Review: 42083 Bugatti Chiron
Posted by Huw,42083 Bugatti Chiron was unveiled at a special event at The LEGO House yesterday as you will have seen if you follow us on Twitter or Facebook.
It's the second 'ultimate Technic' supercar to be released, two years after 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, and is built to the same 1:8 scale as the Porsche.
Thanks to LEGO's community team, who pulled out all the stops to get one to us in good time, we've had our hands on the 3599-piece set for a week or so, so have had time to build it and prepare this review for publication the day after it was revealed.
Read on to find out if it's the set for you...
The prototype
The Bugatti Chiron is one of the fastest production road cars in the world. Its 8-litre 16-cylinder engine generates 1500bhp which propels it from 0-62mph in 2.5 seconds and delivers a top speed of 261mph.
It's also one of the most expensive, starting at a mere 2.4 million Euros...
Here's a photo of the version LEGO has modelled:
Box and contents
The box is compact and heavy, around 6kg.
The back shows the rear of the vehicle and some of its details.
Lifting the lid reveals six boxes inside, one of which holds the wheels. Images on each combine to show a view of the front right of the car.
The instruction manuals are above the below the middle box and have the same pictures on their covers as the box. The individual boxes are made of sturdy cardboard which should prevent the books from shifting about and damaging them, which was a problem with early versions of the 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
The bottoms of the five boxes have a different image on them and once they've been emptied you can place them back in the box to reveal a view of the rear of the car:
Instructions come in two books, one 306 pages, the other 318. The first book starts with images and information about the design process of both the model and the real car.
Overall, there are 970 instruction steps in the two books.
There's also a sticker sheet but they are not too numerous.
New parts
There are a number of interesting new parts in the set, all of which are revealed early in construction.
There's a new 20-tooth gear (the blue one) the same size as the standard one (tan), but designed for use in gearboxes in conjunction with the gear shifter ring, like the 16-tooth red one.
These two parts are also used in the gearbox and the orange one will revolutionise gearbox design by allowing gears to be shifted by rotation rather than by using the change-over catch that has been a feature of all gearboxes until now.
The yellow one effectively extends the reach of the gear shifter ring by 1 unit.
Finally, there's a new wheel mount complete with disc brake which, as you'll see later on, vastly improves the appearance of the finished model
Construction
While building the model you are invited to listen to episodes of a podcast at lego.com/technicpodcast as you progress through it. Each one talks about what you're currently building and the challenges the designers faced. It was not online when I built it so I can't tell you anything more about it, unfortunately. It's a great idea, though!
The parts are contained in the six boxes.
Box 1
Box one contains parts for the engine and gearbox which is, as you'd expect, the most complex and challenging part of the build. You will not want to make a mistake here otherwise you'll be disassembling the whole thing and starting from scratch.
First the rear axle and suspension is constructed, before the gearbox is built as a subassembly and attached to it.
You can see how the orange shifters work. As they are rotated a quarter turn they move the gear shifter rings from top, to middle (disengaged) and to the bottom, then back again. Each one moves two rings; you can just about see the other pair below them.
Take a good look at the gearbox at this point of the build because you won't see much of it again because the engine is mounted directly above it.
Before moving on with construction I highly recommend that you check the gearbox works by turning the axles to change through the gearbox to ensure it all runs smoothly because it will be virtually impossible to make corrections later.
The 16 cylinder behemoth is apparently the most complex Technic engine ever made.
Box 2
Next we turn our attention to the front of the car, including the steering and gear shifting paddle mechanism.
The gear paddles are implemented very differently to those in the Porsche. There's a very clever ratchet system which, on each push on a paddle, rotates an axle, the one with the orange 180 degree angle element, a quarter turn. Pushing the left paddle rotates it one way, push it right and it rotates the other. This axle, is, of course, eventually connected to the gearbox above.
Now comes the marriage, 'the high point of the Chiron chassis assembly', apparently, when the monocoque chassis and engine/gearbox assemblies are brought together.It's replicated here by joining the front to the back.
After a few pieces have been added to connect them together a successful marriage has been achieved.
