Compare the2025 Kia K5VS 2025 Toyota Crown

Both the K5 and Crown have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The K5 has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Crown’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the K5 has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning with Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist, systems which detect vehicles approaching from the sides and can automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. Only the Crown Limited/Platinum/Nightshade offers Parking Support Brake.

Both the K5 and the Crown have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors and available around view monitors.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Kia K5 is safer than the Toyota Crown:

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Kia K5 is safer than the Toyota Crown:

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

The K5 comes with a full 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire car and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The Crown’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 2 years or 24,000 miles sooner.

Kia’s powertrain warranty covers the K5 5 years and 40,000 miles longer than Toyota covers the Crown. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the Crown ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2024 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Kia vehicles are better in initial quality than Toyota vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Kia fourth in initial quality, above the industry average. With 29 more problems per 100 vehicles, Toyota is ranked 17th.

As tested in Motor Trend the K5 GT 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder is faster than the Crown Platinum 2.4 turbo 4-cylinder hybrid:

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Kia K5 uses regular unleaded gasoline. The Crown Platinum requires premium, which can cost on average about 84.9 cents more per gallon.

The K5 has 1.3 gallons more fuel capacity than the Crown (15.8 vs. 14.5 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups.

An eight-speed automatic (SMG) is standard on the Kia K5, for better acceleration and lower engine speed on the highway. Only a six-speed automatic is available for the Crown.

The K5 offers an available sequential manual gearbox (SMG). With no clutch pedal to worry about and a fully automatic mode, an SMG is much more efficient than a conventional automatic but just as easy to drive. The Crown doesn’t offer an SMG or a conventional manual transmission.

The K5 GT’s launch control uses engine electronics to hold engine RPM’s precisely in order to provide the most stable and rapid acceleration possible, using all of the available traction. The Crown doesn’t offer launch control.

For better stopping power the K5 GT’s front brake rotors are larger than those on the Crown:

The K5 stops much shorter than the Crown:

For better traction, the K5 GT’s tires are larger than the largest tires available on the Crown (245/40R19 vs. 225/55R19).

The K5 GT’s tires provide better handling because they have a lower 40 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Crown’s optional 45 series tires.

The K5 GT handles at .85 G’s, while the Crown Platinum pulls only .80 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The K5 GT executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 1.2 seconds quicker than the Crown Platinum (26.3 seconds @ .69 average G’s vs. 27.5 seconds @ .61 average G’s).

The Kia K5 may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 750 pounds less than the Toyota Crown.

The K5 is 3 inches shorter than the Crown, making the K5 easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

Because it has more passenger and cargo room, the EPA rates the K5 a Large car, while the Crown is rated a Mid-size.

The K5 has 7.3 cubic feet more passenger volume than the Crown (105.3 vs. 98).

The K5 has 2 inches more front headroom, 4 inches more front legroom, 1.4 inches more front hip room, .9 inches more front shoulder room, .3 inches more rear headroom, 3.5 inches more rear hip room and 1 inch more rear shoulder room than the Crown.

The front step up height for the K5 is 2.5 inches lower than the Crown (14.2” vs. 16.7”). The K5’s rear step up height is 1.3 inches lower than the Crown’s (15” vs. 16.3”).

The K5 has a larger trunk than the Crown (15.6 vs. 15.2 cubic feet).

The K5 uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Crown uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

The K5 is available in both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive configurations. The Crown doesn’t offer a two-wheel drive configuration.

Consumer Reports® recommends both the Kia K5 and the Toyota Crown, based on reliability, safety and performance.

J.D. Power and Associates rated the K5 first among midsize cars in owner reported satisfaction. This includes how well the vehicle performs and satisfies its owner’s expectations. The Crown isn’t in the top three.

The Kia K5 outsold the Toyota Crown by over two to one during 2024.