My niece has really got into Lego over the past couple of years and without a doubt the majority of her collection is the Harry Potter range, infact she has almost all of the sets available and my Mum has bought her the final thing she needs to finish her collection for Christmas (ssssh, don't tell Ellie!)

I bought her this for her birthday last year. When I bought it in the summer of 2011 I paid around £25-£30 for it from Amazon but looking online now I can see that it has raised in price, Amazon currently are offering it for around £40-£50 from various sellers and the official UK Lego site does not have it listed, however both the Canadian and American sites do have it so I am guessing that maybe it is now discontinued in the UK.

==What is the Knight Bus?==
The Knight Bus is introduced to us in the third instalment of the Harry Potter series - The Prisoner of Azkaban. The bus is a magical three storey purple bus which appears when a wizard is in need of transport. After leaving his aunt and uncles home, Harry is in danger and is desperate for some help. This is when the Knight Bus appears offering him a ride.

==Whats in the box?==
In the box you are provided with all of the necessary bricks etc to make the bus. You are given some very easy to follow, coloured instructions and also various accessories and figures. The figures included with this set are Harry Potter, Ernie Prang and Stan Shunpike. Stan and Ernie are the driver and conductor of the bus. You are also given the Shrunken Head which is a rather odd looking head housed on the dashboard that dictates the journey in a rather comedic way! In addition to this you also get Hedwig because after all, she needs to return to Hogwarts with Harry.

==Building the Bus==
My niece built this with help from my Dad. They both found it easy to do and it took them around two hours over two sessions. My niece could have probably done a bit more than she did to build it (she prefers to watch!) but anyone younger than about 10 is likely to need the help of an adult because although it is likely that we find the instructions extremely simple to follow, younger people might get a little bit confused.

==The finished article==
The bus looks absolutely fantastic. It is without a doubt one of my favourite pieces from the Lego Harry Potter range because it is just so quirky and fun. My niece also really likes the appearance of the bus and it is always a talking point if any of her friends come over.

The bus was slightly smaller once built than I had expected, it is 5 inches long and 6 inches tall. I do feel it could have been ever so slightly bigger because for the price paid it does look very small however of course it does need to be in proportion with the other pieces in the collection and the figures.

The bus is a triple decker. It has big wide windows at the front like a double decker and these are made from tilted clear Lego blocks. The front of the bus looks like a traditional London bus and is made from longer, thin bricks. The bus looks very much like a London bus apart from the size and the bright purple colour! It looks fantastic and I think that Lego have done extremely well in the design as it looks absolutely brilliant.

Inside the bus is a bit like a hotel as unlike a normal bus, instead of seats there are beds and the wizards travelling on the bus are usually staying the night as of course, a triple decker bright purple bus with a floating head on the dashboard cannot really go out in the day in 'muggle towns'. There is a great amount of detailing in here and there is plenty in here that allows my niece to act out her own little games and scenarios.

There is a huge light hanging from the roof of the bus and this swings from side to side which looks brilliant and it really helps to remind the person playing of the scene from the film especially as the Knight Bus is an extremely bumpy ride and the shaking of the light helps to highlight this.

The Knight Bus is capable of squeezing through impossibly small gaps in the books and films. However, of course as Lego is made of solid plastic this cannot be done with this bus but I do believe that the interior does help to highlight just how bumpy the ride is.

The bus benefits from large tyres and these are fully functional and the Knight Bus can be pushed around with ease.

==Playing with the Knight Bus==
My niece loves the Knight Bus and it has quickly settled in as an essential part of her Lego collection. Instead of being just a normal bus it doubles up as a hotel which makes it have even more play value and there are lots of different ways the bus can be used whether it is for transport from A to B, holidays or crazy adventures!

The staff on the bus are quite eccentric and their appearance helps to highlight this so my niece loves using the bus as although the world of Harry Potter is quite a strange one anyway, this aspect is weird, out of the ordinary and both scary and fun. It is sort of like a rollercoaster on the road!

My niece can play with this bus for hours on end with all of her other Lego Harry Potter pieces. I do think that it works really well within the set but it could also be played with on its own though I imagine the play value would probably be a bit less.

==Wear and Tear?==
My niece has had this bus over a year now and it has been played with very regularly, doing a variety of things and going on a variety of surfaces. However, there is not a scratch on it, it looks brand new. In addition to this, none of the pieces have come apart. As Lego is designed to allow you to build, take apart and build again I did think some of the pieces may ping off occasionally but this is not the case at all and it has remained perfectly formed since she built it.

==Alterations==
The bus can also be converted into a single deck traditional bus. I imagine this is simple to do as it just involves moving a few bits around but we haven't actually done this - I mean who wants a single deck bus when you can have a triple decker?!

==Overall Opinion==
I really like this Knight Bus, as does my niece. I think that it is definitely a fun piece from the Lego collection and aswell as it looking brilliant it also has a lot of play value and so far has provided hours of fun and I'm certain that it will continue to provide more fun.

It works really well with the rest of the Lego Harry Potter collection but it also works on its own, albeit it does obviously have slightly less play value. Lego is of course notoriously expensive but I think that if this can be picked up for less than around £35 it is definitely worth the money, its just a shame the price seems to be increasing. It would make a fantastic gift to any Harry Potter fans or even fans of Lego vehicles. It would also be a brilliant starter piece to a collection.

The bus has an absolutely brilliant design and everything is well thought out and works extremely well together. The light is one of the main attention grabbers as it is so large, going all the way down all three storeys of the bus. The bus is certainly a talking piece and it stands out very well against the rest of my nieces collection.

==Summary==
This is a fun piece from the Lego Harry Potter collection and I think it would be a welcome addition to any Lego fans collection. It looks fantastic, it has a great deal of play value and it still looks as good as new. Recommended, but do look on Ebay or Amazon marketplace to see if it can be picked up for slightly less than the current £40 price tag.