Review: 75909 McLaren P1
Posted by Huw,
75909 McLaren P1 is one of four cars soon to be released as part of the Speed Champions theme which to all intents and purposes is a reboot of Racers that last made an appearance in 2012.
The McLaren P1 is a £866,000 900bhp hybrid super car capable of speeds of 217mph. Going by the colour this LEGO model appears to be fashioned on the prototype vehicle which can be seen here, complete with a video of it being driven by Jay Leno.
Let's take it for a spin...
Box
The vibrant box art shows the vehicle at speed around a track.
Surprisingly the driver has to change the wheel half way round the course, I wonder if there's a spare one in the boot of the real vehicle?
Parts
I always have trouble determining exactly what shade of yellow or orange a model is made from from the picture on the box but once it's opened it's obvious that it's what LEGO call Fl. Yel. Ora. but better known to us as bright light orange which has been used extensively in Chima sets featuring the Lion tribe.
Consequently, given its relative rarity, this set contains a lot of parts new in this colour, as well as a handful of brand new parts.
Here you can see the new mudguard piece which is quite different to the old one, 50745. The canopy piece is also new and, thankfully, printed. The other parts have appeared before but are new in this colour.
The wheels are, I believe, new. They feature a disc brake pattern on one side which isn't entirely accurate for cars but looks good nevertheless. The set comes with a choice of 'alloy wheels': 5 and 12 spoke varieties. The 2x4 axle brick is new in these sets and the 2x3 bracket is new this year.
As you can probably guess from the box artwork the model is heavily reliant on stickers for its finished appearance, no less than 18.
Minifig
A single minifig is provided, wearing a McLaren badged race suit and a silver helmet, which I haven't come across before.
A McLaren logo is printed on the back.
Construction
There's not much to say about the construction, it's pretty straightforward with ample use of SNOT front, back and sides to model the body shape.
Completed model
After about 20 minutes building the model is complete: car, cones and kerb.
To apply stickers or not to apply stickers, that is always the question with sets such as this. I don't like them and generally don't apply them so as service to those of you in the same boat I haven't applied them so you can see what it looks like without.
Actually, as you can probably tell, I have applied two: on the 2x2 black tiles on the sides. Without them it looks totally wrong so I felt they needed to be added to make it look something like the real car. I would say that with the exception of the four required for the headlights, the rest are largely superfluous and while adding them will improve the appearance, it will look OK without them.
From this angle is looks pretty good...
Side-on, it's not bad either although whether LEGO has been successful in replicating the sleek curves of the real thing is debatable. Regardless, it looks like a fancy sports car and for many potential buyers that will be enough.
However, look at it from the front and top and the design flaws become very apparent: it's far too narrow!
The dimensions of the real thing are 4.5m long by 2.1m wide. The LEGO one is 18 studs long which equates to 1 stud=25 cm. The scale width should thus be 8.4 studs and it's plain to see that if it has been made 8 studs wide it would have looked so much better and there would have been room inside for two seats, although I concede that fitting two minifigs in would be a squeeze.
Verdict
There's a lot to like about the model: its vibrant colour scheme and curved body which, while not really very much like the real car, looks great. For me, though, the fact it's too narrow mars its overall appearance and I can't look past that. Converting it yourself to 8 wide is not really possible, unfortunately, given the width of the canopy, so we're stuck with it.
CapnRex101 tells me that the narrow width is not such an issue on some of the other vehicles in the series because they are shorter but on this one it makes it looks more like a bobsleigh than a car so consequently this is a missed opportunity to produce a definitive LEGO version of the ultimate road car.
Nevertheless, non-regular LEGO buying petrol heads attracted by the McLaren license will almost certainly see past its flaws and it will no doubt take pride of place in many a display cabinet and on office desks around the world.
Seven Speed Champions sets will be out in 1st March: this, and the other three cars, will cost £12.99 in the UK. US pricing is not known (by me at least) at present, but if I had to guess I'd say $14.99. We'll be reviewing more of them in the coming weeks.
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44 comments on this article
Nice build, since Lego haven't been good at making *sports cars in the past in my opinion. Sad that it only fit one figure but at least the car looks o.k. for that price.
One question though, are the stickers any good? Have they improved from the last few years or are they still pretty bad?
* Lego Racers not included in my judgement, I was talking mainly about City.
Only time will tell if they are any good or whether they peel off as has been the case with recent ones.
