Review: Toyota Crown
Entry posted by Magnum
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I will provide some basics of the car before I go into a detail review,
Model Code: GRS182
Trim: Royal Saloon G
Engine: 3GR-FSE
Transmission: 6AT
Mods:
• Buddy Club coilovers
• Monza Japan Wheels wrapped with 235/45R18 Goodyear Eagle F1 Directional tyres
• V*P Table
• Carrozzeria tweeters
• Carrozzeria secondary head unit (You cannot replace the head units in these cars as the AC controls and other car settings are built into the head unit)
• 6000K low beam and 3000K fog lamps
• Aftermarket exhaust until the muffler (It came from Japan with a complete aftermarket exhaust but had to fix an original muffler back in as it was deemed to be too noisy to pass the roadworthy, it also had flaps with a switch to adjust the loudness which is also illegal in Australia)
• Every single interior and exterior light had been replaced with LED
• Few Junction Produce goodies
I recently got myself a Toyota Crown GRS182 Royal Saloon G. The 182 is powered by the 3GR-FSE which churns out 256 horses and 313NM torque, the power is sent to the rear wheels via a 6 speed automatic tranny. The GRS182 was offered in two standard trims, Royal Saloon and Athlete. The Royal Saloon is the luxury comfy trim while the Athlete is the sporty version, sort of like Premio and Allion but in this case you get different suspension tuning as well. Mine being a G trim it gets few extras which the standard Royal Saloon didnt get or was offered as optional only.
The Crown has plenty of power and its always eager to get up and go, its very responsive even when you are driving on the standard mode. Switch into power mode and it becomes even more sharp and rev happy. If you launch this hard you’ll notice the traction control kicking in even with 235 thread low profile tyres, of course you can turn off the traction control if you want to do some burnouts. Handling and stability are spot on with coilovers and grippy tyres, it will go through corners without a worry. It’s also well stable and sits happily at freeway speeds, you barely feel the speed even when you are doing 100km/h. It’s a big car with a big heart but it’s still fairly economical, urban driving returns around 7.5km/l while highway driving returns around 14-15km/l, however it strictly requires 98 octane fuel.
The seats are very soft and when you sit down you sink into the seats sort of like sitting on a plushy sofa, also there’s plenty of adjustments on the driver seat for the driver to get the perfect driving position. In addition the rear passengers can recline the rear seats like in Premio/Allion but in this its done electronically with the press of a button.
Even on coilovers and low-profile tyres the ride doesn’t feel harsh.
The car is a complete feature fest, I’ll name a few:
Comfort access to unlock the car
AFS headlights
Dual zone fully automatic climate control system
Backup camera with front and rear sensors (You can even adjust the sensitivity of the sensors)
Air purifier
Rear AC and head unit controls for rear passengers
Fridge/Cool box
Sun blinds
Swinging A/C
10 speakers + centre speaker and subwoofer with an amp. Plus another pair of Carrozzeria tweeter has been added to my car.
10 airbags
Front and rear electric seats (The rear seats can be tilted with the press of a button)
3 memory settings for driver seat
Electronically adjustable telescopic steering wheel
Cruise control
Wooden trim steering wheel (optional extra).
Tyre pressure monitoring
Speed sensitive door locking
Crown is an import to Australia so it picks up lot of attention on the road and at car parks, I have had people ask me what kind of car is it or what brand of car is it. Among the JDM community there’s a fair bit of following for the Crown and if you need any help regarding the car there are groups on FB with fellow Crown owners to sought out your problems (Haven’t had any yet though). For parts there are places who stock import car parts, of course prices aren’t cheap as parts for an Australian delivered car. Similarly, there are mechanics also who have an understanding of import cars. However, the problem with owning a JDM vehicle in Australia is that they are very popular among thieves so full insurance is a must and only a handful of companies provide insurance to JDM vehicles.
In terms of second hand market and resale value JDM cars are among the top, there’s a prominent fanbase for JDM cars in Australia and they tend to hold their value well. Lately JDM cars have in fact gone up in value during the pandemic.
Theres only one common problem with the 180 series Crown, that is dashboard cracks. Toyota used a very soft material for the dashboard which cracks as it ages, this problem was there on the 120 series Mark X and few other Toyota vehicles from this period as well. Only solution for this is to use a dash mat.
Some pics for you all
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