more likely to be a bit younger and likely have families that will be transported. So that is the logical reason why the ES doesn't have heated rear seats.