Nice review. Racers went out on a high note, with better Monster-Trucks than ever, and I'd be surprised if they made better ones, but I really don't know if I'll be picking these up, for three reasons.
1. I am focusing on Bionicle at the moment.
2. They seem a bit small for the price. £7.99 - £9.99 would be understandable.
3. I have quite enough cars at the moment, until I finish a few MOCs.
Hmm...
@ Joe-Jones: The stickers haven't been too bad over the last few years, but 2013's ones were awful, I have to admit.
@ Huw: Yes, 2013 stickers were awful for me, in the end, I tried Sello-Tape over them to hold them down. When I have money, replacement stickers may be a good idea.
Stickers between 2001ish and like 2010 have been awful, I just don't bother with them anymore. My issue is I bought some sets last year and the pieces are cracked. A few pieces in a Friends Animal and a Mixel. That is inexcusable to me.
The price seems high, I was thinking $8-$10USD and about the same in Pounds (Because you guys have taxes.)
Thanks for review, especially linking the real life review, which was pretty interesting. Still, one thing: I would prefer you to use the stickers on the set, as it's meant to have stickers. All of them, not only 2. I totally understand that you prefer it without stickers, but it's just my understanding that they're an integral part of the set and as that, should have been applied and therefor being reviewed - as part of a complete review. Don't take it personal, it's just my opinion. I hope you get my point.
I noticed before that it's pretty long, and I am not yet sure if I like it. It's currently still on my want list, together with the Italia Ferrari. I guess I leave it there, as this might be a nice impulse purchase one day.
You know, I saw a white car that looked almost exactly like this. But I live in a fairly small town in America, and don't believe what I saw was this. But the front headlights and the spoiler on the back were spot on with the P1...oh well, still looks great!
the classification of 10248 F40 is "speed champions" on brickset but it is supposed to be a Creator Expert set ... this set will be really a fun and "kiddy"speeedchampion set :( ?
From the images I've seen so far The McLaren seemed least attractive to me. In fact, it's the only of the four cars that I haven't marked as 'I want this set'.
The parts look interesting, but I would agree that it doesn't look much like the real car, but rather like a fairly nice, but also slightly out-of-proportion Lego sports car.
The F40 will be a true Creator Expert set, built to the same standards as the VW T1 Camper Van and the MINI Cooper. I've heard it's pretty darn impressive
A silver crash helmet was used on the knight in Dragon Mountain (with the visor attached). This set looks okay. I don't see the need for new mudguards outside of a licensed car theme, though. Does it look good when the minifigure is seated in it?
I'm new around here but I must say that these reviews are brilliant. Thank you and I look forward to reading many more.
I'm not into city sets; but what is the reasoning behind vehicles only being 6 studs wide as opposed to 8?
^^ Thank you.
^ I suspect cost played a big part in it.
@yamaki, I take your point but you can see what it looks like with the stickers on from the box. I will not be alone in being sticker-averse so I wanted to review it from that perspective.
CapnRex101, however, applies stickers and his reviews will show them.
Really looking forward to these, the P1 in particular. I like the new mudguards, should be much easier to MOC cars without having to worry about filling the awkward gap at the top of the wheel arches.
So we're still getting a "McLaren Mercedes" set, a year after McLaren announced a switch to Honda from the end of last season onwards?
Awkward....
But I digress. This looks nothing like a P1. It's completely wrong. But I'll pick it up for those new parts.
If LEGO wanted something done right they should have printed pieces.
I like the review more for not having the stickers because I can see what the set looks like all the time with them, this way I can look at just the pieces.
I can confirm $14.99 in US, at least at TRU.
I stand by what I said: shouldn't Speed Champions be a subtheme of Racers?
I still love this set, narrowness or not. Plenty of SNOT, a snowboard spoiler, chima orange... and it's a freaking $15 racecar! The silver car is the only other really appealing one for me; I guess I just like the racecars with slick color schemes. Ah well.
Sorry, this is truly awful.
Why they didn't do the 12C is beyond me - having seen the P1 in the metal at the Genf Auto Salon last year, it is not a looker................the 12C is far prettier.
Awaiting the GT3 Pug's which look a far better bet.
Wondering if they would do a Black AMG Series as the licensing from Daimler does not seem to be an issue.
It's certainly a fine model of a generic curvy sports car, and as I take a minimalist approach to stickers I'm interested that even Huw feels there are two necessary ones in this set (plus the headlights, which are often taped over for racing purposes and I don't feel bad leaving off the car). The color choice and very reasonable price mean I'm likely to pick it up even though I don't feel much interest in the specific car--that and the snowboard spoiler! If the small Ferrari sets are close to this in quality I shall certainly get at least one of them too.
