Lego Cars & the Fuel Crunch

[WesternOutlaw]

In our current state of high fuel prices and recent observation of Speed Racer and Agent vehicles; I can't help to wonder, should Lego go green when it comes to their new automobile designs?

Let's analyze this question further by a brief flash-back of Lego mini-fig scale vehicles.

I remember when Lego cars were one seat/4-stud wide (with doors), with an occasional backseat:

They were able to fit in garages like this one:

Even with the introduction of licenses like Spider Man; although we lost doors, vehicles were still 4-studs wide (not counting the ambulance).

Johnny Thunder's Scorpion Tracker provided a little more roomy interior at 6-studs wide, but we're still talking a fairly small vehicle:

But then, Lego started making the "big boys".

Some, like the Batmobil is only a one-seater:

Speed Racer vehicles may be two-seaters, but check out how large they are:

And the new Agents vehicle:

So; back to my question, is Lego building cars too large? Let's consider the pros and cons?

PROS:

• Cars are very detailed
  
• They sometimes allow for your favorite minifig to hawl his/her friends around in a passenger seat
  
• They just look cool
  
• "Hot Rodding" them is more fun
  

CONS:

• They don't fit in that favorite classic garage
  
• Roadplates are too small (unless you drive in two lanes)
  
• 10-15 miles per gallon (I don't know what that is in liters or meters)
  
• More environmentally responsible
  

Based on the above, I can't help to think that Lego should go green and make their vehicles a little smaller.

What are your thoughts on this subject? Wider road plates and bigger garages (or) the return of the 4-stud compacts?

[Corvus]

I'm suprised- you live in the US. No car is "too big".

I do agree that some are too big, but not all of them are. Take a look at the new gas station and the 50 year brick sets- those are still small cars.

I think having a passenger seat is cool, but turning the car into an eight-stud wide monster is way too big.

[Brickmaster]

I'm all for six stud wide - You can make 'em fit 2 people aside each other, still enough room for details, but, they aint gas guzzlers!

Gas will only keep going up. 4 Wide is just too small to be realistic whatsoever, if anything, 6 stud wide that can carry 4, is better than 4 small cars th at carry one each, eh!

[Siegfried]

The Speed Racer cars are way too big. They may be great part sets, but I think they are weird looking models. The Minifigs look very odd sitting in them. The Batmobile was too big too. No street car will be more than 6 wide in my town!

[Corvus]

Gas will only keep going up. 4 Wide is just too small to be realistic whatsoever, if anything, 6 stud wide that can carry 4, is better than 4 small cars th at carry one each, eh!

Don't they call that the Smart Car?

The Speed Racer cars are way too big. They may be great part sets, but I think they are weird looking models. The Minifigs look very odd sitting in them.

I agree. I haven't gotten them yet, but they sit way too high in the car, and the sides are too low. Still, they look like they could have some good modding potential.

Which set did you get? The Speed Racer and Snake Oiler cars are pretty bad, IMO, but the Racer X and Taejo Togokhan's cars look better.

[The Bricksmith]

The 8 wide cars are monsters, way way too big. Yes there is some detail but the make my dragon look small. I agree that 6 wide is the best, 2 minifigs and some details are the way to go. It is more green taking 2 people for 6 wide than 1 for 4 wide. But when gas is really high i prefer the catapult to move my troops around town.

[Siegfried]

Which set did you get? The Speed Racer and Snake Oiler cars are pretty bad, IMO, but the Racer X and Taejo Togokhan's cars look better.

Racer X and Taejo Togokhan. I wanted Racer X so I could run around the house using a grating voice saying "I'm X". I got my moneys worth!

[Hinckley]

This is very similar to the 4 vs 6 wide car poll, except with a much better introduction. And yes, it is a good discussion to talk about them getting too big. I think the bigger the better because they are more detailed. But it does make me concerned about the size of garage doors and road plates and with the Agents line especially the cars are becoming humongous! ...hmmm...a happy medium standard would be great. You could fit four figures in a six wide car, you know.

[Siegfried]

You could fit four figures in a six wide car, you know.

Same story with a six wide truck...

