14th Generation Toyota Crown (S210) - 2016MY facelift

2016 Toyota Crown Royal

2016 Toyota Crown Athlete

The 14th generation Toyota Crown has been given a minor facelift having been with the Japanese market for three years now and for this latest facelift, there's a lot more to expect for this update.

2016 Toyota Crown Royal

2016 Toyota Crown Athlete

2016 Toyota Crown Royal interior

2016 Toyota Crown Athlete interior

On the outside, you can see some small changes from the front and back, and as for the inside, well, little has been changed. Anyway, let's not talk more about the styling updates because let's check out what's new for this minor change.

Exclusive on the Athlete model, there's a new 2.0L turbo variant which is similar to the one used on the Lexus IS200t and the NX200t models. The 8AR-FTS engine has a power output of a class-leading 238PS, 350Nm of torque output, and it's mated with an 8-speed Super ECT automatic gearbox. Fuel economy is estimated at 13.4km/L on the JC08 Mode standards. Of course, the turbocharged 2.0L petrol engine is available only on the Athlete, you can opt-in for one or for another Athlete-exclusive 3.5L V6 petrol engine if you want more power.

On the Royal models, engine choices are either a 2.5L V6 petrol or a 2.5L 4-cylinder hybrid powerplant which is available in most models, even the Athlete as well.

Also new to the update is the world's first frequency dedicated to driving assist functions. It's called ITS Connect and it uses Japan's ITS frequency to receive and share data between external infrastructure and other cars via vehicle-to-infrastructure communication (Right-turn Collision Caution, Red Light Caution, Signal Change Advisory) and vehicle-to-vehicle communication (Communicating Radar Cruise Control, Emergency Vehicle Notification). This is a new tech so don't dare to ask how these things work because only the blokes from Toyota know how.

The 2016MY Toyota Crown range starts from 3,730,000 to 5,906,000 yen for the Royal model and 3,880,000 to 5,986,000 yen for the Athlete model.

Photo: Toyota Motor Corporation