Review Review: 31006 Highway Speedster

[Rufus]

LEGO's 2013 CREATOR range has brought quite a variety of new models; there may not be much in the way of innovation, but I'm sure the LEGO Group knows what sells. For many, the highlight of the new sets will be this latest foray into the realm small-to-medium size cars, last visited with 2010's 5867 Super Speedster. In many respects, 31006 is a follow-on to this model, as we shall see, and we'll get to compare the two later.

Review: 31006 Highway Speedster

Set Information

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Name:

Highway Speedster

Number:

31006

Theme:

Creator

Release:

January 2013

Parts:

286

Minifigures:

N/A

Price:

GB £14.99

|

US $24.99

|

EUR 19.99

|

AU $29.99

|

CA $29.99

|

DKK 179.95

A note on the pricing: In the UK, Europe, and Australia, this set occupies the same price point as 31008 Thunder Wings, which has some 50 fewer parts; whereas in the US and Canada, the Highway Speedster is considerably pricier. 31008's pricing is as follows: GB £14.99 | US $17.99 | EUR 19.99 | AU $29.99 | CA $24.99 | DKK 179.95. I can only assume that TLG have done their market research, and consider this set to be a sure-fire hit that will sell despite the higher pricing - interesting because it's rather a European-looking car, in my opinion.

Supercharge your speed and style in the 3-in-1 Highway Speedster!

Ignite the Highway Speedster’s supercharged engine and head for the open highway! This awesome white supercar features working scissor doors, opening engine bay, detailed engine compartment, sunroof, sleek alloy wheels with rims and cool tan interior. Rebuild it into a classic racing car with a detailed engine or a functional tow truck with hook and warning lights.

• 3-in-1 model: rebuilds into a classic racing car or tow truck
  
• Features opening scissor doors, opening engine bay and detailed engine compartment, sunroof, sleek alloy wheels, and tan-color interior
  
• Classic racing car features engine detailing and alloy wheels
  
• Tow truck features towing arm with hook and warning lights
  
• Cruise on the real rubber tires!
  
• Open the sleek scissor doors!
  
• Open the bay to reveal the detailed engine!
  
• Hook and tow with the tow truck!
  
• Highway Speedster measures over 1" (5cm) high, 6" (17cm) long and 3" (9cm) wide
  
• Classic racing car measures over 1" (4cm) high, 5" (15cm) long and 3" (8cm) wide
  
• Tow truck measures over 2" (7cm) high, 7" (18cm) long and 2" (7cm) wide

Links ... Shop@Home ... Brickset ... Bricklink ... Peeron

The Box

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Click for a larger full-frontal image

The familiar blue-and-yellow CREATOR colour scheme is, on this box, enlivened by a coastal roadway-graphic context for the car. I appear to have - quite unintentionally! - mimicked this for the title picture. It's more than you tend to get on most CREATOR boxes, and I think flatters the car somewhat. It is interesting that the alternative model insets - given unexpected prominence on the box of Thunder Wings - are relegated to their usual position here.

Over the back, the three models parade themselves on the same 'speckled' floor found in the lower half of 31008's box rear.

Click for a larger image

Here, the car's opening features are opened for your delectation. I like the way the bley studs on the side of the nearmost model have their LEGO logos aligned - something I tend to take care to do when building official sets - although it is quite possible that these images are digital renders, which are often used on box art, I believe.

I have often criticised the CREATOR set inventories - found as usual atop the box - for having a background gradient that can make some of the parts difficult to see; I'm pleased to report that this problem appears to have been fixed.

Click for a larger image

It'll be interesting to see if this lighter background extends across the entire range. The wheel construction here provides the customary '1:1' reference; it gives you some idea of the depth of the box, which is considerably deeper than that of 31008 ...

... though both share the same frontal dimensions. I doubt the 50 extra pieces require the increased interior space; it may be designed to mitigate the price hike for North American customers.

This paradox continues inside the box: only three polybags reside within, compared to 31008's four; one however contains a small foetus.

Each model gets its own manual. In common with the rest of the standard CREATOR range, no stickers are included; I wonder if this habit is to change with the introduction of the CREATOR Expert range and its decals.