[MoonCheese]

The thing about the Lego road plates reminds me of when I played with Micro Machines a lot in my youth. Some of the roads had lines down the middle, but the cars were much too wide and almost took up the entirety of both lanes. All the streets had to be one-way because two cars couldn't pass each other!

I'm originally from Detroit, and it seems like 50% of road vehicles there are big (personal) trucks or SUVs. Hummers are common. Blehh. I must have been the only one there whose main vehicle was a bicycle.

Edited May 8, 2008 by MoonCheese

[Ralph_S]

I don't think that being 'green' has anything to do with this. I have a thing for building politically incorrect pickup trucks, even if I wouldn't want to be found dead in one and can't understand any practical reasons for having them if you're not a farmer or building contractor. So, what I build with LEGO and what I would prefer in real life are separate issues. LEGO building racecars and big trucks is not a statement about the environment.

As for LEGO cars, I too think that many of the vehicles in the Speed Racers and Agents line are much too big for minifigs, as was the Scuderia Ferrari truck. It's obvious why this is. In order to make the speed racers and the Ferrari truck look sufficiently like the vehicles in the movie /in real life and in order to fit minifigs inside, they simply have to be big. A second reason is playability. From the pictures that I've seen of the Agents truck, there's some sort of laboratory inside. If you want to be able to play with minifgures inside that, it'll have to be big.

For me personally, looking at sets as little more than parts packs, bigger is better.

For my own minifig scale vehicles I use roughly the following widths:

small cars: 4 wide

regular cars: 5 wide

trucks: 7 wide (the same as many city trucks in the current LEGO line-up)

With a little trouble you can still fit a figure inside and they don't look overly big with a figure standing next to it.

Cheers,

Ralph

[WesternOutlaw]

Interesting thoughts. I thought this subject would generate some differing opinions on the subject.

I'm really a Classic Lego fan at heart. I liked the 4-stud wide cars. They fit in one lane and garages. Details included working doors, sometimes a back seat, even an open fuel latch. When Lego introduced the Batmobil, I really did like it but it's so large, buildings have to be larger to look good next to it. I tried building a garage section for it in my custom Bat Cave:

The result was this:

The garage took up half a large grey baseplate!

In any case, even 6-stud vehicles are a little large, but they at least can be used with existing cities. As for Speed Racer, the new Agent vehicles, and all the other "big boys", TOO BIG! I think lego could benefit from a more classic concept when it comes to their autos and "

".

[jayber1974]

As a kid I used to MOC 8 wide cars, vans and trucks, not because big is better but so minifigs could sit side by side but that was to wide. however, 4 wide cars for me were just impracticable IMO. So you can imagine my joy when TLC release the six wide windscreens !!

So to make a short answer long, 6 wide cars all the way. A six wide car will still fit in to the old garage and also under a roller/panel lift door!

6 wide cars on!

Edited May 8, 2008 by jayber1974

[LuxorV]

I've tried 6-wild (link) and 8-wild (wait a couple of days to see it) and I must say that 6-wild are the optimum.

Still, I like good proportions, so, out of a town layout, a good 8-wild car will always have my appraisal (Racer X's Shooting Star all the way ; and modded Mach-5, too ).

LuxorV

[CP5670]

I think 4 studs is the best size overall for cars, but that's 4 studs in the sense of that spiderman taxi or the World City police car, not the old classic cars (from roughly the early 80s to mid 90s). I never liked those old cars even as a kid. 6 studs looks more detailed but they become hard to fit into garages and so on, and look too large in comparison to buildings.

On the other hand, I think 6 or 8 studs for trucks looks great. I love the truck designs that TLG has been coming out with for the last year or so.

[Ralph_S]

I think 4 studs is the best size overall for cars, but that's 4 studs in the sense of that spiderman taxi or the World City police car, not the old classic cars (from roughly the early 80s to mid 90s). I never liked those old cars even as a kid. 6 studs looks more detailed but they become hard to fit into garages and so on, and look too large in comparison to buildings.

On the other hand, I think 6 or 8 studs for trucks looks great. I love the truck designs that TLG has been coming out with for the last year or so.

