Customer Reviews

Carrera Go "Disney "Cars" Slot Race Car Set 1:43 Scale

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

As you can tell, this product has mixed reviews. The instructions are indeed very limited in detail, so knowing how to set up a slot car set already is beneficial. Also, there is no info on how to "tune" the cars, which is critical to keeping them in the slot. NOT a toy for young (under 6) kids unless they are supervised. The biggest single adjustment that MUST be made is spreading the contact wires and flattening them so they are parallel to the contact rails. The tips of the wires must also be bent towards the car and not bent down. When the cars are placed on the track, the front wheels must touch the track. If you can push the front end down, it is not adjusted correctly. Once you have them adjusted, the cars will stay in, although you still have to "drive" the cars (fast in the straights, slow in the curves). These cars have limited magnetic downforce. Finally, if you are racing on carpet, recheck the pickup wires after every crash, because they will get caught in the carpet and get pulled out away from the car. Remember... the front wheels MUST touch the track or the cars will come out.

Right now my six-year-old son and my three-year-old daughter are having a great time racing

As a car entheusiast and long time slot car fan I was thrilled to find this beginner set to play with my child. Now we could share the fun and not destroy my premium cars that cost more than this whole set. Sadly, even with lowered expectations, the Carrera Go! Disney "Cars" Race set was a complete let down. After spending over an hour deciphering the cryptic assemply instructions and patiently placing every part my child and I were ready to race. Unfortunately the "cute" factor of Pixar's "Cars" makes a great movie but a poor race car set. The McQueen car is so top and rear heavy that it would never make it past the "fly over" after the corskrew turn. No matter the speed, slow to moderate, McQueen would just roll off the track at the cross over section of the overpass. The "Chick Hicks" car has much better balance and a lower center of gravity. It was able to stay on the track slightly better. Unfortunately both cars are designed with bulky electrical contacts on the front undercarriage. This wire mass prevented the front tires from contacting the track which makes the guide pin the only source of contact. Since it too was pushed up by the wires (yes I flattened them as much as possible) there was little to keep the cars on track. Even the superior "Hicks" car would constantly come off track. The final nail in the coffin for this set was the fact that the electronics were such that the cars would not run independently. One controller would run both cars which makes racing an impossibility. The turbo button on each controller could also be called the "fly off track" button since it's burst of momentum would send either car sailing off the edge even on the start/finish straight. The golden lining of this story is the wonderful customer service from Amazon. Completing the online return process was painless and they even covered return shipping. Kudos to Amazon! Back to the drawing board for Carrera.

This is a wonderful beginner's set and provided my son with hours of fun on Christmas day. His father (me) had slot car tracks as a child and none touch this one. I don't understand other reviews that assert the cars do not stay on the track. Of course, you can't go full throttle around turns and through the cross-over sections, but we can open it up on the straight-aways and the cars really stick to the track. I have found no "balance" or weight issues with the cars, either. This is a great set for beginners and a great value. The instructions were very well though out, although some might say they are cryptic. If you take the time to study the key system, it is a snap to put together. I had this whole thing assembled in less than 1/2 hour. This is my son's favorite toy, and I must say it is his dad's favorite toy as well. Kudos to Carrera and to Amazon for the great product!

I read all the reviews before deciding to purchase this set from Amazon.com. Reviews were correct in that it does take a few minutes to look things over and identify all the parts. Assembly takes a bit of patience to understand the unwritten assembly instructions using schematics and pictures, but once you identify the track sections, connectores etc, it moves along pretty good. Took me about an hour to be up and running before my grandson came over for his b'day. (And I'm handicapped because of my hands). Runs great. Faster than I imagined. The cars have a dual brush(2 each side) setup and as long as they're not bent out of position, the cars really hold the track. What a difference from the slot car set I had 40 yrs ago. If you try to lift the cars while plugged in, you can feel a magnettic pull holding them down. My 5 yr old grandson brought this to my attention. After playing with it for awhile, he already had figured out how to re-allign the car's brushes to better hold the track. His 1-1/2 yr old sister has walked on the track frequently and keeps trying to make matchbox cars work, to no avail. Seems durable and stays together so far. Yes, you have to sometimes re-allign the pickup brushes on the cars to work properly after they've left the track. Yes, you have to slow down a bit at the 360* turn. Welcome to slot car racing! My grandson found out more cars are available on line and is already asking me which ones we'll get next. I would recommend this toy to anyone with a minimal amount of common sense and ability, for their kids or grandkids.

My husband and I got this for our 3 year old son. We have no prior experience with slot cars, but I saw this as a Lightning Deal a few weeks before Christmas. We only picked this up because my son is crazy about Disney Cars and my husband thought the slot car aspect looked fun. For my son's Christmas Eve gift I encouraged him to pick this package to open because I figured it would be too hectic on Christmas to try and put together.

Construction was a little difficult. The instructions are cryptic--no words to help you at all, just diagrams and they weren't particularly clear. But, once we got started it went fairly quickly and the track was pretty fun to build. Overall, it took the two of us about an hour to put it all together. The track runs off of AC, so you don't have to worry about having batteries on hand. Everything you need is in the box (in theory). Unfortunately, the box was missing some non-essential pieces (flag holders) which we've contacted the company about. The little plastic pieces that are supposed to hold the pieces of track together don't seem to work very well (they're constantly popping out on one side), but the track locks together well regardless.

