Review: 41443 Olivia's Electric Car
Posted by MeganL,
The Friends have consistently included "green energy" options in sets - most recently the use of solar panels in 41449 Andrea's Family House. The smallest of the current wave of Friends sets is dedicated to furthering the green concept with 41443 Olivia's Electric Car. As I have some interest in environmental/sustainability in my day job, this was a natural set for me to pick up.
Inside the box (which has those annoying thumb tabs) there are two numbered bags, two rather small instruction booklets and one small sticker sheet. Choosing to have two instruction books is interesting, and it does allow two people to build the model at the same time. The first bag builds the car, and the second bag builds the recharging station and picnic area. There's a small sticker sheet, which is pretty much de rigeur for Friends sets.
Minidolls and animals
Considering this is a $14.99 set, I was pleasantly surprised to see two minidolls are included, Mia and Olivia. In the past Friends sets have just had one minidoll for a set of this size. Do I dare hope that Friends sets will start getting minidolls at a closer ratio to what non-minidoll themes have with minifigures?
Mia's in a look that we saw a few times last year - the lightning emblazoned top in orange hues with a high waist belt and a pair of khaki shorts. Olivia is dressed in a dark blue tank top with spaghetti straps. I rather like the pattern on the top - it looks like constellations, but at least one of them is shaped like a heart (of course it is). It has a pink tie-waist, which goes quite well with her fuchsia shorts. Elliot the dog is new to this set, and it's unclear his connection to the Friends. Neither Mia nor Olivia have a dog for a pet, so perhaps Elliot is just the cute employee of the charging station. He has striking markings on his face and one of his front paws - surprisingly, none of those are shaped like a heart.
Olivia's torso has some fabulous printing on the back, further showing the constellation pattern. Kudos to the graphic designer on this one! Mia doesn't have quite as much detail in the back, and sadly Elliot has no markings to be seen from the back.
Completed model
The first bag constructs the car - which is pretty standard, and of course there are heart pieces used for hubcaps.
For those who don't like Friends sets being pink, there's not much use of it here, though it's worth noting that the bright purple pieces used for the roof and the rear view mirrors denotes Olivia's signature colour, so its use is not all that out of place here. Sticker details cover the hood of the car and something where a front license plate should be - I'm not entirely sure of the meaning of that blue and white sticker.
A charging port is included on the passenger side (for us in the US) of the car.
There's a license plate sticker for the back espousing Olivia's love of the environment. In this shot you can also see the sticker that's used on the dashboard showing the GPS system.
While there are no doors in this car, the roof does lift off easily, and there are room for two minidolls inside - though it is a bit of a tight fit.
There's even room for Elliot - maybe the Friends will be taking him to his home, whereever that is.
There's plenty of room for other hitchhikers, too.
(Note: sloth is not included in this set)
The other half of the build is the charging station. This is quite the charging station, as it utilizes both wind and solar power to charge the cars! I think the solar panel is a little undersized considering the size of the windmill. There's a battery icon on the front so anyone driving by can tell if the station is ready to provide power.
While charging the car, there's a small picnic area thoughtfully placed close by. I neglected to take a picture, but Mia has brought along a snack of a croissant, and there's a bone available right next to the bench for Elliot.
Overall thoughts
There's a lot here for a pocket money sized set (183 pieces, $14.99, 14.99€, £12.99). I really like that there are two minidolls included, not to mention a brand new dog (even if he doesn't have a minidoll to call his own yet). I really hope this is a start of a trend of more minidolls in sets, as the disparity between minidolls and minifigs in similar sized sets is quite noticeable and it would be good to start to close that gap. I love Olivia's continued trend of having science themed clothes.
There are a lot of stories that can be told with the dog, the charging station and the car, and would go well with several of the sets from January wave as well as the sets coming in March. Though if you want to get the set just for Elliot, I think that's more than enough reason to do so.
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34 comments on this article
Wait... wait....
This car can fit TWO people in it? Side by side? Don't bury the lede here. "LEGO Car Fits Two Figures! World Amazed!"
Knowing the way certain people in the U.K are, they really wood deck out their Range Rovers in pink and with hearts...
Thanks for the review, as always! My kids will love the set; I just want that "I [heart EVs]" sticker. As someone who has been working in the environmental/sustainability space for 20 years now, I am very curious about MeganL's day job. Details?!
Friends is way too pink and cute and heart-y for me but the Friends line consistently comes out with great (sometime little, sometime bigger) sets like this one that I hope could have a corresponding City set.
The heart caps were to much for me! I replaced them with tan round tiles. The car is now in my city with the charging station and the mini dolls. Very satisfied.
Another Friends set I find myself oddly attracted to. A really nice car build, two good figures, a pet and a decent side build. Great little set, the kids (and their 43 yr old dad) will enjoy this.
A car powered by a bird blender uhh I mean electricity.
It needs a Mr. Fusion and a Hover Conversion.
Interesting hub caps
Nice design, except for the sides. They're too open, I think.
A pair of transparent 87552 panels would have improved a lot.
What a neat set. The car looks good, the wind turbine looks good, and the price is right. I may consider getting this one.