All Lego sports cars are too narrow--but they have to fit on Lego City's narrow streets so I suppose it's inevitable. At least they look like full-size cars, unlike the 4-stud wide cars most City drivers have to use.. Poor Emmet seems to be stuck with a slightly vamped-up golf cart!
And it's clear that Lego City is not interested in any sort of car-pool encouragement!
$15 for this? Yikes. I'll buy the $15 couch, Friends or Elves sets before this.
As a major petrolhead I'm pretty dissapointed with how this turned out. I think it doesn't look as a P1 at all. It just looks like random supercar. Only angle that look similar to real P1 is the back. Some MOC'ers will surely get this set for the parts but I'll pass. I hope that Creator Expert F40 will look as good as Mini Cooper and VW T1 Camper van, I want Lego to make more of those. Cheers!
Looks awesome! I just wish there weren't as many stickers.
^^^Given the piece count (from what I could see on a German site), $15 is reasonable, the lowest is 151, and the highest is 168, thus at .10 a piece, the gold standard for Lego sets for many.
Really cool looking car. I'm looking forward to all the cars coming out, especially the Ferrari car carrier. Thanks for the awesome review!
All the stickers have turned me off to this entire series.
It has 168 pieces
only gripe is the sticker sheet, cos it looks awful without them. i think it's a great set to own for the new car parts. i have no concern over the cars being 6 stud wide cos I also build them that wide.
I'm all for stickers. Put them on I say! Your photos do a better job of showing the sets anyway, but I feel we're not seeing a completed set sothout them. Just weighing in...
I have to admit, I was a little disappointed by the fact that the car is only 6 studs wide. All the cars I build are 8 studs wide and I feel like Lego has decided to only have 6 stud wide cars. The amount of stickers could be seriously altered by the extra 2 studs too. Aside from that, I'm really glad that Lego finally came out with some minifig scale racers that are also car in real life.
I do appreciate the non sticker photos. I have been excited to get my hands on this series, and am even more excited now.
Just picked up all 4 and the truck at smyths.
Regarding the sticker issue, I haven't had any issues with peeling or cracking stickers in sets from at least the past seven years. Maybe I've just been lucky.
This is a cool design, and I can't really nitpick it, not being a car buff myself. It certainly looks nice. The new wheels, mudguards, and hubcaps look fantastic. The windscreen and other new elements are nice as well. Love the color and the use of a minifigure snowboard as a spoiler!
The Silver Metallic helmet has been in several sets previously — see here: http://brickset.com/sets/containing-part-4632099 Granted, the only one of those sets I have is MBA kit 3 (20202 Robot Designer). It certainly looks cool. I love the quality of today's metallic/"pearl" colors!
The stats of the actual car on the back of the box are a nice touch.
Speed Champions is looking good so far. Not sure if I'll get this particular set, but I'll probably end up getting at least one.
Part of me wants to gut the thing and use Mixels ball joints to make a transformer. Hmm...
Me when i see those sick new wheels:
http://youtu.be/Voe1woMb7pk?t=24s
Love this new series. great pics
Cool set! :D
It's not a great representation of the car, but it looks like a nice set. Those new wheel arch pieces look terrible though. And the 'Ferraris' look like they'll be far worse. Only the twin Porsches look anything like the real thing.
Oddly enough, this is the only set in the theme I'm interested in (despite the narrow width and/or any other inaccuracies, it has a nice design).
I always clean the parts with rubbing alcohol before applying the stickers. Dust and fingerprint oil may reduce the adhesion. A clean part is best.
Not a fan of sports cars per se, though a big fan of Top Gear, but it does look too narrow for its height.
How would it look alongside a "tame (minifigure) racing driver" or three motoring journalist minifigures?
I think people have to understand that printed parts cost more. So if you want this car to be 20-25 dollars then I guess LEGO could used printed parts over stickers. Like it or not stickers keeps prices down.
I think that is the one fault with these though. For 14.99 USD I just did not see these being hugely detailed. The fact it comes with wheels and some new parts is surprising to me for only 14.99 USD though. Still it just does not seem very 'special' to me, no more than say the Octan race car they did for last year: 60053
It's interesting that people want 8 stud wide cars. I like the speed racer 8158 and world racer 8898 sets. These prove that lego know how to build decent cars.