I agree (although with the mudguards they're actually seven studs wide). The trucks in the current city lineup, such as the fire engines, the garbage truck or the concrete mixer look great. They're big enough to have quite a bit of detail and yet not so big that they look out of place in a minifig scaled city.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Athos]

Funny topic. Also think of how they'll have to enlarge the roads to accommodate the larger vehicles.

Perhaps that could be a good contest. Design a 4 wide car that can seat more than one?

Steve

[MoonCheese]

Easy. Just have one sit behind (or even above) the other.

[Athos]

Easy. Just have one sit behind (or even above) the other.

While that's the easy solution, I don't think it'd be the winner submission.

Or we could refine the rules a bit. I surely wouldn't design a contest with that big of a loophole/ambiguity. Why, they'd take away my law degree.

Steve

[filefolders]

I think it is ironic that they cancelled the Shell line due to global warming but now my minifigs commute in one seater SUVs.

"

".

God, I love those commercials. Have you seen the other two?

EDIT:

Oh, yeah, right. I like 6 wide if they seat four and 4 wide if they look like the Smart cars. Those things are so cute!

Edited May 9, 2008 by filefolders

[WesternOutlaw]

I think it is ironic that they cancelled the Shell line due to global warming but now my minifigs commute in one seater SUVs.

Perhaps Lego wants to sell more of their gas station sets .

God, I love those commercials. Have you seen the other two?

I'm glad someone checked out the link. I have seen the other two. I like the one where the German lady says, "You got an 'F'". - too funny

[WhiteFang]

For me, I always fancy and love 4-stud cars. It can fit my old city sets very well and of course the road plates too. The recent new cars in City is big and no doors. The smaller sets which are released recently are the postal van and doctor's car which are 4 studs wide.

Batmobile and Speed Racer is really too big. They have the details and nice. But they will never be able to enter into my Shell station to pump their fuel. Unless, TLC proposed a wider roadway for these big babies. Otherwise, they will be likely to hog the road on both side

I still miss the old 4-stud cars very much. 6-stud cars is fine, as long it's not a giant and filled with doors and details

[WesternOutlaw]

For me, I always fancy and love 4-stud cars. It can fit my old city sets very well and of course the road plates too.

I still miss the old 4-stud cars very much.

Me too. Perhaps it's our age group or the classic Lego in us.

And even though they were only 4-studs wide, the detail was excellent. I don't own either of the sets pictured below, but just check out the quality of the simple design:

There are many other great 4-stud vehicles from the Classic City era.

[WhiteFang]

Me too. Perhaps it's our age group or the classic Lego in us.

And even though they were only 4-studs wide, the detail was excellent. I don't own either of the sets pictured below, but just check out the quality of the simple design:

There are many other great 4-stud vehicles from the Classic City era.

Totally agreed with your pictures above. I used to own the sets below, but during my childhood most of it are missing and taken apart.

This is another version of the caravan. You can see that within the caravan. There are small details incorporate in it and it is able to sit in 2 mini-figs in the rear cabin. Most importantly, it is 4-studs wide!

Let me do a comparison on the following.

Below is a 1987 Fire Chief's Truck. It is able to sit in a mini-fig perfectly. The equipments can be placed into the rear compartment. The rear is able to open and close, to create realistic features. In addition, the driver seat which have the top frame can be opened with its hinge without taking out the whole frame. Lastly, it's a 4-studs car wide filled with nice and realistic details too.

On the other hand, the Fire Car, in the recent Fire Station set ressembles the new range of 4-studs car wide. Yes, it is able to fit into the road. However, it will not be able to open the top frame. You will have to take out the top frame. The equipments is placed outside of the car which I find it not tidy at all.

I am not trying to be critic over these sets. Both have its pros and cons. This are some of my thoughts regarding the making of these cars. Maybe, I have drifted a fair bit from this topic. Just sharing my views, that's all

[Badsneaker]

I think this Octan fuel driver may beg to differ. He prefers the feel of an 8 wide truck, with a 6 wide cab section.

Please don't disagree with him, after all, he's delivering the fuel you all need to keep your LEGO cars and trucks rolling.