Is it just me or is Hotwheels really shit?

[BlandSoup]

I got my 7 year old some hot wheels for Christmas. It’s been totally underwhelming. The cars just go round and round and do nothing else. Half the cars don’t work on the cork screw thing that takes them up to the top. I can’t figure out why some cars work and others don’t.

looks like you can add an extension on but there’s so many tracks and I don’t understand which ones would work or how they would keep momentum to go round a track.

Is he just too old for them? He really wanted a set but has only played with it for about 5 mins. He said it wasn’t as fun as he was hoping. Which to be fair, it isn’t.

My DS absolutely loved hot wheels up until he was about 8. He saved up to buy the ultimate garage and got so much play out of it - it then went to a charity shop when he was done with it. He has a good imagination and is also a bit of a builder so joined tracks and play sets together for further play value.

The tracks are rubbish, my eight year old still absolutely loves his cars - I just buy the cars and he makes ramps out of other stuff for them, this year he got colour changing ones which went in the bath much to his delight

I’ll have to have a think. Not sure what to do. I’m not sure if spending more money on more track is the best idea. I’ll sit on it a bit. Thanks for all your thoughts about it all. I think I’m more upset about it than him because I wanted it to be all special and magical.

Good idea about making ramps out of other things, thanks.

You are right. They are shit and quality of the tracks is appalling.

You might be able to find it secondhand. The stuff we have is on its fourth owner now, it seems to last well.

Dont pin your hopes on skalextric, we bought a load as students a few years ago in a nostalgia binge and it's so annoying, the cars come off the tracks every 10 seconds and are temperamental.

Argh what?! Was hoping skalextric would be the answer to my dreams. Actually had a bit more fun with the hot wheels today but adding a tube to the bottom so cars could go down there too. Think some of that bendy speed track might be good.

Update!!! Got the speed track and it is so much better. Loads of fun and he’s played a lot with it. Thanks for recommendation.

My DS adored them at 3 but they were in the attic long before age 7. Poor dude has just grown out of them I expect

I have 100's of the cars and I've had many of the tracks and playsets so I know precisely what you mean, 70% of the cars are not track compatible and the large garage toys are better value for money and playability than many tracks.

I forgot to add that a large part of the enjoyment (for me and my son) was conducting an experiment with each of our cars to see which ones worked and which of thone performed better.

@Oher outgrown Hot Wheels by age 7. Really?
My 14 year old still loves getting a new car every so often. This year's Christmas stocking one was a pink corvette thing. Very cool.