The Instructions

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The primary model's booklet has a shiny, high-quality cover. Having a smaller height than the box, the car is forced to encroach onto the yellow surround, as if breaking out of the page. The other two manuals have covers of a similar quality to the inside pages.

A plain blue surround makes the instruction steps clear. With about 4-5 pieces per step, the build nevertheless progresses at a reasonable pace. As you can see from this picture, the rear and of the model is almost complete before the front is more than a skeleton:

There are a few small sub-builds, but it's largely brick-on-brick, with very few colour-differentiation issues.

Two double-page spreads advertise the rest of the new range, and some CITY vehicles.

It's nice to see that the new Small Cottage gets a mention here! Behind this lies the inventory; found complete with part IDs here and here.

There's nothing in the second manual besides instructions; the third's rear cover advertises the LEGO Club, with its disturbingly-faced mascot:

The Parts

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A few pieces of blue and red break up the black, white, and grey monotony of the larger parts bag and its smaller offspring. It's nice to see a number of trans-black parts. Trans round tiles and a number of white cheese wedges could prove useful; the large number of light bluish-grey 1x1 studs would be handy if you're a fan of Derfel Cadarn's medieval walls.

The other two bags contain quite a collection of white bows, tiles, slopes, plates and wedges, all are welcome in my collection.

I'm really pleased to see large numbers of 1x2 plates in various colours. The yellow plates might be a little surprising; we'll see why they are necessary in due course.

The only new(ish) part is the 1x2 brick with studs on one side, which I highlighted in my Octan Tanker review.

Model 1 - Highway Speedster

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The primary model is a curvy, 10-stud wide supercar with large, purposeful front air vents, wing mirrors, large 'low-profile' tyres, and a rear-mounted engine. Size-wise it is similar to 2010's 5867, and as we shall see, the two compliment each other rather well.

The low roof, and wedge-shaped profile building to a higher rear end, gives the car a suitably sporty look. The use of this piece improves the look of the tyres, which otherwise would look rather chunkier than you'd expect for such a car. They do a reasonable job off imitating alloys; the pearl light grey colour looks a little flat and it would have be nice to see them in metallic silver. Better still would be new wheel parts with low-profile tyres, but that would undoubtably push the cost up, if it is even possible at this scale.

I like the red and black recesses in the sides, which otherwise would be rather flat and blocky.

The low front is dominated by the twin air intakes, lined quite effectively with wedges, cheeses and bows to create a stylish look. The trans-red 1x1 rounds are a little surprising, but their resultant look complements the other, rather subtle, red parts in the intakes, without being too 'in your face.'

The back is simple but smart, and looks somehow familiar. Using 1x1 round plates to imitate exhausts is perhaps a little simplistic, but it does show the younger builders how to create complex effects with simple parts, I suppose.

Bows and slopes have been used in this model to recreate sexy supercar curves to quite good effect, seen best in this rear oblique view:

You'll note the transparent cover to the engine compartment: a realistic feature of many modern supercars. It opens, too, as we'll see shortly. The little red tiled spoiler is rather understated; it also serves as a handle to open the engine cover.

A new feature in this latest supercar is the transparent roof, formed from a 1x4x3 window panel and a 1x4x1 wall element attached SNOT to a 1x4 brick. It isn't hinged, but lifts off quite easily to access to the interior.

I think the smooth look is an improvement over the previous studded plate of 5867. There's no rear window, however: the driver would have to rely on his wing mirrors!

No steering in this car! I doubt a steering mechanism could be added at this scale without losing much of the exterior aesthetic; I wasn't expecting any, so I'm not disappointed. Note that, unlike most previous CREATOR cars at smaller scales, the wheels are connected directly via a 'live' axle. A minor side-effect of this construction technique is that manoeuvring the car in small spaces (ie., doing a three-point turn) is rather more difficult than with independently-spinning wheels.

There's a large cavity under the passenger compartment, the floor of which is mounted above the large blue chassis rails. I'd expect a 'real' car to have quite a low floor; this is something of a design floor flaw which will cause us a bit of a headache shortly.

