Best Of

I have the Toyota Crown Platinum for almost a month and would like to compare it to my wife's 2020 Cadillac XT-5. Although I bought both used, the original MSRPs were about the same. I realize one is a sedan (slightly raised) and one an SUV but I thought it might be useful to compare the 2 anyway. I just concluded a 300 mile round trip with the XT5 and these are my thoughts on each category of the driving experience.

Acceleration: Crown wins. C&D has the crown 0-60 as 5.1 versus 6.1 for the V-6 XT5. Keep in mind C&D times are usually a bit quicker than others.

Power train refinement and smoothness: XT5. Although the turbo 4 and battery combo in the
Toyota is smooth, the Cadillac is smoother and quieter and sounds better when pushed

Ride: Crown. Even with the 21" wheels the ride is smoother I assume because of the automatic electronic damping. The XT-5 has a firmer and bouncier ride over road imperfections although it is never harsh and just feels sportier. I did hit a fair size pothole with the Toyota and it was quite a jolt. I immediately thought I damaged a tire or wheel but it drove fine afterwards and I saw no damage to tire or wheel. I am sure the Cadillac would have handled it better with its 20" wheels and higher profile tires. I did get the tire and wheel damage warranty on the Toyota and luckily it does have a spare.

Interior sound level: The Crown is noticeably quieter on the road.

Sound system: XT5. Although the JBL in the Toyota is good, The Bose in the Cadillac sounds better.

Handling: XT5 believe it or not. It is about 6" shorter and is easier to turn. Of course I am no where near the limits of either car but the Toyota drives and feels bigger. They are both around 4350 lbs. I have yet to experiment with the sport modes in the Crown which might sharpen things up.

Seats: Crown seats are cushier, softer and just more comfortable. The XT5's are comfortable but the leather and padding is harder.

Interior: Cadillac has a more upscale look with the wood and metal accents, Stainless steel speaker grills etc. and the light brown interior. The Crown's all black interior and use of hard plastics looks more like my son's Camry although all in all it is much nicer. A turn-off are the obnoxious plastic tweeters in the A-pillar and the very plain door panels. The panoramic glass roof does not open like the XT5.

Tech : Hands down Crown. It has more features than the Cadillac like the 3D camera which I find amazing along with the ability to park itself. It can also more or less drive itself with the adaptive cruise which I wasn't aware of. It has every conceivable safety feature which I have so far not found obtrusive except for a message to keep my eyes on the road. The configurable dash display is nice but hard to figure out and Toyota requires a subscription for the Nav to work. The features on the Cadillac on the other hand work well and are easy to figure out. When unlocking at night I love the lighted LED door handles on the XT5 much better than the weak puddle light under the mirror in the Crown.

Fuel mileage: Crown. Although the XT5 gets around 30 MPG on the road, the city mileage will range from 15-18 depending on the temperature and length of the trips. I have seen around 30 on the road with the Crown and around 27 in the city with the hybrid power train. Both use regular gas.

Exterior: For me the Crown. Although the Cadillac has a nice upscale conservative look, there are tons on the road and look a bit boring. I like the unique 2-tone metallic grey/black color and styling of the Crown and have only seen 1 other on the road since I purchased it. I think it looks classy although in my opinion the white/black, red/black and bronze/black combos are a bit much.

I would like to add both vehicles feel very solid with no rattles to speak of.

Grandkids(3, 5 1/2) were over this afternoon.
They were amp'ed up to say the least.
Immediately went down to the basement to drive their battery powered Mustangs.
Crashed into each other and other things(put a dent in the water heater) multiple times.
We couldn't get them to do anything for any length of time.
One of them was doing great at Hungry Hungey Hippo's but as soon as they started losing tipped the game over every time my wife set it up again.
They moved into the main area of the house and were screaming and jumping all over the furniture and each other(multiple crying episodes).
Put Paw Patrol on the TV and things immediately calmed down.
Wife convinced them go to the playground.
It was darn cold out there(5 degrees wind chill) but we were out there for an hour with them screaming just about the whole time.
Finally, one of them tapped out because they were cold.
Older one went running up the street oblivious of my requests to wait, you never know when someone is going to back out of their driveway or something similar.
All of a sudden the older one stops, turns around and says "Why is that red truck in your driveway?"
A minute later, the younger one catches up and says "Red truck, red truck".
An hour later their dad comes over for inner and after a while says "What is that truck in your driveway?"
Now just about everyone knows I have a new truck.
Overall, hopefully Paw Patrol will not be one of the USA/Canada import/export casualties.

If only you could bottle that energy you could put me down to buy a case.😂