Hot Wheels Reviews

I expected better from Mattel. This toy does not function as promised. It was impossible to put together and has NEVER worked as the directions said it would. I would not reccommend this toy to anyone.

Ok...I found this track on eBay for a ridiculously low price, so I had to splurge since my 5 year-old son is a HUGE fan of the Acceleracers series. Here are my thoughts.

Yes, it is quite involved putting it together, but I found the only hard step was the actual portal. The diagram isnt the greatest for that step, but finally figured it out and got the cars to make it "explode" the right way. Most of the track is on the motorized base, so putting it away just means separating the two launchers and the portal track. Every piece is well marked ("A1", "A2", etc.) and it matches up with markings on the base of the same symbol.

Once you get it going...yes, it is loud. It has two separate motors and the cars REALLY move fast on the inner tracks. My son actually likes to try and launch them occasionally, but usually just plays with it with the motors off. He is ecstatic about this track and hasn't stopped playing with it.

The thing does make me shake my head at times and smile...who comes up with this stuff? But the set is now coming way down in price and if you have a little fan of the Acceleracers at home, this is worth picking up.

This is a very cool and fun playset. I must comment about some of the poor reviews based on my own experience. The funny thing about the reviewers who disagree is I feel they just don't get a key hot wheels "concept"- namely there is tremendous variability in cars- performance characterstics, body shape, center of gravity etc. Certain cars work great on the track, others aren't ideal. Its just like other great sets of the past like Thundershift 500. Like all great hotwheels playsets, they encourage experimentation while developing a child's understanding of physical concepts and cause and effect. There is a recommended list of cars for the set, and it is easy to see the pattern if you just look for it... whatever. Loud? Who cares, no louder than an ipod or an office copy machine.

The launcher issue is in fact an issue, IF you don't have the wherewithal to actually figure out how the launcher works. On a hard floor, the launcher will work perfectly every time, on carpet may work, and may work intermittantly, or may not work at all. You see, there is a plastic mechanical "catch" underneath each launcher that enages the "trigger". Just put a piece of cardboard on it or push the launcher down slightly into the carpet as you pull back the rubber banded launcher. The negative reviews on this point are valid, buy they are not show stoppers. I'm not sure why Mattel put this locking mechanism in place, safety? Who knows.

Bottomline, if you are impatient and have have not internalized or are not interested in teaching the concepts of variability and experimentation, then you might be frustrated with this toy. You can always buy a "screen" toy for your child like a gameboy. For all the rest of you, enjoy!

I BOUGHT THIS LAST WEEK AND I HAVENT STOPPED PLAYING WITH IT YET. THE GRAPHICS AND GREAT AND THE SPEED OF THE PROCESSOR IS FAST. BUY THIS TRUST ME.

This is one awesome bus. Simply the best Hot Wheels has made with this scale. Those red line tires and chrome rims rock!! The picture doesn't do it justice until you get it and see it up close. Simple amazing!! Buy it you will love this one for years to come!!

As a cardboard collector, I was very worried about the condition I would receive this...and was totally SHOCKED when it showed up in perfect condition! Way to go Amazon! The bus itself is beautiful. The spectraflame red paint is amazing, and the detail is second to none. The best 1/18 VW Bus done yet!

This car case is ok...it has a lot of room and is good for storing cars. However, the edges inside the case are too sharp. My son has scratched himself several times while using the case.

I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old boy and we used to have cars lying all over the house. It was difficult to store them anywhere. Also, the strange thing was that many of them seemed to dissapear into another dimension. This case was therefore a great addition to our household. It can be pushed around like a backpack on wheels which is great for playing in different parts of the house - my boys no longer need to carry armfulls of cars around, dropping them all over. Ever stand on an upside down car in the middle of the night? Ouch! There is also space in the case for bigger cars. The only thing I don't like about this is that it is difficult for little hands to open.

My son has collected so many hotwheels cars that it is difficult to keep them all together. This is a wonderful way to store all the loose cars. I wish it would hold up to 100 cars instead of having to buy a second case.

The assembly went well. When using the track, the car doesn't get past the first trap door, even when shifting the gears in the friction car to high. I taped the first trap door shut to experience the rest of the track but nothing worked properly. It goes on a ramp that is suposed to invert and swing down but that doesn't work properly without grabbing the ramp and doing it manually, then when it gets to the next stunt, it is suposed to go through a slide-like ramp and come out and roll to the tomb, but it doesn't do it. This toy is as bad as Volcano Mt. Mountain.

We had the Rev Ups Skyway before this one and the Tomb Trap is much better. The Skyway set never stayed together. The main complaint I have about this one is that not all of the Rev Ups work with this track. The one that came with it kept getting stuck when it got up to the top. My son has several other Rev Ups though which do work well. My advice is to stay away from the larger looking SUV type Rev Up vehicles when using this track. Also, my son is 6 and it did take him some time to get the hang of this. You have to have the vehicle going at just the right speed & then shift it into high gear at the top. He's had lots of fun with this toy.

it is grate but look on the box and it will tell to rev it slowly and go faster and it works like on the tv commirshel the speed shifter is not stuck now

My great nephew was turning 4 years old and he wanted a guitar. I had purchased one for him that did not work. I wanted to buy him a new one for his birthday. I searched Toys-R-Us on line and found the Hot Wheels Guitar. He loves his Hot Wheels Guitar. This is in addition to his keyboard, drums, accordian, and xylophone. I believe he's going to be a musician some day.

