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6V Mini Cooper S Red Car
by jo1976
Last Christmas, we'd bought a couple of 'big ticket' items for our oldest son so my husband felt it was only fair to buy an expensive main present for our four year old son too. All of my kids go absolutely wild in the outdoor toys aisle in Toys R Us, so we decided that a battery powered sit in car would be a guaranteed hit. We settled ... on this realistic looking Mini Cooper car, partly because it looked so much fun but also because it was 'half price' - bringing the price down from £259.99 to a much more acceptable £129.99. The car is Avigo branded, which is exclusive to Toys R Us, and still available now at this supposedly 'discounted' price.
We picked the car up in store and, as the toy comes in parts ready for home assembly, so we were able to fit the large box in the back of a Toyota Corolla without difficulty, although it can also be ordered online for free home delivery. Assembly took a little longer than my husband had anticipated, taking a good hour for him to put together if not longer, so this is something that Santa needs to prepare well in advance of Christmas morning. Part of the problem proved to be connecting the wheels and then attaching the rather flimsy mirrors - my husband resorted to super glue in the end. The car also comes with a number of stickers which all need to be carefully positioned and applied, although these little details go towards producing a finished product that is very authentic looking and will delight any fans of the genuine Mini Cooper - both children and adults!
Once assembled, this is a very large car so consideration needs to be given to discreet storage if being given as a surprise present and then longer term storage afterwards. It was a bit of a struggle manoeuvring the bulky completed car into the loft, out of the way of prying eyes! We hadn't really given this enough thought and the car doesn't really fit in our 'under the stairs' cupboard so has to live in the shed which isn't ideal for a toy that has electrical elements. Fortunately, the large 6v battery that this uses can be detached and stored inside the house, along with its charger, for safety.
My, then, four year old was initially delighted with his new car and found it perfectly proportioned for him to clamber aboard straight away! We had the foresight to charge the battery fully before Christmas morning, as the battery takes a good twelve hours to charge which then results in up to an hour's worth of play, although my son tends to lose interest before the battery actually runs out. Charging this fun car is a major barrier to how frequently this toy will actually be played with, particularly in light of the rather unpredictable British weather, as it involves a degree of planning and preparation in anticipation of a nice, dry day. This isn't a toy that can just be played with spontaneously whenever the sun shines, unless you have a rather large expanse of indoor space to accommodate this large car.
The recommended age limit of the car is from three years old and upwards, up to a maximum weight limit of 35kg. I do feel the minimum age is pretty accurate as the car does require the child to be able to physically keep their foot on the pedal and actually steer the car using the steering wheel, which a younger child would probably struggle to do. The car has either a forward motion or reverse, selected via the realistic looking' gear' lever, and quite a large turning circle, so a certain amount of co-ordination and control is required on the part of the driver! My four year old initially found the combination of steering, remembering to keep his foot on the pedal and avoiding any obstacles to be a bit of a challenge! Fortunately, this car is very, very slow and goes at a slow walking pace, meaning that a parent can easily keep up with the car and avert any major accidents. The car is weighty and sturdy enough to mean that it won't tip over and the slow speed ensures that it can never go out of control and suddenly pick up speed, even when going downhill.
The main difficulty that my son has is simply remembering to keep his foot down, resulting in quite a juddery journey as he constantly jolts to a stop and restarts. The drive itself is fairly smooth (apart from the issues with my son's driving) and the wheels cope well with both smooth and rough surfaces outside. There is no brake included but the car stops completely as soon as the pressure is released from the pedal so the risks are minimal. Likewise, there is no harness or safety fastening included, beyond a rather ineffective 'mock' seat belt that goes around the child's waist. This certainly wouldn't offer any support or protection if the child did have any kind of collision or accident but, given the speeds involved, that is pretty unlikely.
At the upper age limit, I'd imagine most children would outgrow this by around six years old, as the seating area is relatively tight. My five year old is small for his age and still has ample room to manoeuvre but a larger child might find the space a little restrictive and also find the speed of the car a little too frustrating! There isn't enough room inside for more than one child to sit at the same time, which is a little disappointing as my son would love to take his little brother out for a spin, so we do have a few arguments about turn taking.
As it is, my two year old simply loves clambering in and out of the car (the car door doesn't open) and enjoys having one of his older brothers helping him to move the car. He also loves the fun sound effects - a brrmming noise and horn sound- which are operated independently of the car battery by pressing buttons on the steeing wheel. I still wouldn't be tempted to purchase one of these for a child as young as two, however, as my little one's legs are nowhere near long enough for him to reach the foot pedal and he certainly doesn't have the co-ordination to control the steering as yet.
I'm also not convinced that the build quality of the car is robust enough to withstand regular play by a child below the recommended minimum age. The plastic panels feel quite thin and flimsy and will bend easily and the wing mirrors have both snapped off, despite the super glue used initially. As it is, the fact that the car has not been more seriously damaged by my boys is probably due to the lack of play, thanks to a miserable wet British Summer, rather than testament to the car's durability.
If you are seriously considering buying a battery powered car as a present, I'd bear in mind how much (or how little) this will realistically be played with, given the length of time the battery needs to be charged up before each use. This particular model is worth considering, if only for its attractive and authentic design, but I would exercise caution about viewing the supposedly discounted price as a bargain. The offer price is its real worth and I certainly wouldn't recommend paying any more for this Mini, given the relatively flimsy nature of the materials. In all honesty, with the benefit of hindsight, I probably wouldn't have bought this sit in car. Whilst there is no major issue with either form or function, I don't feel this has been particularly good value for money in terms of 'pay per play' so can only give a fairly half hearted recommendation to other parents.
