Pick of the week: Flo's V8 Cafe

 

  • Pick of the week: Flo's V8 Cafe

    Posted by Huw, 04 Sep 2011 16:24. Filed under Pick of the week.

    8487: Flo's V8 Cafe
    Cars, 2011
    More details...
    ©2011 LEGO Group

    This week I've chosen to write about a set I never intended to buy. When I first saw the Cars sets, I decided to give them a miss, partly because they didn't have minifigs in them, but also because, well, I have to draw the line somewhere, I can't buy everything! However I had the opportunity to buy the set for 33% off when some friends bought three of them in the Argos 3-for-2 sale a few weeks ago, so I thought what the heck, why not...

    The set's main appeal is definitely the cars themselves, of which there are six included. Lightning McQueen and Mater are among them and I'd tell you the names of the other four had I not just put the box away in the garage; their names aren't mentioned on the instructions anywhere. EDIT: I've since verified the rest are Flo, Fillmore, Sarge and Sally.

    There are several great things about the cars from a LEGO perspective. First, many of the parts are printed so there's no fiddling about with stickers that you can never apply straight and which peel off in a couple of years anyway. Next, there are some really nice new pieces in them, which give the cars a smooth, curved, streamlined look. Finally, two of them are a 'light aqua' colour which until now has been quite rare.

    The V8 garage itself is there to provide some play value and it does a pretty good job at it, featuring as it does a car wash, petrol (gas) pumps, and a 'car cafe' area.

    If you have no other Cars sets this is a good one to start with because of the number of vehicles in it, including the movie's main protagonists.

    Now having become besotted with the cars themselves, I'm wondering if I should just bite the bullet and buy the rest of the theme...

    The set is currently 20% off at Amazon.co.uk and 14% off at Amazon.com:

     


    21 comments, latest one posted 21 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by JonnyRonny in United Kingdom, 04 Sep 2011 16:56

hmm I definatley wont be buying any of these sets but i always thought that the cars themselfs were just one peice with the small lego wheels to attach on not built up of lots of small peices although the printed peices is probably a bad view to tons of people os it means no mocing ability.

Posted by starfire2 in United States, 04 Sep 2011 17:38

i have this set. It was an easy build. I like Sally, Sarge and Flo the best. I think they could have done a better job on Fillmore's face. My 4 year old really loves it. I wish they had put in Sheriff though.

Posted by DrDaveWatford in United Kingdom, 04 Sep 2011 18:10

:-)

This is my favourite set in a theme which I also never intended to buy but which I have now bought all but one set of, so welcome to my world, Huw, and don't bother resisting ! It's unfortunately the only Cars 2 set apart from the Spy Plane Escape set which has not been discounted by more than 30% on Amazon UK at some point.

Posted by Thomson & Thompson in Canada, 04 Sep 2011 20:57

I love the Cars as well, but for $75 with not a lot of structure I won't be getting it.

Posted by rainstorm26 in Europe, 04 Sep 2011 22:36

@Huw,

Last time you did a review of the Sponge Bob set, it quickly went to one of the top 25 purchased sets at Lego.com US. I hope TLG gives you some commission for reviewing sets.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 05 Sep 2011 06:09

^ No, but Amazon does...

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 05 Sep 2011 07:13

@Huw: AMAZON PAYS YOU TO REVIEW THESE SETS?!? O_O XD

Posted by Martin in United Kingdom, 05 Sep 2011 07:20

^ No...but the affiliate links do when people go there to purchase them.

I haven't purchased this set yet but I was impressed with McQueen and Mater when I bought them. They may the Cars 2 theme a must-have for me to...

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 05 Sep 2011 07:27

@Martin: Oh, right! XD

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 05 Sep 2011 07:51

Yes, thanks Martin. Indirectly, Amazon gives me commission.

I review
I persuade you to buy
You click through to Amazon and buy
Amazon give me a small cut as a result.

That's how affiliate marketing works.

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 05 Sep 2011 08:39

@Huw: So, for Amazon, you're basically a salesperson? :P XD

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 05 Sep 2011 10:11

No, because I'm not employed by Amazon. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affiliate_marketing to read how it works.

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 05 Sep 2011 10:53

@Huw: What I meant is that even if you're not employed by Amazon, they see you as a salesperson. :P If you try to convince us to buy it, for Amazon, you're a salesperson. :P

Posted by PerryMakes in United States, 05 Sep 2011 12:00

[BoratVoiceOn /] Well this conversation is riveting... NOT! [BoratVoiceOff /]

I've picked up quite a few of the Cars sets, passing up this one many times - I will eventually purchase it, but when you start getting into this price range, there tend to be many more sets in the queue ahead of these "nice to haves, but not essential." Know what I mean?

Posted by aresze in Australia, 05 Sep 2011 12:27

!? $119.99 in australia

Posted by Isabella and Lego Liker in United States, 05 Sep 2011 13:43

I got that set for $53.99 at my Target back in June.

They were having a sale on them 5-10% off of them. One set was 20% off. K-Mart had a different than what Target had on sale for $11.99, all others were 15% off. Saved about $25 when I bought them.

Posted by Bram in Indonesia, 05 Sep 2011 23:08

Among the 2011 Cars 2 sets, the must have items IMHO are the this 8487 Flo's V8 Cafe, and 8486 Mack's team truck, because these are the only ones based on the original Cars movie (the best,compared to Cars 2) and both feature exclusive items not found in other sets. Minifigs? These 'cars' pack so much human characters, they're essentially the 'minifigs' LOL.

Posted by kenhew in Malaysia, 06 Sep 2011 05:54

sometimes, buying a set which you have no interest initially can be a pleasant surprise because there's no expectations and anticipation. Same like going to a movie that's not on your must watch list and finding it not bad. With LEGO, you rarely find sets that are so bad you would regret getting, so it's really all about drawing the line somewhere. The Cars theme is actually fantastic IMO, there's so much character about them, but I still will and have to draw the line. Yeah I'm a practical AFOL ;p

Posted by OuterRimTradingCo. in Australia, 06 Sep 2011 09:01

Also 20% off at Outer Rim Trading Co. - $AUS94.99

www.ORTCo.com.au

Posted by voypro in United States, 06 Sep 2011 10:16

@ huw & all
I score Flo's Cafe 2 weeks ago at my local Kroger (which is a food store, but the big ones that carries toys and housewares) for a low $35.99. Further they had Atlantis 8007 exploration HQ $29.99, star wars droid tri fighter $14.99, SW freeco speeder $14.99, SW arc-170 $35.99, fire station $44.99 & more

I actually wanted to post the deals here on the site but felt it was off topic for all articles at the time. Has anyone considered an on going topic of weeky deals? I see stuff all the time but there is seldom a place to post it. I know there is likey an area in the forum section, but to be honest I don't frequent it.

Posted by atkinsar in United Kingdom, 06 Sep 2011 17:01

^ The forum is exactly the place to post deals, if you're 16+ why not give it a try.

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