At this point it's worth having a look at the bottom of the car. A criticism of 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS was that the gearbox and engine were not visible at all on the finished model. That's almost the case here, because the engine is above the gearbox but there is at least a gap in the chassis through which you can see the lower gear shifter rings moving back and forth.
Box 3
The hard stuff is done, and now we move from instruction book one to two to tackle the bodywork, starting with the rear end.
When blurry pictures of the set surfaced a few months ago it looked as if the back end was black but thankfully that is not the case; it's dark blue, and it looks great.
The vehicle has a rear wing that automatically raises and angles to provide downforce or braking power. You'll see it action below.
The back end looks fantastic. The single strip of red light across the back has been cleverly replicated using a red flex tube held in place at the ends by stud shooters.
Box 4
Now we turn our attention to the interior. Dark tan has been used for the leather and it looks fantastic, luxurious even. As a result, four Technic pieces have been cast in that colour for the first time.
Next the dashboard and front wings are added.
Steering is, as you would hope, facilitated through the steering wheel, while the gear shifters sit below it. There's not much legroom as a result! Stickers provide details for the dashboard.
Box 5
The doors and front of the bodywork are added next, using medium azure pieces, many of which have been produced in that colour for the first time.
The trademark Bugatti horseshoe grill finishes off the front; you'll get a better view of it later on.
Box 6
A few more bits and pieces are added, including the windscreen surrounds and the flex tubes which create the distinctive 'C' that defines the vehicle's shape. Then, the wheels and tyres are attached to complete the model.
Finally a 'tool' -- the purpose of which will be demonstrated later -- is built, along with some branded luggage.
I built the model over the course of two days and I estimate it took a good 10-12 hours to do so.
The completed model
I'll let you savour these images of the completed model uninterrupted.
Functionality
1. The bonnet opens
This allows the custom Bugatti luggage to be stowed. The real car has a bit more stowage space than this but not much. I guess if you can afford one you can also afford to have someone follow behind in a van with all your weekend requisites.
There's also a tile underneath the bonnet with a unique code printed on it (which I've blurred out) which unlocks online content on the Technic website. I've not checked out what that is yet.
2. The rear wing can be adjusted.
Remember that grey tool? It replicates the 'go faster' key that comes with the real car. It's inserted behind the rear wheel, When rotated it raises the spoiler and when turned a bit more it tilts it.
It's a neat touch but to be honest it's a lot of faffing about and it's much easier just to lift it by hand.
3. The doors open
This reveals the sumptuous dark tan leather interior and details on the inside of the doors.
4. It can be steered using the steering wheel
There's no external knob to do so, you need to reach in and turn the wheel. There's not a lot of movement in the front wheels, I suspect not as much as the real car.
5. All wheels have suspension
However, the weight of the body is such that after pressing down above a wheel, the chassis does not return to its original position (thanks to Sariel for pointing this out).
6. You can change gear
This is of course the most important mechanism, and the one that's responsible for the majority of the model's complexity. There's a gear lever on the central column it which can be shifted forwards and backwards, and there are gear shift paddles either side of the steering wheel, as seen in the pictures above.
The instruction manuals do not describe the operation of the gearbox but I've subsequently learned that it's 8-speed. Unfortunately, because the gearbox is hidden away it's difficult to tell exactly how it works. Unlike the Porsche, however, it is possible to see some of the cylinder heads so in theory we should be able to determine the effect of the gearbox on the engine as you push the car along.
Certainly from my experiments so far, pushing the central gear lever back causes the engine to 'rev' rapidly when the vehicle is pushed but whether it's actually doing so in reverse is hard to tell.
Pushing the lever forwards causes the engine to 'rev' much more slowly as you push the car, but it actually takes a bit of time before the cylinders start moving, so much so that I wondered whether it was working at all at first.
The difference in revs when you subsequently change gear using the paddles is not really noticeable, and there is no way to know which gear you are actually in because the paddles can be pressed ad infinitum, cycling from bottom to top gear, then back to bottom again.