Thanks for a wonderful birthday present.

I got this at a garage sale from a neighbor for 4.00 and my 3yr old who is a natural born drummer loves it so much, I thought oh this has to be better than him running around with my yard stick pretending he is jammin on a guitar. LOL he was knocking over everything....But not my 18month old wants it so bad he too loves it but my 3yr old doesn't want to share, on occassion he has and then the baby flips out when I take it away. I am now looking for another used one. If anyone has one and wants to sell it cheap please contact me by adding me as your amazon friend with a note. I will say this I would never spend 30.00 on this nor any toy LOL>.. thanks

My son had one which broke, and this is much more durable and sounds terrific - I can actually enjoy him playing it! There are a lot of preset songs on the guitar, and it speaks to you. My son is 5, and he absolutely loves it!

I returned both that I ordered because the playmat was not included in the item as advertised. I am very unhappy with the item's advertising.

The Buried Treasure playset, as well as the Haunted House, were bought as Christmas gifts for my 3 1/2 yr old son. Both my son and 1 1/2 yr old daughter love them! My son can play it by himself, but my daughter just pushes the car up and pushes the buttons to make the sounds. These are the first toys the 2 yr old boy I babysit plays with! My only complaint is that it doesn't work well with any other matchbox or hotwheels cars--only the cars it comes with. It's hard for the younger kids to understand that. Overall, the kids love it and it keeps them busy!

I bought this for my son for Christmas after he saw it advertised in a magazine. He has been playing with it almost non-stop since then. It is loud and somewhat intricate but easily masterable by small kids. It also connects with other Matchbox sets and comes with a mat for layout. Based on my boy's interest and use so far, this rates 5 out of 5.

When my son received the car case he was ecstatic! My son is a huge matchbox/hot wheels car fan and has over 100 cars and trucks and needed a better solution to the many small cases offered in the stores. But as soon as we openend the case we saw a huge problem. Most of the cars made today are too big to fit in the slots. As he kept trying to put his cars in the case he was getting frustrated because over half of his cars are too wide for the slots. We tried turning them different ways, moving them to wider slots, but they still didn't fit. Unless you have "standard" sized cars I would not recommend this case and I would give it 1 star. I also agree with the other review that this case is not very durable and within a few times of opening and closing the case I could see the latch was loosening. My son still loves pulling it around, and he would give the case a 4 star review.

I bought a set of 75 cars for each of my sons and needed someplace to store them. When I found these cases, I ordered two immediately. They do hold a lot of cars and don't take up too much space. BUT - My children have two complaints: 1) the latch doesn't hold the case shut well and it sometimes comes open, once spilling most of the contents onto a snow-covered driveway. 2) The interior design is flawed so the gate designed to keep the cars from falling out of the case when it opens still allows cars to spill out even when it's in place. YET, my boys wouldn't give their cases up for the world. The ratings are theirs.

It's better than what we had for Hot Wheels tracks when we were little, that's for sure.

The battery operated launcher is fun, but doesn't quite have the power to get the heavier Hot Wheels through the track. Even some of the ones that come with the set (10 were included in our package) don't make it through. It's fun to get a few cars going around the track, and our 3 year old thinks it's hysterical to watch them crash.

It's easy enough for him to start up and after a few times he learned the proper way to set the cars up to send them around the track. He has as much fun with it turned off, though.

Definitely, this is a "play with your dad (or mom)" toy, for at least under 8 or so, since it's not easy to set up, for a little one anyway. For an adult, it's a snap to put together the configurations and it comes apart and goes together easily.

We've been having a ton of fun with it, and are very happy with the purchase.

it is fun but you need a dad or mom that is good at building or it will be hard my dad coid not build it so my sister had to it comes with ten cars no skalls on the cars so overall it works grat and one of the cars if you shake it the car body woid come of prably becuse it cashed alote on the set it probly woid be $70 dollers it is worth the work to get the money

The Power Booster has two battery powered foam wheels that propel the car through the loop the loop and around the rest of the track. Our 4 year old has a lot of fun with this set. You can buy some extra lengths of track at other toy stores to make the track longer or to build your own layout. The key thing is to use newer cars. If you pull out the cars that you played with 20 years ago, the wheels probably won't spin freely enough to work on this set. Older cars probably won't even make it through the loop the loop. You really need cars that roll well. If you buy this, spend an extra couple of dollars to buy some new cars to go along with it. Cars that look like regular sedans seem to work best. Trucks, mini-vans, etc. don't go through the power booster very well. Also, the set works the best on carpet. On a hard floor it slides around a bit as the cars go around the track. With about three feet of extra track and newer cars, we have had up to four cars going at once. It's a lot of fun.