This car was a purchase just over a year ago for my eldest son's birthday when had just turned 5. My Mother in Law asked me what she should buy, and I suggested she looked through the Imaginext range as we have a number of toys from the range and all have been hard wearing and played with an awful lot.

The Batman range seemed fairly new out at that time, and my son was very excited to receive the set, which was bought from Smyths toy shop for around £20. However, we had a slight problem on the first day of owning this toy. The Batman figure has moveable arms and legs so that you can sit him in the cockpit of the car. There is actually room inside for 2 figures if you wish. The Batman figure must have had a weak point on it, and it broke when it had been bent a few times. I knew this was not right, as we have owned firemen and astronauts from this range which are basically the same figure but a different costume and this had not happened to any of them. Smyths thankfully swapped the whole set for us and we have had no problems at all with the second Batman we have received.

I think for the price you get quite a lot with this set. There is first of all the car. this is a really chunky car, and would appeal to boys from about 2-8 I think. The car is 9 inches long, 5 inches wide, and about 4.5 inches tall. I need to carry it around with two hands. The cockpit is hinged at the back of the car, so you need to lift the hatch to put in your Batman figure, and once the lid is shut again you cannot see him. The wheels are smaller at the front and larger at the back giving this a very sporty look, especially with the bat wings at the back like a spoiler. There is a key located in the back, which is very easy to turn, and causes a set of 3 lights on the bonnet to light up and you can hear a noise that is a bit like a car engine revving. Movement of this car is very smooth across my laminate flooring or tiles, but it struggles to run over my sons thick bedroom carpet. It is supposed to travel up to 24 feet, but I don't know if this is true as we don't have a space this big to test it without taking it outside.

The car is battery operated. I believe it uses pencil batteries, though I am not 100% sure as we have not had to change them and they came in the toy. You can save some battery power using the on/off switch on the base of the car, though it is not really one of these that really annoys me with what it sounds like.

There is then the Batman figure, which looks really good in grey and blue. Its about 3 inches tall. There is movement at the arms and legs at the hip and shoulders of the figure. Like every good Batman figure, the suit is completed with long plastic gloves, his helmet and a blue cape. None of this is detachable so it is safe for younger kids, and I have had no problem with my children playing with this sort of figure. My youngest was about 2 and a half when we got this, and unless they chew things, there is nothing to damage by playing with these.

There are then 3 barrels to crash your car into. These are a sickly radioactive green colour with a nice cartoon picture of The Joker on the top of them, and they stack nicely and scatter all over if you crash into them. The car does not have any scrapes on it from being knocked over.

We were inspired after getting this car to get the Batcave as well, which is not quite as well made but that is for another review another day. I believe that this is a lovely car for younger children to play with as it still chunky and child like while having a more mature character, so my sons do not feel babyish playing with it. It is well made as we never have the hinged roof coming off, or bits breaking off it, and has been designed really well. Although the imaginext range can seem pricey, I honestly think you do get what you pay for in this case.