Now we'll take a little tour of the car's features. The front headlights make use of a minifigure neck bracket to attach indicator lights; it's a fairly common technique that I've used before, and can be very useful. I do wonder whether the parts should have been white, though. The top-right frame shows the little recess under a 2x2 white tile that contains a trans-red round tile at a half-stud offset. I'm not sure what it's for, but it gives the car a Knight Rider vibe. Now there's an idea...

I've already pointed out the very attractive round rear lights, but let's look at them again. Opening the engine cover reveals that, unfortunately, the engine is a little disappointing, especially compared to the hinge-brick V8 from 5867.

In what is, I believe, a first for CREATOR cars, the Highway Speedster features gull-wing scissor doors (thank you, SirBlake, for the correction). The bley stud acts as a handle to allow the door to be lifted more easily ...

... even if the resulting 'open' door looks a little lame.

Lifting off the roof allows easy access to the interior, itself quite smartly laid out:

The chairs are a little perfunctory. The dash can easily be modified for right hand drive. It's also worth pointing out the two black symmetrical wedge plates under the windscreen, which form an attractive rhomboid shape here.

Here's the downside to the high floor of the passenger compartment:

You can't sit minifigures inside, without removing the roof. Actually, you can, but it involves a bit of modding including removal of the steering wheel, and lying the fig down almost flat. To be fair, you're probably not going to be trying to squeeze this car through the streets of LEGO City! I actually prefer the look without the roof.

I was pretty keen on 5867 Super Speedster when I reviewed it back in 2010. 31006 is its natural successor; I've hastily rebuilt the earlier set so that we can see how well they sit together:

31006 shows up some of 5867's flaws. Its front fender is rather too deep; 31006's wheel trims make the chunky tires of 5867 look rather odd. 5867's curves, quite advanced at the time, look a little blocky, particularly on the wings; 31006's fluid contours are a vast improvement.

On the downside, 31006's rather simplistic engine is a disappointment, and I've already pointed out the poorer turning circle; neither does the front trunk/boot cover open. I also miss the oblique-mounted doors of 5867 which greatly-enhanced its shape.

However, the two sit quite nicely side by side, and this view reveals why I think the two sets complement each other. I remember pointing out that 5867's rear resembled a Lambourghini; the lovely round rear lights of 31006 are definitely saying 'Ferrari' to me. See here for a higher view.

Model 2 - Highway Recovery

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The inclusion of a Recovery Truck as the second model in the set marks a pleasing contrast to the sporty primary model, and shows how a little lateral thinking can produce a very different creation from the same set of parts whilst sticking to the vehicular theme. Owners of 5867, however, won't be surprised - the second model in that set was also a truck, and even used the same SNOT technique for the windscreen. I would hazard a guess that the same designer is responsible for both sets (Morten, I believe).

The use of tiles and slopes to provide a smooth upper surface for most of the truck is quite effective. You can also now see why the yellow plates are included in the set - they create a striped pattern along the sides, as you might see on an emergency recovery vehicle; it's a nice touch, if not exactly stunning.

Trans-orange cheeses complete this image as emergency lights on the roof.

The combined effect is perhaps seen better in this low view:

Also apparent is the neat arrangement of inverted slopes along the underside, culminating at the front in a curved bumper. The arrangement of lights, radiator grill, and the centred 'badge' is a little messy, but it's probably the best that could be done with the available parts.

The brick-built crane/hook assembly combines a number of contrasting colours, and isn't exactly beautiful, but it is functional:

The main upright doesn't move very much; the arm extends a little way, and the hook barely moves at all, being restricted by a small plate/cheese wedge spur. This is necessary to enable to hook actually to hook anything - otherwise it would just swivel uselessly. The protruding blue 3L friction pins spoil the look slightly; it couldn't have greatly altered the price of the set to include a couple of 2L pins, but then again I'm sure just about everybody has a few spares lying around, if the protruding pins bother you.

An interesting shortcut is used to attach the crane arm to the body:

It is simply skewered on the rear axle. Neat! Note that this model also has 'live' axles (indeed, all three models do).

