Review: 40603 Wintertime Carriage Ride

Posted by ,

40603 Wintertime Carriage Ride is one of two gifts with purchase that'll be offered at LEGO.com during December, although it has not yet been announced exactly when and how much you'll need to spend to acquire it.

The decorative and elaborate carriage is hauled by one horse and comes with a driver and two passengers.

Summary

40603 Wintertime Carriage Ride, 153 pieces.

An attractive model that'll make a lovely addition to your winter village

  • Great minifigs
  • Curvaceous bodywork
  • No reins
  • Passenger compartment is a bit cramped

The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.

The dark orange horse was introduced last year and this is only the third set that it's appeared in.

The carriage is festively but sparsely decorated with green and red foliage front and back, and there's a chest with the new style of lid between the wheels at the rear.

The footboard in front of the driver is a realistic touch which I don't remember seeing on a LEGO carriage before. Unfortunately, there are no reins, so presumably the horse goes where it pleases!

The passengers do of course fit in the carriage, but it looks a bit of a squeeze!

The curvaceous bodywork of the carriage is well-designed, with an attractive colour scheme and effective colour blocking. It's just a shame that such a huge cart does not have more room for the passengers to stretch out a bit!

The driver shares a torso with the keeper of 21335 Motorized Lighthouse. The passengers are suitably dressed for the season, clad in winter jumpers and scarves. Overall, they are an attractive trio of figures.

A brick and tile are provided for use when the horse is unhitched, as is sustenance for the hard-working steed in the form of a carrot.

Overall, it's an attractive and desirable GWP and, given that several large and significant sets are being released tomorrow, you will not have to struggle to spend enough to acquire it.

29 comments on this article

Gravatar
By in United States,

I love it, but I don't have a large purchase planned soon. I might need to pick it up on eBay or BrickLink.

Gravatar
By in Canada,

It's a nice build, and a worthy standalone set, but it's not particularly Christmas-y, except for the flowers in front and back.

Gravatar
By in Netherlands,

the passengers keep each other feet warm :-)

Gravatar
By in United Kingdom,

How soon before we know the spend threshold for this?

Gravatar
By in Sweden,

153 pieces, albeit with 3 figs, a horse, and some nice wheels, makes me hope the threshold isn't above $125 US or so.

Gravatar
By in Germany,

Again, it's not missing reins, it's missing a whip. A good looking model for any winter village, tho.

Gravatar
By in Italy,

Rumours mention thresholds of €150 and €70

Gravatar
By in United States,

I am all excited for the "curvaceous bodywork" ... never thought I would get to see those words on a site for a kids toy

Gravatar
By in Malaysia,

@Ridgeheart said:
"Him: "Wow, we're sitting so close together, this date is going swimmingly!"

Her: "Wow, from up close I can really tell he didn't shave properly, and his eyebrows and stubble are grey. What a terrible dye-job, what an awful date."

Driver: "Hah! Hah! Another date, succesfully ruined! Majisto strikes again!""


it will be available with any purchases over the threshold of $150.

Gravatar
By in United States,

Does look kind of odd without any reins and only 6 studs wide...but I do like it. I wonder if this is going to come with the Museum or a higher threshold? It looks like it would probably pair with it. Definitely pairs better with a city type modular than it would with the Alpine Lodge, matches last years Holiday Main Street better.

Gravatar
By in United Kingdom,

@elsaun81 said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
"Him: "Wow, we're sitting so close together, this date is going swimmingly!"

Her: "Wow, from up close I can really tell he didn't shave properly, and his eyebrows and stubble are grey. What a terrible dye-job, what an awful date."

Driver: "Hah! Hah! Another date, succesfully ruined! Majisto strikes again!""


it will be available with any purchases over the threshold of $150."


*Visible confusion*

Gravatar
By in United Kingdom,

That guy in the jumper looks like he's having a mid life crisis

Gravatar
By in United States,

FR LEGO, you had that huge carriage and the only space you could make for minifigures was a tiny 2x4 area?