I guess it would have paid to examine it more closely during the first stage of construction before it was covered up. All you can do once the car is built is hold it in a precarious position so you can see the gearbox through the small hole in the bottom of the chassis and operate the paddles at the same time, which is easier said than done.
Verdict
The set provides and long and satisfying build. There is little repetition -- mainly just left- and right- hand assemblies -- and, apart from the engine and gearbox, it's not particularly complicated or taxing.
The completed model looks absolutely stunning. The dual-tone colour scheme makes so much more attractive than a single-colour model. The dark tan interior contrasts perfectly with the shades of blue.
But does it look like the real car?
Of course the limitations of the Technic system has required some compromises but I reckon the designer, Aurelien Rouffiange, has done an excellent job of translating the sleek and sensual lines of the bodywork into Technic.
The main distinguishing feature of the car is the swooshing 'C' shape that delineates the colours. I'm not entirely convinced by the way it's been recreated and I suspect many of you will be disappointed by the use of a flex tube. But, without new pieces there was no other practical way to do it.
The other thing that bothers me slightly is the bonnet. Bugattis have a distinctive, almost bulbous, front end around the horseshoe grill and I'm not convinced that's been replicated here particularly well, if at all. The grill surround itself is fine, just not the area around it.
Nevertheless, minor niggles aside, it really is a beauty and a joy to behold.
The gearbox is undeniably very cleverly implemented and the new parts that have been produced for it make it work so much better than that in the Porsche. However, all that effort has effectively gone to waste if it, and the effects of operating it, can't be really seen. It is, of course, nice to know that the insides match those of the real car but for some Technic fans that will not be enough.
This set has 800 more pieces than the 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS so we'd expect a higher price, and we have one: US$349.99, 369.99€ and £329.99. The disparity between prices in the different markets is once again very disappointing.
That's a huge outlay, then, and it will be competing with many other awesome recent releases for your hard-earned, but if you're a Technic fan this is probably a set you've been waiting patiently for and you will not want to pass it up.
Overall then, an excellent model, a satisfying build and if you can afford it I highly recommend it.
You can order it now from shop.lego.com: USA | Canada | UK | Germany | France
My super-car collection is looking almost as impressive as Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen's... :-)
Many thanks to the LEGO group for providing the set in such a timely manner for this review, which is an expression of my own opinions.
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64 comments on this article
Could someone explain to me who is this for? Brand lovers that don't care about zero new building techniques and generally boring technics model? I find it way too expensive for just another car with such limited functionality made out of plastic bricks. Way too big and way too boring.
Too bad lego is not producing smart models like 8043 with even more complexity and instead is pouring this branding ideas into technics as well. It is nice for star wars or disney sets and minifigs but for me seems driving pricing of technics to ridiculously overpriced car where whole idea of using bricks later is destroyed.
I'm passing this one as I did with previous ugly orange disproportionate one. Judging by ridiculous discounts it had I guess I am not so alone on this one.
It is somewhat sad to see how people cannot see beyond their own selfish needs and appreciate the fact that their beloved company is trying to make a living in parallel with satisfying the needs of fanboys.
Do you want new / interesting Technic sets - great then probably put up with branded sets, maybe it is not for you but there are more than 6 billion other people who might just like it and it can help Lego to stay afloat and produce sets for you as well.
Otherwise - get to ebay and buy old sets while moaning about the 80s and repeating that everything was so much better in the past.
Thanks for the,ultra quickly, published review! Pics look great btw.
I have been looking forward to seeing what this set had to offer, as I have been collecting Technic since 1978! It looks great, especelly from the back. Like the use of system parts coming back into Technic. I agree that the front could maybe have benefited from some more work. The doors too.
Now, I have to say I am disappointed! Is it just me, or does this seem to be just a rework of just about every other Technic car? No new engine parts, missed opportunity! Could have created new cylinders to match the layout of the real engine, would have been useful in many other future models. Simple wishbone suspension. Really? Could have been so much better! The steering sucks too! The gearbox looks great, with some terrific new parts, but to what end? Infinite shifting and no real change in ratio!