Here's the crane in 'action' - Cameron's antique racing car has broken down, again.

The minifig bracket that creates the hook works quite well, provided there is a plate or brick underside that it can hook onto. You have to place the towed vehicle onto the hook by hand, and it might struggle to tow anything with a low ground clearance.

The truck's interior is neat and spacious, and can seat a System minifigure with ease:

However, the cab roof is quite securely attached, and it can be tricky to remove. This view also highlights what I think is one of the major flaws of this build - it's just a little too low to the ground; you would expect the wheels to be mounted a plate or two lower, perhaps.

Model 3 - Highway Racing

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I wasn't desperately keen on this third model - a classic racing car - when I first saw its pictures, but having built it and spent some time looking at it in the flesh, as it were, I've come to like it quite a lot. Like the 'concept car' model in 31008 Thunder Wings, an ugly lump of bricks transforms during the latter stages of the build into a smooth and sleek racer. I particularly like the use of wedges to define the bulge around the cockpit; the array of lights at the front looks a little odd, but it might be the best that could be achieved with the parts.

The sides are finished with a SNOT panel with a row of bley studs representing, I suppose, exhausts. See, I've aligned the LEGO logos too.

It's profile is somehwat dull, but I like the bowed front and the little wings over the rear wheels. The wheel-hub inserts do well here to give the appearance of spoked wheels, though they are a little too wide for realism.

The back end is also neatly bowed, and here you can see the beautifully-tiled cockpit interior:

It is interesting that the steering wheel is mounted slightly to to the right - I would expect the car to be a single seater. There's a jumper plate included in the set, which I don't think is used elsewhere in the model, so this could be easily corrected.

The car's size is a little too large for a System minifigure, but it looks to be the ideal scale for to fit a Fabulander. It's possible, but only with a minor modification:

I've removed the seat backs here so that Gibson Goat can challenge Cameron Crocodile to a race! This is perhaps what led Cameron to break down.

Click the links below for some alternative views:

Conclusion

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LEGO CREATOR's latest advance into the territory of small-to-medium sized Supercars provides us with a sleek, sporty, powerful-looking roadster that builds on the successes of its predecessor. There is some superb usage of bows and slopes to define the curvy contours of the car; the simple addition of wheel inserts vastly improves the realism of the look. If you own 5867, you will be delighted to note that the two cars are the same scale, and will look pretty sitting side-by-side on the shelf, especially given the 'allusion' to real supercar brands provided by their rear ends.

The two included alternative vehicles are good models in their own right, with sufficient variety to make them interesting and fun builds, and as always significantly increase the value of these CREATOR sets. Yes, there are a few minor flaws, but overall I think the designer has done a fantastic job here.

Design

9

The aesthetic of the supercar is enhanced greatly over that of its predecessor, with a wonderful use of curves to depict the svelte lines of a luxury roadster. The two alternatives are imaginative in their variety, and attractive to behold; they can be inspiring in their use of the available parts to create a very different vehicle from the original. I'm not so keen on the rather simplistic engine of the main build, and if I were to change one thing, I would lower the floor of the interior.

Build

7

The build process is fun if a little pedestrian; unlike 31008 Thunder Wings I didn't experience any 'wow' moments here, although there are a few neat little tricks used here and there. The highlight is seeing how the gorgeous curves take shape.

Parts

7

Aside from the new 1x2 SNOT bricks, which are already becoming quite common, there are no rare or interesting parts; however, the overall part variety and colour palette looks to be more useful than many of the set's contemporaries.

Playability

8

A few fun features enhance the experience, but primarily this is a set for pushing around the carpet or sitting pretty on the shelf, at both of which it excels.

Value

10

I've scored here for the UK price point: at £14.99, this set is a steal. Less so, perhaps, in North America, where it seems to have been hit be a 'desirability' premium, or something.

Or perhaps TLG has taken pity on the recession-ravaged UK, where clearly people can no longer afford luxury cars, even as toys!

Overall 82 % My Score 9/10 A great set, at excellent (albeit location-dependent) value.

