Toyota is a company that is often predictable. Yet, the Crown Signia seems to break many Toyota rules. Here are four things we expected that didn't go the way we predicted they would.
Follow us today...
The much-anticipated 2025 Toyota Crown Signia has officially been launched by Toyota. The low-volume 2024 Venza will now be phased out, and the very similar in many ways 2025 Crown Signia will fill its stall in the paddock over the next two to three months. It’s very hard not to compare and contrast these two models, so we won't resist the urge. Now that the details have been publicly announced, we can reveal to our readers five things we found surprising about the Crown Signia.
1) 2025 Toyota Crown Signia - You Will Need a Subscription To Use Traffic Jam Assist
One optional feature on the 2025 Toyota Crown Signia is Traffic Jam Assist (TJA). Think of this as cruise control for traffic jams. It is part of the $1,865 Advanced Technology Package that is only available on the most expensive trim (Limited). To use this technology, your Crown Signia must have a Drive Connect subscription. The subscription is free for the first year, but you will have to pay to use the option you purchased after that. Boo!
2) 2025 Toyota Crown Signia - No Spare Tire
Every new 2025 Camry has a spare tire - it’s standard on every trim. However, the Crown Signia sport UTILITY vehicle does NOT have a spare? This is a big departure for Toyota, and not one we are happy to be reporting. Every American-spec RAV4, including the Hybrid and Prime trims, has a spare. As did every 2024 Venza trim. We are praying we are wrong about this. We saw “mobility kits” under the cargo floors in some videos posted today. We will update this story if our information proves incorrect.
3) 2025 Toyota Crown Signia - No StarGaze Roof
One novel feature the outgoing Venza offered that the new Crown Signia will not offer is the electrochromic glass technology that allows drivers to switch from transparent to frosted modes. Called StarGaze, owners of Venzas have mixed feelings about this roof. While it is cool, it is also expensive to repair. The StarGaze roof elevated the Venza above the RAV4. Owers of the Crown Signia will have the option of a panoramic roof, but just a conventional style.
If you are turned off by animal-based products adorning your car’s interior, you are not going to like this. Both trims of the Crown Signia are swathed in leather. There is leather-trimmed seating, a leather-trimmed steering wheel, and a leather-trimmed shift knob. Pretty much every surface a Crown Signia driver comes into contact with will be made of animal hides. We thought leather was dead in quality automobiles, but we guess not.
Lest you think we accidentally called synthetic surfaces by the wrong name, we should tell you we cut and pasted the leather references out of the Toyota-issued press materials. Not SofTex. Leather. We reached out to Toyota’s PR department just to ensure this is not an accidental misuse of words on their part and will correct our story if that ends up being the case.
5) 2025 Toyota Crown Signia - The Price
The top-trim ‘25 Crown Signia will cost about $4,000 more than a top-trim ‘24 Venza, despite dropping the spare tire and StarGaze roof. A Top-trim Venza topped out under $47K, and the new top-trim Crown Signia costs $51,675. That’s an 8.5% leap in price, higher than inflation and swimming against the tide, given that popular green crossovers like the Tesla Model Y have been coming down in cost over the past 18 months.
Our Prediction
We hope the new 2025 Crown Signia wagon exceeds expectations for Toyota and owners alike. Looking at its styling and price point, which is meaningfully above Toyota’s average transaction price, we predict it may exceed the Venza’s approximately 3,000-unit-per-month sales rate. But not by very much. It feels like Toyota intends the Crown Signia to be a sort of flagship of the Toyota brand and act as a bridge to the Lexus lineup for those loyal Toyota fans who want a bit more panache than the current Toyota model line offers.
If you'd like to add a comment under this story, please note that our comments section has returned and is in bold red at the bottom of the page.
John Goreham is an experienced New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work at our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ Grammarly grammar and punctuation software when proofreading.
Images of 2025 Crown Insignia courtesy of Toyota.
Follow us today...
No spare tire ! Shame on…
No spare tire ! Shame on Toyota and other manufacturers that are not equipping new models with a spare tire. For myself, and many others as well, this is a disappointment and a major turnoff ! Again, another new offering eliminated from my next purchase list due to a stupid decision by the manufacturer. Listen up folks, WE WANT/NEED SPARE TIRES !