Maybe I am just old school, but I like to see stuff work in a Technic model.
The price is just crazy £299 maybe would have been a good starting point, feel sorry for other countries too 600 aus $ really Lego?
After all the ranting, it looks great and will look good on display, but a creator expert model would have looked the same on the shelf at half the price.
I will probably get it if discounted. But willl not really feel I am missing out if I don’t!
Nope. Just ... nope. Yeah, I get that they're nicely engineered, but Technic sets - particularly when they try to do anything with curves - look like the end result of a serious accident. In the case of the Chiron, the bonnet shape is a complete mess, like somebody's crashed it under a flatbed truck. I thought the Porsche was pretty bad but this takes the ugly factor up by several notches.
Technic should stick to doing trucks. Big, slab-sided vehicles that wouldn't know a curve if it slapped them across their lantern-jawed radiator grille.
Thanks for the quick review, great you got the set before reveal so you could get this sorted before your travel (which probably still took a bit of extra quick work)..
I'm impressed with it, looks like a very interesting build and I really like the colours. I don't mind too much that is not exactly like the car looks, it's technic not a creator expert. I don't think this one will fit in my budget with certain wizard sets coming up but I do really like it.
Plus the idea of a podcast with the designers is great, hope they do that more often!
Stunning. Need this badly. The price tag in the Netherlands is just ridiculous at €400. I will probably pick it up from Amazon eventually at a much more decent price. Can’t wait to put it next to my Porsche though!
Appreciate the quick and thorough review. Thumbs up!
I think it looks good. And I think it'll have appeal far beyond the technic old guard, which can only be a good thing.
Yeah, another nope for me. I'm a huge car enthusiast and much like the Porsche, I'd buy these things would they actually resemble the real car. Unfortunately, they really don't. It's as if they're replicating the Chinese knockoff car designs as opposed to the real thing from Germany. All this effort goes into the build and yet the end result looks, well, shit, really.
Overall this looks pretty good and thanks for the very timely review. Shame the UK price is so high, even with a rough exchange rate of $1.3 to a £1 that should make the set approx £270 in the UK. There are better sets out there for neary £330. And again at this price, there really shouldn't be stickers in a premium set like this.
Ah, 122.900 HUF (384 euro roughly) simply too much for this. Both for investment (too small fanbase, too high price) and for placing out on the shelf.
If I wish to spend that much money I would prefer the roller coaster instead.
Just popping in to mention that the lighter blue bits are DARK Azure, not medium (the part codes match up with those used in 42077)
Smashing review though
*runs away*
I guess I'm kinda target audience; middle-aged, disposable income, Technic fan, bit of a petrol head.
Still going to pass on this. Too expensive for what it is and, like the Porsche, the techie bits are hidden and barely work.
I'd rather see a Model-Team type very detailed model.
Excellent model, I’ve no complaints with the actual build and the way it looks. The price puts me off at £330, I’ll hang on until it’s discounted. Looking at the stock still left in my local store, it seems most people have the same idea.
Sorry but I don't like it. I think the car on wich it is based is ugly so the Lego set doesn't impress me at all.
Definite buy for me. With the new wheel disk it would have been nice to have functional breaks. Then we could also have the Foot of God!
It looks like this one brings more negative effects and reactions than positive ones. For my part, I 'm not a technic fan at all, nor a fast and expensive cars fan. But for a model built with Lego parts, it looks nice. The more I look at it the more I find it good. Shapes, curves, colors, global design and this technic working gear box are amazing for the non specialist I am. It's very expensive and Lego goes on with that trend of luxury and very expensive sets which concentrate and shows its mastership in brick build designs. And the more their release luxury sets, the more we can find bad and non official copies, exactly as for others well known luxury brands... Once again as a non fan of the technic theme I find it good and beautiful. But overall I see and read more disappointed comments than positive ones, both about design, and again (just as for more and more each new set released) : the price!
Wow. Just wow. I wish I had the funds for this!
What a fabulous derierre!
On the real Chiron, the top speed key works like this:
- In normal "Handling Mode", the wing is in the deployed position.