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Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the review. I'm sure people will have a lot to say, particularly about the price issue. Fire away!

Rufus

Resources

My 5867 Super Speedster Review

My 31008 Thunder Wings Review

LEGO CREATOR home page

My flickr Set

Endpiece

Who needs steering, anyway?

[J.V.D.]

Great review again Rufus, as usual.

I just picked this one up yesterday, together with the 31004 Fierce Flyer. I buy mostly licensed or themed sets, but for some reason the 2013 Creator line up looks very appealing.

Since I didnt find reviews of both sets on EB yet,I was planning to do some short ones (in fact right now I am busy taking pictures of the 31004 eagle). But you beat me to it, an your review sums up quiet everything there is to say about this set. Makes my life easyer too ..

Me too, I was pleasantly surprised by the pricetag of this set. When I did see pictures of it, I was expecting it to be 25+ euros. But here too it sells for the same amount as the 31008 Thunder wings, and the 31007 Mech.

( On the other hand, the Fierce Flyer sells for 11.99, while I expected it to be rather in the 10 euro range)

I do like the looks of all 3 models, an extra plus for this set because sometimes the secondary models of a Creator seem rather afterthoughts. In fact, besides its side view, I like the looks of the "classic" race car even better then the main model. (reminds me a bit of a Lotus Seven)

Still the main reason I did buy this set is for its parts. I was planning to bricklink some of those white curved slopes anyway, and taking into account shipping costs this set looked as a nice alternative.

So finally the car will be scraped and end up in the parts bin. But isn't that the main purpose of Creator sets anyway? Build it, destroy it and build something else..

Edited January 27, 2013 by J.V.D.

[SirBlake]

I absolutely love this set! As you noted, the curves really make this car, along with some of the finer details. After building it, I spent about 10 minutes admiring it, and another 2 hours modifying and improving it. The first thing to change for me was the engine, adding two more grey 1x1 rounds for a V8 look, and red 1x2 cheese grater slopes for the valve/cam covers. After getting it as close to perfect as I could, I then build another one in black to sit next to it.

This is fabulous, thorough review. Really nice work. One minor criticism: the doors are "scissor doors" made famous by Lamborghini. "Gull wing" doors hinge at the middle of the roof like a Mercedes 300sl or DeLorean.

Thanks for this great writeup. This makes me want to go buy another set and build it again. Maybe change the red accents to blue and add blue stripes for the American race team livery.

[Rufus]

Thank you both for the lovely comments!

but for some reason the 2013 Creator line up looks very appealing.

I couldn't agree more. It's a great line-up.

Since I didnt find reviews of both sets on EB yet,I was planning to do some short ones (in fact right now I am busy taking pictures of the 31004 eagle).

Looking forward to seeing that! That eagle's at the top of my 'must buy' list.

Still the main reason I did buy this set is for its parts. ... So finally the car will be scraped and end up in the parts bin. But isn't that the main purpose of Creator sets anyway? Build it, destroy it and build something else..

Creator sets can be hit-and-miss in terms of their parts selection. I have often considered buying them just because there are one or two parts I need! This one has a great (and useful) selection.

One minor criticism: the doors are "scissor doors" made famous by Lamborghini. "Gull wing" doors hinge at the middle of the roof like a Mercedes 300sl or DeLorean.

Oooh, you're quite right. I will correct myself as soon as I can. Thanks!

[Luke Styer]

I wonder how difficult it would be to "narrow" the car to six or seven wide so it would more easily fit a minifigure.

[captainmib]

Nice review!

I picked up one of these, together with 31008 Thunder Wings, and payed €21 for each.

These are my first creator sets, so i don't have anything to compare with, but i do know that i'm more of a technic guy.

But, the builds of both are nice, and the result is too.

[Timoonn]

They are some one set moc made with the 31006 here: http://forum.hardwar...ojs=0#t33800967

Edited March 30, 2013 by Timoonn

[Xfing]

Gosh dang it, the set I bought off bricklink lacks six of those white 1x2 inverted slopes! I'm so pissed right now, will have to pick those up from Bricklink again :<