We've had Bratz lovers in this house for quite a few years now, starting with Alice who built up a huge collection and eventually passed the baton (and her numerous Bratz dolls) to Hollie. Of course, once your little one has a good supply of dolls their attention will invariably turn to the various accessories available - and one that caught Alice's eye was this Stretch Limo, which at the time cost a smidgen over £50 in Toys R Us.

The colour is quite hard to describe; it's a very light silvery beige shade, not white as the Limo appears to be in a lot of piccies online, with a silver grille at the front and various other silver embellishments dotted around the car. It was supplied in a huge box which made it an ideal Christmas present, dwarfing everything else she received that year - admittedly it wasn't a surprise present as she was with me when I bought it (and her older sister would rather drink acid than play with Bratz dolls) but I was still thrilled at the chorus of 'oooohs and ahhhhs' when she unwrapped it.

The beauty of this Limo is that it has working headlights and an FM radio built into the dashboard of the car, this is easily tuned to your favourite station and the sound is surprisingly clear with the ability to be turned up to a reasonably loud level. You wouldn't use the Limo in place of your radio, but I must admit to being impressed by the overall sound quality and think it was an excellent touch in the design of the car. The lights and radio are simple to work, the switch for the headlights is a little small but neither Alice or younger Hollie have had any problems flicking them on and off again - the lights incidentally are bright enough to be seen but don't throw out enough light for you to use this as a huge car shaped torch, but they look fantastic when the Bratz girls are off on their big night out with the bedroom light off!

Visually the Limo is stunning. Glossy and grand looking on the outside with a well thought out and authentic interior, it will comfortably seat four of the 'normal' sized Bratz dolls but as Hollie demonstrates regularly you can squeeze a dozen in if you're not particularly bothered whether they're sitting comfortably or not! It was actually partly used as a Bratz storage box at one point and as Hollie only had six of her own dolls at this time (she'd already blagged the car off Alice) it was the perfect solution. I love how sleek and stylish it looks in comparison to the more childish Barbie cars, whether the Limo is being played with or just left on display it's a fabulous looking addition to the play room.

It's more of a dolly status symbol than a toy car really and neither of the girls' have ever used it as the type of toy vehicle that kids can spend hours pushing around the floor. It's mainly brought out as part of role play games with the Bratz and Barbie dolls and isn't particularly played with as a stand alone car, it's number one purpose being to take a selection of dolls to wherever they're going - how I'd love to be a Bratz girl and have use of a Limo to get me to Starbucks (as I overheard Hollie say yesterday) or Tesco! She also likes holding tea parties for her dolls and this is how she transports Yasmin, Chloe and co. to these increasingly fun and funky parties - it's fun to watch her dressing her dolls up in their finest outfits and putting them into the Limo, it's quite an eclectic mix when you think of Yasmin in her ultra modern furred crop jacket sitting next to Barbie who is dressed as a princess complete with jewels and a tiara!

I've never been overly enamoured with the construction of the Limo to be honest, while the doors open (as does the boot) you need to remove the roof of the car to fit your dolls in - you can slide them into the front seats through the doors but this is awkward and time consuming, and anyway this usually just causes the roof to fall off anyway! And here comes the bugbear. The roof is CONSTANTLY falling off this Limo; it's held on by, well, nothing much really and really just balances on the top of the car - which is a bit silly really considering the toy is made for children of three and above, not the most careful age bracket! Problems arise when the roof has fallen off as the whole body of the car then becomes floppy and wobbly due to the fact that the roof creates a rigidity which simply disappears when it's removed! Very, very annoying. Hollie isn't too fussed to be honest as she's a very laid back child, but it was the roof issue that led to Alice giving her the Limo in the first place as it really got on her nerves!

Aside from this irritation everything else about the Limo is perfect; the wheels rotate smoothly and the car can be easily pushed along the floor, the wheels are chunky and look absolutely wonderfully with the overall design and style of the Limo. When it was new the Limo was supplied with a bottle of champers and a few tiny (think Bratz hand size) glasses - these have been long lost and we no longer have so much as a single glass, which is actually a bonus as far as I'm concerned as these weeny little extras are a terrifying choking hazard not just for my toddler but for any small kiddie really who likes to put things in their mouths! I'm not actually 100% convinced about a toy for three year olds including play alcohol anyway to be honest and actually wrote to the Bratz manufacturer regarding this issue, they wrote back denying that it was champagne and insisted the bottle was actually water - and the band played believe it if you like, as this was the most alcoholic looking water bottle I've ever seen!

Despite the roof issue I recommend this Stretch Limo to anyone with a Bratz loving little girl because it's simply so much fun! It's pretty big and bulky so I'd suggest you make sure you have adequate room for storage when it's not in use, it'll slide under most beds (unless you have a divan, obviously) so this shouldn't be a big problem but it's something you do need to consider before purchasing the car. It definitely adds to Hollie's play time as it opens up so many more possibilities for her role play games; she drives her dolls to the shop, takes them on tours around the safari park (after arranging every animal toy she owns around her bedroom), uses a JLS doll to act as a chauffeur to take the girls' to parties and lots, lots more. I *do* believe it helps her to hone certain skills, if nothing else it has been good for helping her to develop her imagination as it's another major item added to her regular doll-related games - the roof of the car has also improved her patience as I've noticed less of the slamming around when it falls off, she now simply puts it back in place and continues with whatever game she's playing!