- Accessing "Top Speed Mode" requires the insertion of the key, which keeps the wing in the stowed position for improved slipperiness.
- When the wing deploys in the vertical position, this is a separate, second function of the wing where it acts as an air brake under heavy braking.
I don’t write comments usually and until now I have not had the intention to be involved in the arguing about whether LEGO/certain LEGO sets costs too much and why the huge price difference among markets… However, in this case, I just could not withhold myself from expressing my opinion about the set, the ‘LEGO interpretation’ of a beautiful car and obviously the price.
I am simply angry at LEGO because I believe this is not the direction they should head to. I remember I was amazed by the 1884 piece Mobile Crane. Since then I must say the Unimog is/was my favourite but after that, with the exception of the 9398/41999 combo, Technic is getting too much. Even the Arocs truck but what followed is just the unmanageable category. Heavy, expensive, ‘where-to-put-it-because-it-is-dead-certain-I-will-not-disassemble-and-reassemble-it-ever-again’ sets in a row (42055, 42056, 42070, 42082, 42083).
If I really wanted to I could buy this set I just feel that I want to ‘not buy it’ because it is over the sanity limit. Why is it AUD600 (for 3500 pieces) when the Bucket Wheel Excavator for example was AUD400 (3900 pieces) only. They say it is licensed… So what? The 10248 Ferrari F40 was also licensed and cost only AUD130 (1150 pieces – exactly 1/3 of the Bugatti). 3 times 130 is 390 only. I do not believe Ferrari was too shy either when setting their license fees… The F40 by the way is a stunning set, perfect example or ‘less is more’.
The set. It is a nice set (although far from being a real Technic set) however nowhere near to an Arocs or even a 4x4 Crawler in my eyes. It is a complex gearbox and a duplicated V8 engine covered with blue for eternity.
And finally the comparison with the real thing. If it was AUD250 I would say, OK, let’s buy it, it does not look that bad! But no, it is AUD600 and the proportions are outrageous. It may be that the dimensions fit the Chiron but in the photos it looks flatter, wider, wheels are ridiculously small (same issue as with the Porsche IMO) and some details are straight ugly (e.g.: bonnet, that C line on the side, no legroom for the driver because of that bulk of beams in the way, etc.).
I love cars and usually cannot wait to see a nice flagship Technic car to be launched but with this model I am afraid the excitement towards the best toy in the world starts to disappear in me.
What these sets need is a way to remove the guts of the model in order to display, and allow the admiration & inspection of, the intricate Technic gubbins alongside the fascia of bodywork & wheels.
...and then a way to slot them back in for play.
(Edit: thanks so much for the lightning-fast review!)
I'll definitely be getting it, but I'll probably wait until it's discounted.
Great review and pictures, this is not something I'd ever own because of the price tag but it is a very well designed model, far superior to the 42056 set in my opinion.
I'm more interested in the other summer Technic sets but those don't even come out for another two months, which is quite disappointing.
I love it but it might as well cost a million euros! I could never afford.
I get that the build is the fun part and for AFOL's playability/functionality is not the highest priority (I'll admit to making Star Wars theme music sounds while showing off a completed model, but once I've showed it off, it's mostly back into the box). For me the look of a set once I've had the joy of building it is as important as anything else, especially if I'm going to be looking at it on a shelf. If I'm forking over $600 for a car, I want it to look like a really nice car, not a crumpled up sheet of paper someones tried to flatten back out! I've only bought one Technic set so far, the Mac Athem (just bought, yet to build), because it looks cool, while other Technic sets haven't appealed to me to date and I'm sad that these new super cars don't. Seriously how can you make such a large car that looks so disjointed and yet make a mini copper that's half the size and looks great??
PS - big Thanks for the review, love your site :)
Really think Lego went wrong in the colour scheme. Bugatti blue is blue with a slight hint towards purple. Dark azure is lighter, but more erroneous, it has a hint of green. Also the dark blue is nowhere near the midnight blue of the real one. So the correct choice would have been regular blue and black. Now the colour scheme looks very awkward.
