This is my first review, so if you find it unhelpful, please contact me to give me some advice to make better reviews.

I got this set from my parents for Christmas 2015 (although it didn't arrive until 3rd of January). When I saw the first pictures I immediately knew I had to get it for my city. Now I am really glad to have it. Read the review to know why.

Parts

With 1683 pieces, it is by far the biggest City set. There are lots of colors (red, orange, dark tan, e.g.). A brick separator is included like most of the huge recent sets. The parts are useful mainly for building a city.

Build

As expected, the build is extremely long, about 5 hours. The set is split into 16 bags and there are 10 instruction booklets.

Minifigs

There are 14 minifigs in this set, including the statues in the Lego shop. The torsos of the Lego store employee and truck driver, pizza delivery man, spaceman and coffee seller, along with her legs, are exclusive to this set. A good selection of minifigs, I would say.

Pros:

• Lots of useful parts.
• Very great addition to any city.
• Quite detailed.
• Playability is nearly endless.

Cons:

• The auto dealership is somewhat fragile. If not held right, it can easily fall apart. It is also not very detailed, compared to other components of the set.
• Another red and yellow car. I am annoyed to see that recent civilian City cars are either red or yellow. Can we get new colors, please?
• Finally it is a bit overpriced, even with the large tram windows.

Summary

Overall, I love this set. It is a must have for any city builder in my opinion. I totally recommend it both for kids and adults. Thanks for taking the time to read my review and I apologize if there are any grammar mistakes. Goodbye for now!

I liked the look of this set from the moment I fist laid eyes on it, and having missed out on the first square (60026 Town Square), I was pleased when I saw this and intended to buy it right from the word go. When I finally got round to buying it last week, I was not disappointed.

Box/Instructions

The box is a fairly standard Lego box, with the main image on the front and details and play features on the back.

There are a whopping 10 instruction books, which announced yed me a little bit, because Lego recently started using one big perfect bound instruction manual for larger sets, and I can't understand why this set has not been given that special treatment. Book 8 (Which deals with the tram), however, is perfect bound, which only serves to add to the mystery.

Parts

There aren't many new parts in this set, with most detailing coming from the three sheets(!) of stickers but there are a few new printed minifig parts. There are, however, four new wheels which are basically a version of the larger type of wheel used on bigger vehicles such as the mixer, except these are to scale with city cars, which is cool.

Minifigures

There are a whopping 14 Minifigures, and they are: two children, two Lego employees, a news helicopter pilot, a hot dog guy, a mechanic, a tow truck driver, a car saleswoman, a tram driver, a City Pizza delivery boy, a coffee girl, a green futuron spaceman and a classic knight. There are some cool new printed pieces, and my two personal favourites are the Lego employee shirt and the jacket with City Pizza printed on the back, which is the name of the pizzeria in the previous square set.

The build

This is an epic build, with 16 bags of a total of 1683 pieces. There are plenty of cool techniques, and it is not repetitive due to the sheer number of different models you have to build.

The completed model

The completed model (or models) is a joy to behold, and create a genuinely busy feel. The modern car dealership is an excellent contrast to the more old-fashioned exterior of the Lego store. I initially thought the buildings would be the main attraction to this set, but it is just as much (if not more) the vehicles which have really won me over. It is full of fun little details such as the pick a brick wall, the tiny Lego store bag for minifigs, the bus stop (which is the same as in the Town Square - Thanks for the continuity, Lego!), the bike compartment on the tram (Which really does fit a bike), the car lift, the Coffee Chain stand and so much more. Both large (and both small) buildings are full of detail, with tiny Lego sets, a cash desk a pick a brick wall, two huge Minifigures, and that big red brick they always have in the entrance on the Lego store. The car dealership features sliding windows on the bottom, those new wheels, a fully equipped service centre and car lift and a payment desk. The tram station is also great, with four ticket machines and seats for people to wait in, and the coffee stand has two coffee machines and a nice seating area with a umberella. You also get plenty of vehicles, including three civilian cars, which I have been trying to stock up on, since they're a refreshing change from the usual police cars and fire engines. The red sporty car is very nice and sleek, and I also like the two-seater black car. The flatbed truck is very nice, with plenty of sticker detailing, as is the tram, with room for 8 minifigs plus 2 drivers. The news helicopter is a great addition too, and certainly goes great with any super heroes stuff as well as city. Overall, there is just a huge amount of great models

Overall opinion

I love this set. It has to be one of my all time favourites, and definitely my favourite City set. It is so packed full of fun and exciting features and the attention to detail is unbelievable. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to buy Town Square on eBay.

I recently ordered 60097 City Square figuring it would be a nice addition to my City Layout, adding a wide variety of minifigs, vehicles, a couple decent buildings and some nice smaller structures. At $189.99, it felt a bit pricey, but once I got it in the mail and opened it up, I was pleasantly surprised by just how much was in it (the box art does not do it justice). The set includes 16 numbered bags plus a bag of base-plates and another of windows for the tram. There is also quite the stack of individual instruction books in a wide variety of sizes and styles. Also included are three sheets of stickers. The set includes two large buildings, a Lego store and an care dealership with service shop; two smaller buildings, a coffee stand and a tram station; three cars, a Lego truck, a tow truck, a news helicopter, an articulated tram, 14 mini-figures and a host of other minor accessories. All of which would fit well in any City/Train themed layout. This set shares some tie ins/similarities to the 60026 Town Square and 8408 Public Transport Station.

