Customer Reviews

Hot Wheels Starter Set

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My 5 year old received this for Christmas. He nearly jumped out of his skin when we finally go it set up and running. But there's more to this story.

The first set we got had a WRONG curved track piece, which prevented me from setting it up Christmas day. To MATTEL's credit I called their 800 number and they immediately shipped a complete set replacement. ( I'm now a customer for life, kudos MATTEL, etc...) A week or so later, we received a full replacement set at no cost, without sending back the original. No slam against Mattel since their no-hassle replacement policy is awesome, **BUT** the replacement set was also missing a piece! ( a straight track was absent this time) Fortunately, between the two sets, I had enough pieces to set it up, and for 19.95, it was still a good deal. Just wish their Chinese factories had better quality control.

My two son's (5 and 2 1/2) were in rapture for the first 30 minutes. As advertised, it only works with the some Hot Wheels vehicles. The sleeker and lighter the toy car, the better. The motor accelerates cars so fast, you can't see them. We got about 3 cars on a track before they started to crash or pile up, which is part of the fun. The two sets together gave us two race cars, two motors, and enough tracks to build a good sized set.

Summary:

* Mattel's replacement policy is GREAT. No returns required in my case so I ended up with slightly less than two full sets.

* If you're not on a strict time line for a birthday/holiday, and you're ok with Mattel's week long, no-hassle replacement experience, I strongly recommend you get this starter set.

If you're looking for a better gift for the 3-5 age group with more re-playability, I recommend wooden train sets.

I bought this for my 5 year old son who has plenty of cars but nothing to use the cars with. He absolutley loves it and plays with it quite a bit. We went through all his cars to see which cars made the jump and which ones didn't work, or didn't complete the loop. Overall a good toy for the money.

We got this when it was on super sale for our 4 year old god-son, and he went ga-ga for it!! He opened it right away, and made his dad go get batteries. We had a great time putting the cars on the motorized track and watching them whiz around. My 2 year old thought it was magic and really got a kick out of it. Super fun!

I purchased this set for my son for Christmas and we had an awesome time putting it together and playing with the one car that it came with. But when we went to purchase other cars for it, we couldn't find a single car (we purchased 20!) that would make it around the track. We can't find any of the recommended cars either. Called the customer service number for Mattel with no luck either. I really don't know what to do now - We have more than 20 cars for a set where only one will work so my son doesn't really play with the tracks anymore... gee, I wonder why? Unless you have a whole bunch of Hot Wheels cars in your possession, this track set is not worth it.

This toy was dirt cheap (less than 10$) during xmas 2007. My 3yr old boy loves it. The car whizzes by around the tracks like a bobsled. It only comes with 1 car and you need 2 D batteries. I wish they made it 4 AA instead so I can you my rechargeables. I dont know how long my non-rechargeable D batteries will last. Overall, its a great toy.

I gave this as a gift to my best friend's 5 year old and after she got it together (took her about 10 min, but she had a 5 yr old boy hounding her the whole time), he and his 4 yr old sister played with it for 2 hours straight! She called me asking why I hadn't given him one of those years ago!! That was Christmas and according to my friend, the kids still play with it a ton. She's bought them more cars for it and everything.

My son loves the Hot Wheels tracks and this was no exception. Arrived on time in good condition.

Exactly what we wanted for our first set. Lots of fun. We've added tons to our set but I recommend this for your very first.

Happy 4year old received this for Christmas. Set up and assembly easy. All the neighborhood kids like it too. The lighter the car the better. My son will get 2 and 3 cars going on the track and then crash. The fun part.

This isn't like the hotwheels sets I remember as a kid. They were endlessly configurable, every piece fit with every other piece, and they lasted for years. That is not the case with this set, they only fit together basically one way, so if you lose a piece, the set no longer works. Also, the connectors on the turns wore out very quickly, and only certain cars work with it. It was great for a week, and then my son got bored and wanted to do something different, and took it apart, and it was never the same again. I don't recommend this particular set.