Looks great. Decent price here in America but I wonder why it’s more expensive in the rest of the world. I might get this, not totally convinced though. I’m definitely liking the new pieces
First things first, this review is excellent. The writing is very professional and commited to detail. Thank you for that.
Now, about the set itself, I'm not sure. Being a mostly System guy, I don't think I can judge the set on its technical feats. However, I must admit, this thing's "guts" look impressive. Watching all those intricate mechanisms function perfectly after assembling them must be very satisfying.
Why, then, would one desire to perpetually cover them, shielding any further admiration of their complexity behind some panelwork that, even while creative for its own merits, ends up making the thing look like a damaged mosaic of a model car?
Hearing people from other regions complain about the price, now I feel like I *have* to get it, to take advantage of how much less expensive it is in the United States!
I’ll definitely get this eventually, but probably not without either a discount or Double VIP points. Seeing it from more angles, I actually do think this is a pretty well-realized model, with sufficient design and functionality to justify the premium price. I didn’t like the look of the Porsche at first, but it really grew on me until I finally got it. Then, after building it, and being able to see it from all angles, it became really much more impressive in person. I’m looking forward to seeing one of these in person!
Squidy74H, the mini is basically a box on wheels, while the Bugatti has a bunch of different curves.
Fantastic review, I'm personally not really a huge fan of Bugatti cars in general (weird I know) so it's unlikely I'll consider buying this. The price tag is kinda too much for me and I understand it's licensed and has a lot of work put into it to become what it is but at the end it's kinda a display only model.
I realized at some point I'm just not gravitated towards those display only sets anymore since if they lack play features they're just a model kit especially in the case of a set like this that you're probably not gonna scrap for parts for obvious reasons; if I want a model kit there are kits that actually look like the real thing.
Either way it still looks well done to me but I'd be lying if I say I didn't wish this was done with System instead.
I seriously cannot see spending $400 on that it doesn’t look anything like the car I don’t like all the technical pieces but I am a pure Lego Star Wars collector it seems like a waste of money to me to buy this
Thank you very much for this timely and nice review! :-)
I guess the direction that Lego is taking with these "premium" Technic sets raises the following question:
If they just wanted to make a great looking car (and for a Technic set it looks really good), why not do it with System pieces? With 3600 System pieces, this set would probably look awesome.
Technic sets will probably never look as good as System sets. So, if there are no interesting and usable functions to outbalance that, what is the point? Maybe it is all about Technic being "less Lego" so that there is a chance to sell those sets to people who would otherwise not buy Lego (because it is a toy for children).
I was hoping for a Ferrari as a follow up to the Porsche (for a return to the good old red and black parts as much as for a Ferrari). When I heard it was a Chiron I wasn't expecting much and it pretty much turned out how I expected. Nice new parts and I'm tempted but not rushing to buy it like the Porsche as the price is just that little bit too much at the moment....
I own 42056 Porsche and won't be buying this Bugatti. I can only hope that, when the Bugatti fails to perform, The Lego Group will recognize that it is the vehicle and not the premium Technic.
The Bugatti cannot connect with the average buyer. TLG should know this.
Here's an easy list of cars that would've done better:
Ford Raptor
'67 Mustang
Corvette
Beetle
Mini
Ferrari 488
Ferrari F40
Jeep (though I prefer Tacoma / Hilux)
8880 remastered
8860 remastered
The Raptor would be a no-brainer. The typical enthusiast is more hands on and interested in LEGO than a Bugatti owner. We'd get some much needed longer travel shocks and arms. Maybe the first official leaf springs. The shape is much better translated into Technic than a Bugatti.
LEGO, keep doing premium Technic, just don't do cars nobody cares for.
Looks pretty cool. Shame you can't see much how the gear box works--is the model designed for an easy drop-in electric motor like past ones have been?
Lego seems to be working hard at giving me a reason to finally replace 8448. This is really nice but thankfully I don't think it does the trick for me.
The front looks butt ugly, but the butt looks amazing...