Once the track was built we started racing. This is a great toy! I'm not sure why the other reviewers have such difficulty with the cars--ours works perfectly. Yes, if you go too fast the cars fly off the track, but isn't that the point? Otherwise you might as well get a standard Matchbox-type racetrack that just shoots the cars around without any user control. It took my 3 yo son less than 10 minutes to learn to be sensitive enough with the trigger to keep his car both on track and moving smoothly around. Any of us can easily manage 20 or more laps without flying off the track. But, we have more fun trying to push the envelope--we've discovered there are certain spots on the track where you can tap the turbo button to get a burst of speed without flying off. And sometimes we fly the cars off the track or crash them for fun.

We do adjust the cars (smooth the contacts) as necessary to keep them working well, but again, it's not hard, my 3 yo can do it himself in most cases. We did find that the Lightning McQueen car worked better on the inside track initially, but after several hours of play it no longer seems to matter which car is on which track.

My son played with this toy for 3 hours the first day he got it--he almost fell out of his chair he was so tired by the end. And the first thing he wanted to do Christmas morning was play with the track more. He didn't even think about his other Christmas presents. Time will tell if this toy has longevity, but it certain has been a hit in our house this week.

Contrary to other reviews I found this set awesome. I got it for my three year-old and he loves it (my five year-old daughter as well). Setup took a little bit of time and was painless (but I do have a reserve a patience). Cars do go screaming off the track when you are going too fast, that is part of learning how to race slot cars (much like real life). Give it a go your kids will love it (Dads and Moms too). Adults can navigate the track with no problems whatsoever, but this is racing so push the envelope!
The lap counter is neat too, easily tracks who is ahead in the race.

This was a Christmas gift that was assembled this morning and played with throughout the day; I would estimate it's been played with a total of about 4 hours today. I did buy one of the extension sets so my layout is not the same as what is showing on the Carrera Go "Cars" box. As far as cars flying off the track, I'm in agreement with another reviewer in terms of these cars possibly requiring a "break-in" period. I also agree that the turbo-button is useless unless you WANT to see your cars fly off the track. Seems like the more time we spent racing the cars, the more reliable they became as far as staying on the track, both Lightning and Chick Hicks. Every few minutes I'd check to make sure the contacts were laying as flat as possible. By the end of play today, we were logging 20 or more laps without either car leaving the track. I have several sharp turns as well as a fly-over on my layout. I did not use the high banking turn but I am using the 45 degree banked turn that came with the extension set. I also purchased the Carrera Go Batmobile and Mario Kart Peach individually. The Batmobile sticks to the track like GLUE!!! I don't think it flew out of the slot one time today. It's seemingly much faster than the other 3 cars. "Peach" is also a good performing car; a "fun" car to see zipping around the track but nowhere near as fast as the Batmobile. I did have to add a little more height to the flyover because Peach requires more clearance. If the enthusiasm continues, I will most certainly be buying more Carrera Go cars and extension track. I like the fact that the cars are reasonably priced and the track is easy to assemble. Bottom line, this race set is a hit with my kids, ages 10, 9, 8 and 6!

OK. Read the other poor reviews and I can't see were there are coming from. From my memory of racing tracks when I was younger this track works great. Yes the cars fly off the track, if you don't control them properly that's what they are supposed to do. Control is what makes the game challenging, learn how to make the brushes on the cars contact properly and adjust your speed and you can have a blast, both my 7 year old and I have. My suggestion for those that had a bad experience spend some time adjusting the cars and using the controls and you will enjoy this track. Overall I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a "non video" racing experience.

This car set is ok. The directions are terrible for it only being 25 pieces of track to put together. I assembled it for my 6 year old son and it took me about an hour and a half to assemble it and get the cars to work properly.

HERE IS THE TRICK TO GET THE CARS TO WORK: On the bottom of the cars there are 2 pieces of braided metal rope that hangs down onto the track. They are bent into a "U" shape toward the front and back of the car. I used wire cutters and cut the front of the "U" shape. After that extra was removed the cars stayed on the track and actually kept moving. I did this to both cars.

The car track seems to keep coming loose too pretty easy. There are little clips that hold the pieces of track together and work ok, but not great.

When the track was put together the cars would stay on for about 2-3 laps with my 4 and 6 year old kids playing with it. I would be able to keep the cars on the track much better. Overall it is an ok set, I would have bought again, but not the best out there.

This track is HUGE. Be sure you have the space for it! If it is a gift, be sure to put it together BEFORE you give it to your child. We gave this to our son who is 8 years old with autism. He loves it...so does Dad...ok Mom likes it too.

My husband built a board/case for the track so we didn't have to dismantle it every time we had to move it, but it is 8 ft long and takes up a lot of space. Lighting does better over all b/c his wheel base is wider, so it's good if you put him on the outside track to give Chick Hicks a fair chance. Chick Hicks tends to come off the track more on the outside track.

Lots of fun, but somewhat delicate for a younger child. Even so, I would recommend it to others.