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Hot Wheels Toy Story Classic Falling With Style Trackset
by cha97mw
I was inspired to buy this for my youngest son last Christmas after I read Newby2's review. My sons at the time were complete Toy Story nuts, and had lots of the other merchandise and you begin to run out of ideas of what they might like Santa to bring, so when I saw this, I thought it would appeal to my children a lot.
The ... set is fairly simple in my opinion, and not that tricky to put together. There are about 5 pieces of track which connect together by sliding into plastic pieces which support the track in the loop position that is so familiar from Toy Story One. There is an extra bit of track that has a wide opening to make a jump, and a plastic G clamp to attach one end of the track to a table. I find that this attaches great to my coffee table but it is not a high enough surface really. My dining table is too thick to attach this too, so we end up clamping it to the back of one of my dining table chairs. You need a good bit of height to get the car going fast enough to have enough momentum to make it round the single loop and the jump at the bottom. We also find that you have to have a few goes first to work out how far back to put the landing piece so your car reliably lands there.
The car that is provided for this is a little red hot wheels car, which again is true to the film. It is a Red Baron car, which is die cast and 1:64 scale. There is then a little Buzz Lightyear figure which attaches to the top of the car with a piece of clear plastic, and this looks really good I have to say. The kids certainly like to be the one in charge of the little car.
I find Hot Wheels sets are fairly interchangeable. My children have other hot wheels cars, in particular the ones that are styled to look like Toy Story characters, and they will all run along this track. I do find that the car provided with the set jumps a bit further as it is probably a bit heavier with the figure attached to it.
This set is not something that gets used all the time as the kids do need me to help them get it all set up, and it also takes up a good bit of space when you are playing with it. You need about a metre of floor space long, and we have the set at about a metre in height too when it is attached to the chair. It is a good job it doesn't take up a lot of space when not in play. When we get it all set up, the kids will happily spend about an hour making all the different hot wheels cars jump and seeing which ones go furthest. They can put the cars on the track themselves, although initially when he was only three and a half, my youngest needed showing how to be a bit more gentle with this to get his car to do what it should. The track is recommended for children aged 4 plus, and I think for this track, this is probably about right.
I think this is great for children who love Toy Story. My boys were not really massive fans of cars before getting this set, and now they play more with their toy cars and garage. It is not necessary to be a fan of the film to appreciate the fun of making cars fly round this track. I highly recommend this set. On amazon expect to pay between £14-20.
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Nikko Wow Police Chase Charlie Car
by pootlegirl
My sister bought this car for my son for his second birthday. I knew immediately why she had chosen it.....it comes with a man to drive it. My son likes all his cars to have a man! This can be anything, we have a wooden hedgehog colour matching game which you take the 'prickles' out to play it. These prickles are often ... "man" or he will use playmobil people or jigsaw pieces, so long as there is something behind the steering wheel he is happy! So, once we had wrestled the car out of the packaging (during which time the initial excitement had faded a little for him), his face lit up again "Man!" he exclaimed! My sister knows him well!
Wow is not a range I have come across before. Those of you who have read my previous reviews are probably starting to realise I am a fan of wooden earth friendly toys and tend to avoid plastic toys. However, once a toy has been bought for my children I am not going to let it go to waste! I now know that Wow pride themselves on making durable toys that don't break, don't use toxic materials and don't use small parts in their toys. This particular toy is suitable from just 18 months and I think this is the case for most of their toys which is nice, so many toys now are suitable from 3 years for safety reasons due to small parts, but we all know children will enjoy playing with them from a much younger age!
The car itself is nice and chunky; its weight implies (as Wow claim) that it is not going to fall apart anytime soon. The only part of it that is not plastic is two rubber strips around each of the back wheels; presumably these are to give it a bit of traction when going over rough terrain! It is friction powered (no batteries - yay!), so a small amount of pressure when you push it forwards makes it go quite a long way. The detail on the car is painted on, with the exception of two 'Wow' stickers on either side. At the back of the car is a metal tow bar that I presume other toys from the Wow range can be attached to. On one side of the car there is a petrol cap, when you press the petrol cap the yellow car roof pops open. It does say on the box that man can do this, he does have very round fists which fit nicely into the curved shape of the petrol cap - though he has to be floating in the air to reach the petrol cap in the first place! But so far this is a feature that doesn't interest my son. He is quite happy pushing the cap himself.
Inside the car there is a sticker to represent the dashboard (steering wheel, torch, notepad and walky talky) and two holes for the passengers. One of these is obviously for "Man", but the only other character that comes with the set is "Dog", but dog doesn't fit into either of these holes. Dog has his own hole on top of the yellow roof, where he sits happily behind the blue lights. The second hole in the car causes quite a bit of confusion for my son, who tries to ram dog into it, getting very cross when he doesn't fit. Man will fit into either hole, but obviously only fills one at a time! I suppose if you own a range of Wow toys then you might have another person for this hole, but I still think it would be better to include a second person with this toy for those (like us) who don't own anything else from the range.
Man, is very friendly looking, smartly dressed in a blue police uniform and quite solid. He feels like he will be around a long time. Dog, however, is much lighter and more delicate (hollow!) than man, and feels like he will crack under the first foot that stands on him!
This is quite a nice little set and comes out of the toy box almost every day to join the traffic jam that stretches across our living room floor. I quite like the fact that apart from the noise of the motor it doesn't make any other noises, such as a siren. My little boy makes enough noise without additional sound effects! It's currently on sale at Amazon for just under £9 which I'd say is a reasonble price if it lasts as long as Wow claim it will. I'm afraid it loses a star for putting two holes in the car and providing only one person, and for the hollow dog!
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