Cool final photos! I like these larger super cars however not sure I want to spend that kind of cash on a Technic set. We shall see. Its tempting.
Too expensive in Aus. May buy it if it discounts to something more reasonable, maybe 300 aud...
Strange that it has so many gears but not much noticeable difference if they are changed? At least the Porsche gears made it faster/slower. I have the Porsche and think its a nice model much prefer a big truck like the mack anthem... more trucks please.
For me a Technic set is about functionality first then appearance, one of the things I like about sets like the bucket wheel excavator is that it makes very little effort to conceal its workings and looks brutal and perhaps even ugly but this to me is the essence of Technic.
There is very little from a technical point of view to be excited about in this set, basic steering, basic suspension (which isn’t really up to the job), simple opening doors, I’d hoped the 16 cylinder engine would bring something new to the table but it’s just the usual cylinder/piston parts that have been around for aeons repeated 16 times. The gearbox would be the star of the show except the 8 speeds it offers are barely distinguishable from each other and with all the mechanisms and complexity being hidden away it might as well not be there.
I can also imagine that with 600 pages and 970 building steps the process will be incredibly dumbed down adding perhaps 2 or 3 pieces per step.
I really want to like this set but I think Lego need to decide if they are going to make a Technic set or UCS style system set as this tries to straddle both categories and doesn’t really succeed as either. I still may buy it someday but only heavily discounted as £330 is too much.
willobee498, thanks for the reply, I meant the comparison more as the Mini actually looks like a Mini in shape, the Beetle is really good too at getting the shape. I guess if the draw is all the technical parts that it can do, why did they cover them all up in an unappealing exterior? Hope that makes more sense! :)
Amazing review. However, stickers in a £330 set!!! Vast majority of the stickers could easily have been printed.
I think the problem is... the real car itself is ugly. So no matter what lego does... is still ugly
Love my cars but, like the Porsche, a pass for me. Any idea when the next Lego Creator Expert CAR is coming out? Piece count may be much less but the Creator Expert vehicles are cheaper, more innovative and easier to display!
And when will Lego step out of their comfort zones? Ferraris, Porsches, McLaren's are expected but how about a Skyline GT-R (the first generation ones) or maybe a range of more Sports cars rather than Super- and Hyper-cars?
Pricetags like this made me stop buying new lego sets and replicating them with the parts i already have...
For all those discussing the regional price disparity, I'm wondering if there is a discernible reason, e.g. VAT. In the US, most states have a sales tax, but that's not included in the RRP, whereas isn't VAT is included in the UK/EU RRP? If so, how much of the apparent disparity could be explained by VAT?
Welp, people do not seem very happy with this one. I guess I'm blessed not to be a Technic or car enthusiast or else I wouldn't be able to appreciate the amazing job the designers have done with this model. It may not be 100% accurate, but as a Technic set it looks miles better to me than I could've imagined. Then again, the price tag is so high I’ve already accepted that I won’t be able to buy it, which is probably why I’m not looking at it so critically.
^ So if VAT in the UK is 20% (https://www.gov.uk/vat-rates), then we deduct the tax and get a price of £264. At a currency conversion of £1 to $1.33 USD (https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=1&From=GBP&To=USD), that's $351, almost exactly what the US price is without sales tax. So if you compare the without-tax price UK to US, the price disparity all but disappears. So although the UK RRP equates to roughly $439 USD (quite a bit higher than what I'd pay including taxes), it's because of taxes, not because of LEGO pricing. Right?
Love the podcast idea
A set like this shouldn't come with stickers. It's just cheap.
In fact it's around £10 a sticker. I'm sorry @Huw the number of stickers is way over the top, was there actually any printed tiles?
Many are posting about the ridiculously ugly bonnet (compared to the real car), and the ridiculously high price. I truly also wonder now, where Lego is heading with the many recent launch of expensive and big sets. Well with the higher price, I sort of expect more newer parts to be made (i.e. curve plates, no stickers, etc.) so to make it premium, and make it nicer from the outside yet keeping the excellent detail of the inside (i.e. gearbox, engine, etc.). Some of these aesthetic aspects just can't be achieved with higher piece count! A disappointing flagship (just because it should not).