The more I look at that windmill tower, the more it reminds me of old-school classic space rockets - and that's a good thing! The other windmill pieces could be reconfigured into a mini satellite, complete with solar panel, and the bench could be converted into a control panel. The more I look, the more alt-build potential I see for a Friends version of 3366 , Satellite Launch Pad. Olivia is already the sciences focused Friend, so a rocket launch pad would not be out of character.
Electric car... without any electricity in it. Who should I sue?
@ForestMenOfEndor said:
"Thanks for the review, as always! My kids will love the set; I just want that "I [heart EVs]" sticker. As someone who has been working in the environmental/sustainability space for 20 years now, I am very curious about MeganL's day job. Details?!"
I helped my parents build a hybrid system in my home, when they want to or there isn't any power they just flip a switch and they have power on the: living room, kitchen and rooms but if they are gonna use something like a microwave then they have to have regular energy or it needs to be very sunny.
I am eyeing this set but the wasps should have been a bit longer on that windmill and a bit taller as well the inclusion of a single solar panel is unrealistic.
This is a cute set. In the real world it wouldn't typically be realistic for an electric vehicle to charge directly off a wind/solar generator, but by compressing the entire energy cycle from production to consumer use into one set, this set should be a great primer for kids learning about sustainable energy.
The new puppy mold is incredibly cute, too! Like the baby bunnies in earlier sets, the puppies/kittens in this new wave of sets are adorable and wouldn't look too out of place among normal minifigures with their beady little dot eyes.
This set is in my wish list!
The hubcaps are a bit much, luckily they are easily disposed of. Nice addition to a city, it too out of place and brings some normality to the road system being full of sports cars!
I really like this but as a 2 electric car household I know that the charge point on the car needs a 1x1 round tile to protect it from the elements (pardon the pun)
It's good to see Speed Champion parts in other sets. A good way to get some light blue guards.
@captainpie said:
"The hubcaps are a bit much, luckily they are easily disposed of. Nice addition to a city, it too out of place and brings some normality to the road system being full of sports cars!"
Agreed. I normally don't read Friends reviews (nothing personal, MeganL), but I saw the teaser photo and thought it looked interesting. I might actually pick this up and adapt it for minifigures in my town...but those heart hubcaps are NOT going to be used as hubcaps. I don't mind the pink, but the hubcaps really pushed it too far.
You're all missing the real problem with the hub caps: every time I park it, I'd have to make sure all four hearts are positioned properly. And what kind of monster takes photos with them all misaligned like that??
I really like the shape of the car. Might have to copy it a few times in assorted colours.
Cute
That license plate looks like a bumper sticker to me. In fact, looking at the sticker sheet, I thought that's what it was. I was like, "Why doesn't it have a plate?"
@ra226 said:
"You're all missing the real problem with the hub caps: every time I park it, I'd have to make sure all four hearts are positioned properly. And what kind of monster takes photos with them all misaligned like that??"
A person after my own anal-retentive heart.
Lego's done some weird things with car lights, this year. Not just in Heartlake City but in the main City line. There seems to be a lot less yellows and clears, and a lot more light blue?
Even here, the rear lights are purple instead of red, and the front lights are green and blue, as opposed to yellow, amber or clear.
I'm not saying it's a good or a bad thing, it's just an interesting choice they seem to have made, for this year's sets.
As an AFOL, I got this set as the shape and the size of the car kinda reminds me of a British Mini or a Mercedes Smart Car. It also happens to be cute. With 2x Minidolls, the price point is cheap and perfect (even at Full Retail).
••• I'm going to be replacing the fuchsia car roof to white. I do like the brighter Friends colours, but if they could knock it back just a shade.
••• In the future, I would like Lego to be able to add 2x Passenger seats to make this a Four Seater.
••• The seating for the park bench should be made 3x Rows long with a Foot Plate to properly seat Minidolls without them sliding off. This is a consistent design fault of all Minidoll sets.
••• I wish the Friends line would introduce new characters rather then reiterating the same 5-6 main ones ad nauseam — It really devalues the Friends sets as a whole!
If Lego would like to Re-Sell this to be again: Make a serious version of a Mini or Smart Car in 8 stud wide and attach it to the Speed Champions line. You absolutely need 6 studs of interior space to seat 2x Minifigures side by side.
Cute set, but if they really want to go green, wouldn't they be better served by taking a bus/train?
So the bumper sticker is "I Love Electrocuting Trees".
@SmilingCyclops said:
"Cute set, but if they really want to go green, wouldn't they be better served by taking a bus/train? "
In most cases, yes!
I love Mia but I think we've seen that outfit a few too many times.
I really like the car! Wish I could get it without the windmill, but I understand why it's there and judging the set as a whole I think the windmill has its place.
I can't believe no one has yet mentioned it!
Thanks for the sloths!
I see a couple hairs in the wind tower thing. Funny to see cause I’m sure it happens to us all and I sure hate it when it happens to me!
Edit-And a tiny one on the car too!
This is a pretty nice set, and apparently good value for money too, even at RRP. Bit of a rarity these days.
As someone who has gone fully EV two years ago, this set also appeals to me from a personal perspective.
Definitely gonna get this one.
The solar panel is way too tiny. Looks like it is used to power the controls only lol