Are Hot Wheels racing track sets any good? Or Disney Cars Lightning Speedway?

[louweasel]

Thinking of buying one for DS(5 years). Will he be able to operate one OK and how much of a hassle are they to set up? Was thinking about the Hot Wheels one that hangs from the top of a door! Thanks.

My son has a couple of hot wheels sets and I have to say that the track connections break very easily. Not that easy to set up either and once set up, where do you put them?

Have a few hot wheels ones that don't last long once set up. I would be very wary of the door one. We have the cars figure 8 race track where they meet in the middle and one gets pushed off. The boys love it and it folds easily but it only works with certain sized diecast disney cars and they can be difficult to get hold off. Normaly cars probably wouldn't fit the track.

Hotwheels tracks are definately not as exciting as they look on TV. Irritating to put together and take apart and impossible to store. Having said that my DSs like theirs.

oh the track that hangs from the door is fab, its about the only hot wheels set the ds1 has ever had that actually fits together properly and does what it says it will.

Thanks for all that - I suspected Hot Wheels sets might be hard to put together. Presumably they are designed so you can take them apart, but not much good if the track connections break easily.
23balloons - which size Disney cars fit on the racetrack? DS has a set which came in the transporter Mack and they are slightly smaller than the Lightning McQueen that comes with the track. Will they not work?

Does anyone know of any good inexpensive solutions to childcare in Nottingham over the summer holidays - activity clubs etc would be interesting

DS (4) had a craze from them so DH cruised the local boot sales over a few weekends. We got a couple of sets in really good condition for a few quid (some of which we saved and used as Xmas pressies). No way would we have spent £30 plus on them as agree that they are flimsy.

HTH

louweasel the cars with the mac transporter are unlikely to work. If you look on the box of the cars track you are going to buy it will tell you exactly which cars fit. They are wider than hot wheel cars and they need to fit to be pushed through by the mechanism.

Just about all car track sets are deeply irritating! The trick is to buy them from carboots so you won't feel so 'done' when its been pulled apart for the 50th time, bits have gone missing, got bent etc.

You can never get these things back in their boxes once dismantled, BUT if you're still keen, get a decent long-enough plastic crate to store it all in, then AS IT COMES OUT OF THE ORIGINAL PACKAGING, put a coloured sticky dot on each piece so you then know all the red dot pieces belong to THIS set, all the blue to that etc. Put it up then PHOTOGRAPH IT. Otherwise, unless you religiously keep the packaging and instructions you'll never know what goes where! I speak as the veteran of possibly 200,000 raceways/car tracks/grand prix circuits!

I'd advise against anything that involves toys attached to YOUR doorways unless you have an entirely spare one! The effort required to construct it and make it work will be twice as hard to bear once it's been demolished by the first careless entrant!

Please have a good look at a hot wheels track before buying it. We had one a few years ago which had an escalator which lifted the cars up, this broke within a few weeks.

DS had another one for christmas this year (which luckily was reduced but should have been £35) and it was quite frankly the biggest pile of crap we have ever had. The track was really flimsy, the connections broke really easily, it took ages to set up but didnt stay together properly - the adverts are great they still almost convince me now but the reality is a massive let down!!

I looked at the lightning speedway track a little while ago - I liked the fact that it folds up but I dont know how well it is made. I dont think it comes in a box so you should be able to get a good look at it in the shop.

I would highly recommend Hot Wheels T Rex, which I found to be really sturdy. Also, Gorilla Attack, both fantastic and lasted boys along time. They have just started to ask for T Rex again and we have had it about three years.

Hi - we have had a couple of hot wheels sets and we also have the Disney Cars Radiator Springs track. IMO both are pretty rubbish however, for DS2's birthday, he had 2 of the smaller Hot Wheels sets which are designed to just flip open with no building and these have been much better. They pack away when not in use and are easier enough for him to use on his own at 3 years old.
The best bit was, they were buy one and get one half price in Woolworths (about a month ago).
Hope this helps!!

Thanks for all the advice and recommendations - I think a bit more research is called for before I 'help' DS spend his birthday money.Just want some track that works well with at least some of the myriad toy cars we have collected over the years. Mumtogusnalbie - will check out local Woolies for smaller Hot Wheels sets - sound less hassle and easier storage.

Reviving this thread as DS has asked for one for his birthday. Have they improved any?

Well we bought Hot Wheels rollup raceway - it lasted about 2 weeks. Thin plastic track which stopped rolling up and then was useless because it got all deformed when you tried to just wrap it round the launcher. DS did love it though . Saw Hot Wheels Starter set at friend's house and looked good - just gave one to DS yesterday. It whizzes a car or two round a figure of eight track and a loop. It came with 1 car and the only other one that works on it is the one other HW car we have (left from Roll up Raceway!) Teenage DS put track up no problem (definitely not a job for DS 5). DS pleased with it - hardly interactive though - the car just shoots round endlessly and noisily!