Toys for vehicle-obsessed 3.5 year old - which playmobil, brio, hot wheels, bruder sets?

[LeeMiller]

DS seems to have outgrown some of his toys recently and I’d like to get some stuff to get us through the winter, plus he has xmas and a birthday approaching. I try to pick up stuff second hand but there is so much on Vinted it’s overwhelming I’m not sure what to look for!

He likes construction but is mainly vehicle obsessed - anything fast or which opens up to put stuff/people in is a hit. Increasingly likes imaginative play. I’d love to get some stuff that has lasting play value (I have fond memories of my Playmobil doll house, brio and sylvanian canal boat that still get played with lots at the grandparents)

Any recommendations for:

• Brio - aside from basic track any especially fun bits (bridges, turntables, cranes etc)?
• Playmobil - most interesting vehicle sets? I love the look of the campervan, rubbish truck, fire engine.
• Hot wheels - worth it or does it just fall apart? I know he’d love it but we had a cheap version and its too frustrating to use.
• Bruder - we have a simple dump truck and it’s been played with daily for years. Love the look of the crane, Landrover, lorries.

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Ds7 still plays with his Bruder Land Rovers almost daily. Ds3.5 also plays with them a lot. Playmobil is a big hit in our house, the excavator & truck are still played with. We have a breakdown lorry/truck that is good, it gets used with the police vehicles (tow’s away the impounded ones). We have the hospital, police, fire, safari, pony farm & farm here and they are played with daily by my 4 Dc with ds3.5 getting into the farm and all the vehicles, ambulances, police van etc. Hot wheels track is ok gets played with occasionally, the track is better than the sets here. Hot wheels cars are loved by all on their IKEA road rug, they have hundreds of them.

Highly recommend the Bruder range, in particular the cement mixer lorry. Also Tonka trucks are great, indestructible!
DS also loved the Playmobil Airport range when he was a little older.

What colour is your Playmobil breakdown truck, @EcoCustard ? I’ve seen a few on Vinted but reviews on Amazon are mixed, complaints about the ramp not working well or the hook being too small.

The bruder landrovers are lovely and a good size I think.

we have lots of hotwheels cars, it’s probably me not DS who is bored with them . He would love some track.

Does you child like constructing stuff with adult help?

My 4 year old daughter likes Think Gizmos toys as she has constructed a motor bike, handed down by a friend which she did at 3.5 years, and now has a car to do.

She has Hot Wheels and other vehicles she plays with (and leaves for me to step on).

Right now he wants me to play with him but he doesn’t want help with anything @RedWingBootsand gets really frustrated if he can’t do things on his own. So anything too fiddly causes stress for us both.

I Think gizmos and Brio builder look great for the future.

Still interested in a crane recommendation, maybe a mobile one… easy to wind and doesn’t fall.

There is a brio set (about £45) that includes a wooden road, bridge and level crossings, and a train and car where you can open the roof and put people in. Also a similar set that has a crane and cargo train. My son loved them at that age. Also recommend and engine shed (you can get a bigijigs one with a built in turntable)- ds loved putting the trains to bed. As much as I love Playmobil, I would wait until he is a year or so older. They are very fiddly and require quite fine motor skills. By the time he appreciates them he will have lost all the tiny pieces!

@LeeMiller DS (now 5) got a Hot Wheels monster truck epic loop challenge set for Christmas when he was 3 and it is the most played with toy in our house - they've recently released a glow in the dark version that looks great fun. As the trucks are bigger and chunkier they're easier to handle too.

The monster truck hotwheels sound interesting, it sounds big and flashy enough that MIL might be persuaded to buy it for Xmas.

Playmobil is still a bit fiddly, I’d probably put the accessories in a box and add them in later. We only have a pull-back quad (much loved) and the helmet/gloves are hard for him but he loves having a person - the quad driver drives the bruder truck too, and has conversations about nursery and plays pompom football with the Lego builders. So I think some more people and vehicles would really stimulate the imaginative play.

@LeeMiller this one
www.amazon.co.uk/Playmobil-70199-Recovery-Truck-City/dp/B07P8PMYDR
not had any problems with it, my youngest can find the hook fiddly but he just uses it without. He loves the flashing lights and that the ramp moves.

My son loved Wow toys around that age. Playmobil also do sets that are for younger children so no fiddly bits!

Thanks @EcoCustard I’ve just found it second-hand, truck with ramp plus hook plus motorbike ticks a lot of boxes!

We have some Playmobil 123 diggers which are great but I know he loves the extra detail when it comes to vehicles.

I have that tow truck! The recycling truck and campervans always seem very popular. When my ds was young he had a lot of the fire rescue stuff and construction (including a crane). I'd suggest if your ds doesn't like being helped that you put the sets together before giving them to him, as the initial construction can be a challenge for younger children.

Ds also had a lot of Brio (mostly cheaper Brio compatible stuff) and loved that. Hotwheels he found more fiddly and didn't play with so much.

Oh I love your photos of the breakdown truck! Are you the mnetter who does the wonderful Playmobil stories? I’ve bought that truck and some other Playmobil bits (campervan, fire engine and jeep, police motorbikes) second-hand to give him and I have to say I love that it comes pre-assembled (and such a bargain). I’ve put them all away for birthday/Xmas except a police car which he’s played with every day this week in lots of different ways.

after seeing him enjoying brio in a play date I have also bought a big mixed box of brio track with a cargo crane and a collapsing bridge thrown in. I need some trains, wondering about Thomas versus the simple brio ones.

I’m still thinking about bruder cranes and trucks as they’re so good for outside but need to decide which type would get played with most. Think I’ll try to steer MIL in this direction and wait until he is older for hotwheels as it sounds potentially a bit frustrating.

Thanks @LeeMiller yes I'm the Mnetter who does the Playmobil scenarios (royal weddings/jubilee/pandemic/winter PlaymOlympics etc).

My son had such a great time with all his Playmobil over the years. He started off with the fire rescue theme, then construction, and it took off from there.

With the Brio we had a mixture of ordinary trains and Thomas ones. I think the Thomas ones tended to be more expensive though. But ds liked the ordinary ones just as much.

He never really had any Bruder vehicles. He did get into Lego though (had a lot of the Lego City range) but when he was a bit older and able to build the stuff, although he had some Duplo at the age your son is. I hope he enjoys all his Playmobil!