Great Review! I like the Brakediscs! I'd love to get some of those for my Porsche but they will probably be in the 2 digit region on BL later. :/ Speaking of Orange, it goes well with Blue for Contrast.... hehe
Am I correct in thinking that the new yellow part is basically the same as part 32187 (https://brickset.com/parts/design-32187), except it has less slack in the gears? If so, it makes me wonder why the new part.
Skipped the Porsche, bc it cost as much as a real car I bought - it needed servicing, but we've used it for 2 years. The 8653 Enzo and 8070 Super Car are much better scale, these are so large that there isn't much point in displaying them. This is a long way away from my favorite Technic sets such as the 8455 - compact with so many functions and the 8043 - again amazing how much it can do in such small size. I also hate the obligatory little handbag - nothing like the bag that comes with the real vehicle, will all 1:8 scale vehicles include one in the future?
Will not get this set. Ridiculously overpriced, and still stickers, when Juniors or Ideas sets come almost exclusively with prints, and at much lower prices. Using stickers on a 370 Euro set is just cheap.
Plus, the colour scheme is awful. They should have done the red/black variant of the Chiron. Perhaps Decool will come to the rescue, like they did with the Porsche.
And what's with the instruction book? more than 600 pages for a 3,600 piece set???? Who is this for - five year olds? There are entire pages where only one or two pieces are added per step. Anyone think that is fun building? Why has everything have to be so totally dumbed down these days? Why can't people be trusted to follow more complex instructions like in Technic sets of the 80s and 90s?
And finally, why call this a Technic set at all? It isn't, as all the functions are completely covered. Why bother wasting time and pieces on building complex technical stuff that in the end you don't see? Remember what the Technic line is about after all?
I've never really been a Technic fan but part of me really wants to like this and the Porsche. Unfortunately I just don't and it's kinda difficult to articulate exactly why. I dunno, it's almost like they're trying too hard. Then I take a look at the price... Holy Jebus!
I think next they should make the Lamborghini Aventador SV.
@Strymon I understand what you mean, I once wasn’t interested in these car sets. I believe that they would be more interesting if they moved beyond these sleek race cars and made SUVs, trucks, etc.
Regarding the pricing, and some intelligent comments re: taxes:
Yes, UK prices always include VAT. Prices in America, however, never include tax - this is because Purchase Tax rules and amounts differ from state to state and even from county to county within states! The amount LEGO charges is not substantially different (given the difference in tax systems and currency conversion), it's just that we get the whole cost up-front, unlike Americans who have to calculate the total cost for their county before deciding whether to purchase.
@CFsoftie: the fact remains that most sets are much chepaer in the US, even if you factor in the sales tax, which by the way is also laughably low compared to Europe. Just take a look at the Wikipedia article about the subject and you will find that more often than not sales tax totals less than 10%, compared to about 20% in most other countries.
@AustinPowers: Yeah, Americans pay much lower taxes on almost everything but this has nothing to do with TLG's pricing - they get much the same number of Euros for a set sold in America as they do for one sold here, the differences are mainly due to factors out of their control such as taxes and currency exchange rates. You wouldn't want them to sell to you at a loss because you have to pay tax and the exchange rate is currently rather poor?
Incidentally, what Americans enjoy by way of cheaper toys is more than offset by the ginormous cost of healthcare. If you can't afford a top-of-the-range Technic kit at British prices, then there is no way you could pay for even a simple medical problem like a broken leg, and I doubt you could afford medical insurance.
It would have been better if they had put all this effort into making just any other vehicle. The level of complexity is truly amazing.
This replica here, though, is only reminiscent of the real thing. "There are limitations" and other blah-blah-blah are no excuses for failure to make an exact copy.
Instructions for the Bugatti: https://www.lego.com/biassets/bi/6245724.pdf
https://www.lego.com/biassets/bi/6245725.pdf
For some reason, they are not showing through LEGO's instructions search function. I ran a script to search for them :)