Gravatar
By in Netherlands,

This is one of those sets that looks great at first glance, but kinda falls apart at second. It does look pretty good on its own, but the scale doesn't quite seem to match with the minifigs, and even less so the horse. Poor animal, having to pull such a huge thing all on its own. Yet at the same time there indeed is rather limited space for the minifigs to sit. And the lack of reigns is just weird.

They sure were on to something, but it feels like this was an early prototype, not quite the final set where they had it all figured out.

Gravatar
By in United Kingdom,

The set looks alright, it's a nice little display piece or perhaps something to put in a City but I have to agree that the seating arrangement looks a little off.
I would also have given the driver a white scarf piece 'cos he'll get cold too! I think white would very much suit his design.

Gravatar
By in Netherlands,

It looks overbuilt if you ask me. Sure it's curved well... but I think the point falls flat if there's no room in there and the whole carriage outscales the horse and the amount of parts that go into it outscales what would be needed for such a simple concept.
What happened to 'less is more'?

That said... it's a GWP or something so I won't have to worry about being able to get this one anyway.

Gravatar
By in United Kingdom,

Both this and the baubles available from 1st Dec (at least in Australia), until the 14th.
Carriage AUD$240 spend.
Baubles AUD$110 spend.

Gravatar
By in United Kingdom,

@Ridgeheart said:
" @beige2 said:
" @elsaun81 said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
"Him: "Wow, we're sitting so close together, this date is going swimmingly!"

Her: "Wow, from up close I can really tell he didn't shave properly, and his eyebrows and stubble are grey. What a terrible dye-job, what an awful date."

Driver: "Hah! Hah! Another date, succesfully ruined! Majisto strikes again!""


it will be available with any purchases over the threshold of $150."


*Visible confusion*"


"Majisto strikes again... again!""


*visible being-striked-by-majisto-ness*

Gravatar
By in United States,

Reminds me of a certain episode of "Seinfeld".

Gravatar
By in United States,

The one torso in the middle has no back printing. Probably an outdated torso.

Gravatar
By in United States,

This would go great with the Seinfeld set. George already has the fishing pole and marble rye. Just need to put the top hat on Kramer and, of course, a can of beef-a-reeno…

“I'm so keen-o on beef-a-reeno, what a delicious cuisine-o, fit for king and queen-o”

Gravatar
By in United States,

"No reins", is kind of normal for Lego horse carriages. I'll allow it.

Gravatar
By in Canada,

See something like this I would buy on its own, why would they just make it a free gift? Think they could market this by its self as well as a free gift…. or a version slightly bigger and sell it like the Santa sleigh.
Just an opinion.

Gravatar
By in New Zealand,

I've just purchased 21344 The Orient Express and this was one of the GWPs (the other was 40604 Christmas Decor Set).

Gravatar
By in Denmark,

Ordered tonight and received 40604 and 40603 as GWPs - not sure of the price spend needed but mine was £160.96
Happy!

Gravatar
By in Germany,

Why is an apparently several-ton-looking carriage drawn by a Shetland pony?
Time to call the RSPCA ;-)

Feels to me like one of those massive US cars from the Seventies that were enormous from the outside but actually had very little room on the inside.

Gravatar
By in Poland,

@iookjj said:
"the passengers keep each other feet warm :-)
"


Lego should include a mini fleece blanket for them!

Gravatar
By in Romania,

Way out of proportion for the winter village. Carriage seems bigger than the bus from winter village station, bigger than the plowing truck, way bigger than the tram.
Stand-alone it could work, but not in the village. Could have been so much better.

Gravatar
By in Netherlands,

@shawn_rob said:
"This would go great with the Seinfeld set. George already has the fishing pole and marble rye. Just need to put the top hat on Kramer and, of course, a can of beef-a-reeno…

“I'm so keen-o on beef-a-reeno, what a delicious cuisine-o, fit for king and queen-o”"


Yeah, swapping the driver out for Kramer! :-)

Return to home page »