First, a bit more information on the two larger buildings. First off, there is the car dealership with attached service station which includes a working car lift, nice signage, and a two story show room. The dealership also includes sliding pocket doors on the bottom floor of the show room, two tire displays, room for a car to be display on the second floor, a small tool rack in the service station along with a desk. I love the blue curved sections around the second floor show room and the roof line of the service station. My only complaints about this section are that the thee window/door frames on the show room area (two on top and one on the bottom opposite the service station) do not have any glass in them, which leaves the side views unfinished. This seems to be a compromise to allow the tire displays to fit, but does not seem worth it. The set comes with a black car, a red car a service attendant, a female driver and a tow truck with driver (all which will be reviewed in a later section).

Next we have a nice little Lego Store, smaller than the Car Dealership, but still manages to squeeze in a lot of fun internal details for a nice overall package. This is a two story tall building with only one floor. The building is a nice fusion of an older traditional row store with a modern update using glass windows and Lego Store signage. The traditional feel is given using the back side of masonry blocks along with nice detailing on the roof line and a building date (1932). The store also includes a roof top vent/HVAC, some vent detailing on the building sides and a standard city light post with a bus stop sign. Inside we see all sorts of fun details. There is a large red 2x4 brick on display in the window, a demolition set box display in the other window, a service desk with computer and a slow to hold a brick built Lego bag and a mini-figure displaying (using a micro figure). On the two walls we have a pick-a-brick display behind the service counter and on the other side are some glass shelves with various set boxes with printed faces. There is also a ledge behind the second floor windows that holds classic Space and Castle minifigs, a really nice touch that makes this building shine! The building also includes a child minifig and a Lego Store employee minifg. There is also a Lego shipping truck with driver that will be reviewed in a later section. All around I love this building and my only possible complaint is that the otherwise standard street light, lacks the grey vent piece on the 1x2 base that some of the other City sets have.

The Coffee stand is pretty basic with a bike rack on one side and a picnic table with umbrella on the other. Inside there are a couple different types of coffee machines behind the front counter, which has a couple of red coffee cups and a creamer container. This building is supplied with a nice sign "The Coffee Chain" and a detailed barista to work the counter. The building itself is fairly boring, and there is a 1x4 space behind the sign that should have a finishing tile on it to match the rest of the finished roof. Otherwise a nice little addition.

The Tram station is a glass roofed structure with a couple chairs with side racks to hold newspapers or suitcases. It also includes an electronic ticket dispenser, some nice signage and a grass area with tree to round it out. I like this building, but the tree seems just a bit off.

The news helicopter is a nice open sided vehicle with some decent detailing and a camera hanging off one side, its a bit of an upgrade above some of the awful smaller helicopters that have shown up in some other recent City sets. It also includes a helmeted pilot.

The tow truck is pretty standard fare with a winch to pull the stranded car up onto the tilting bed. It is done up in the same green and white "Auto Service" colors that the current 60081 Pickup Tow Truck has. Its a nice model that adds some playability to the service station. There are a total of three cars included in this set for the tow truck to tow, a red couple, a black sedan and a yellow pickup truck. All are pretty basic and are of the much maligned 4 stud wide design, but its still a nice bonus and lets you fill up your city streets quick!

The Lego delivery truck is a simple design but does have opening cab doors and doors on the back, along with a driver wearing Lego Store regalia and a hand cart with two printed Lego boxes. Again, much like the tow truck does for the service station, the Lego truck adds some depth to the Lego store.

The last major item is the orange and black articulated tram. This is a fairly large vehicle with three sections, the two main end sections each have a driver seat and seats for four passengers and the middle section is labled to hold bikes. You can comfortably fit 10 minifigs in the tram. It uses small disc wheels and the glass sides all open upwards to gain access to the interior. There is very little internal detail an no driver controls to speak of. My only real complaint is the green dot "digital" tram number display, its hard to see even under normal circumstances, but the instructions have you placing all four stickers towards the ends (which makes sense) but behind those particular glass panels are white door frames, and those white door frames lighten up the back ground enough that its almost impossible to see the numbering.

Last of all, you get a decent hot dog stand with cook, a child minifig eating a hot dog, a pizza delivery guy one a motorbike with boxes of pizzas flying off the back, a pedal bike, a newspaper rack, dog and a couple other minifigures.

Overall, I love this set, the diversity of buildings, mini-figures, details and accessories provides a ton of play AND display value while still having a fairy solid detail level. The components offer some interplay that gives depth to the whole set and there are lots ways this set can add to a larger city and/or train display!

Check out my Lego blog for more pictures and information! http://thoughtsonblocks.blogspot.com/

Today, 2 City Square 60097 kits were spotted in the local ToysRUs store in Montreal. This seems like a very early release for Canada, and at $229 CDN it seemed like a fair price (taking into consideration the current CDN-US exchange rate).

Well, there is only one set left at that ToysRUs now; the other is sitting safely in my Lego hobby room.

With only a few minutes to open the box and quickly review the contents, I am a happy builder, with no buyer's remorse.

Although I like when the building are a full buildout, the open structures of the auto center and the Lego store will allow for a little creativity and customization, much like the cycle shop and pizza place in an earlier version, Town Square 60026.

I've read a fair number of emails and commentary from people wishing the trolley was motorized. I for one am happy to have this less expensive track-enabled element. With the amount of space I have, a circular train track would be an extravagant use of space and the motorized feature would be overkill. The trolley will allow me to add a single track feature to my setup without completely dominating the space.

That's it for now. I'll try and add a bit more when I am actually in the building stage.

Things get done, one block at a time.

Steven

I'm a 62 year old mom of 2 and just started building Legos by myself.

This is the first big set I ever built and I love it!

I love it so much that I even motorized the trolley!

Starting my own Lego City can't wait to build the next set!

MC