Robust kind of toy involving building track and making cars go please, age 3

[catsofa]

My son will be three and a half by Xmas, I've just got him a second hand My First Scalextric set but it's flimsier than I expected and the cars do a lot of not working then speeding and falling off. He's just going to find it too frustrating.

Is there another, more robust kind of toy involving building track and making cars go? Something we can add to later would be ideal if possible.

Hot wheels?
My little boy is the same age and loves his hot wheels and tracks. Or a wooden train set?

IMO all the similar tracks are pretty frustrating, we've had a couple over the years and the scaletrix one is by far the best, but even at 10 DS still needed a fair amount of help to get a track running well.

There are a few places which do road track similar to the wooden railways. Plan toys will link up with the garage.

Flexi track might be worth a look although you can't really race them.

Disney Cars florida speedway?
Or hot wheels. These are a bit flimsy for a 3yo though.
You can get wooden (train) car tracks. Or just train tracks with motorised trains.
Would not recommend toot toot. The motorised car comes off the track, which is a shame.
Magic tracks?

Hot wheels definitely. It is quite flimsy and some of the bigger stuff is tricksy but you would do very well with a starter set like the five lane tower or garage. It can be added to and the cars are cheap and plentiful.

The vtech toot toot stuff is great. Super annoying little songs on the cars mind but ds1 loved it. Will be getting it back out for ds2 once he's old enough.

We bought a set from Hamleys recently which may suit. It's called Buzz Toys London Taxi Puzzle Car - sorry, couldn't get a clicky link but that's the full name. It's a set of tiles like a jigsaw that the child can build and then a car that goes round. Track has loads of different configurations and you can add to it with additional packs.

Toot toot is great, very hardy and lots to collect.

We bought ds1 scalextric at 5 and he trashed it he wasn't even being naughty, he just tried to rebuild the track on his own. It's really not appropriate for young kids sadly. Hot wheels stuff is really flimsy too - more so than scalextric imo. The hotwheels cars are fine but the tracks are flimsy.

Toot toot and brio are indestructible. Ours lasted 3 kids and were passed on. You can get battery brio trains I think now.

Brio (or Big Jigs, which is compatible). Lasts for ever, and loads available second hand to extend. You can get cars for it instead of trains. You can get battery or push - along. You can get fun bits to do cargo, points, bridges, etc.

You can get cars and other vehicles which fit on Brio style tracks. There's also this www.woodentoyshop.co.uk/ikonic-toys-wooden-race-track-set.html#fancy-zoom-gallery-image-5 or this www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-partners-wooden-racing-car-and-track-playset/p3037856
Magic Tracks is pretty sturdy and can be added to.
It's also worth looking at the PJ masks rev n rumblers track.

We have a glow tracks set from Smyths, baby and toddler have played with it for a year now, both enjoy it. The track is flexible so you can built your own obstacles (we like to see what we can use for hills and work out what the car will / won’t go over). And you can buy more cars and accessories / bigger smaller tracks and you require.

Thank you all so much, its late now but I'll check out all your suggestions tomorrow and see what I think will work.

Revell junior kits are brilliant - amazon and hobby craft

Hot Wheels for sure. My son is 2 and loves his Hot Wheels cars and track!

You can also do really simple fun stuff like make one long track with a booster to shoot the cars into a plastic box or something.

Way To Play do a rubber road track that pieces together that you can apparently use on all surfaces, indoor, outdoor, beach etc! I think they look fantastic and there are extension packs too... we're just sticking with our wooden trains and track for now but it's on my list for the future.