The Lego Car Blog has many interesting pages away from the main page. Ok, that’s not true. The Lego Car Blog has some interesting pages away from the main page. One of them is the Review Library, which – according to the wizards over at Brick Insights – now contains 108 reviews. Some of which are even written by you guys.
Nearly three quarters of the reviews in the Review Library are scored (we probably forgot the rest), with the average score being 7.8/10, which probably makes sense as LEGO sets are usually rather good and we tend to review sets we like (although not always). Technic is the most popular theme, with sixty-six sets reviewed so far, and fifteen sets have received a score above 9/10 (or 5 stars) so far, versus sixteen sets with a score of below 6.
So, with over a hundred reviews now published, which LEGO sets have earned a much coveted perfect score here at The Lego Car Blog? Read on to find out!
We’re not going to run through all of the top scored sets in the Review Library (you can click here to find them for yourself!), but there are a few (possibly surprising) favourites. There are also a few sets that very nearly earned the top rating, including such icons as the 8880 Super Car, 8448 Super Street Sensation, 5571 Black Cat, and 8110 Mercedes-Benz Unimog, but just missed out. Which is probably breaking some unwritten Lego Community rule somewhere, but we’ve never been very good at following those.
A few sets however, have earned a top score from TLCB’s crack team of reviewers, and first up, in a box which literally didn’t show the model at all, is the limited edition 41999 Boss Crawler.
41999 Boss Crawler
41999 was an odd moment in LEGO’s history, being based on a previous set; the 9398 4×4 Crawler. 9398 worked well, but looked a bit pants. Thus LEGO requested fan submissions for a new 9398 body, a winner was chosen, and 41999 was born. It also became a set that defined the greedy, speculative, scumbaggy corner of the Lego Community, with 41999 sets being advertised for three times their list price within a month of it going on sale. We didn’t pay that of course, and nor did our 41999 stay sealed in its box for future profit. No, ours was built, played with, and it earned a full 10/10 score.
10220 Volkswagen Camper Van
The second model to obtain a perfect score was one of LEGO’s earlier officially-licensed partnerships, recreating a hippy and festival favourite in brick form; the 10220 Volkswagen Camper.
Our 2013 review of the Creator Camper praised its aesthetic, the delightful build process, and – in particular – its interior, even though foreign narcotics, tie dye garments, and a bong were conspicuous by their absence. Still, you can also build those for yourself at home for added realism.
10220 also set the bar for the brilliant array of Creator sets that have followed, and was so popular it lasted on shelves for a full eight years, before finally being replaced by the new 10279 Volkswagen T2 Camper announced this year. That’s quite a legacy.
8043 Motorised Excavator
Yes, we’d forgotten about this one too, but at the time this flagship for LEGO’s Power Functions system earned a full 10/10 score. The 8043 Motorised Excavator showcased LEGO’s IR remote control and linear actuators wonderfully when we reviewed in way back in 2012, earning maximum points for its life-like movement and immense playability. It even pipped the later and more famous 42030 Volvo L350F Front Loader‘s score by half a point.
8480 Space Shuttle
In 1995 LEGO’s Town range decided to bring the Space Programme to bedroom floors everywhere, with a shuttle launch pad and a host of accompanying sets. A year later and the Technic line-up got its own spacey entry, and it became the highest rated set here at TLCB ever; this is the 8480 Space Shuttle.
Yes, the 1996 Space Shuttle earned a higher score here than even the era’s famous Technic Supercars, an irony not lost on our reviewer. Fantastically complicated, with a gearbox (not used in the traditional sense), fibre-optic lighting, a multitude of motors, and a plethora of manual functions, 8480 could be considered the greatest LEGO Technic set ever…
42054 Claas Xerion 5000
…although this could be too; the amazing 42054 Claas Xerion 5000. Another officially licensed set, 2016’s 42054 probably combined motorised and mechanical functionality, and Model Team-like aesthetics and Technic features better than any set before or since, as well as showcasing how advanced a model can be thanks to studless building techniques.
Despite not being the flagship of the Technic range at the time, 42054 actually featured more pieces than sets costing twice as much. With the electrics limited to just one motor, but with a gearbox allowing for multiple functions, attention could be paid to making everything work beautifully, from the three-mode steering, cab rotation, crane movement, stabilisers, and front and rear hitches, 42054 is an absolute triumph. It’s been five years since the Claas Xerion 5000 was reviewed, and we don’t think we’ve rated a set more highly since.
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So there you have it, (some of) the top rated sets ever to be reviewed here at The Lego Car Blog.
You can check out our review stats at the fantastic Bricks Insights by clicking here, the complete 108-review strong Review Library by clicking here (which doesn’t just include official LEGO sets, but books, movies, and third-party products too), plus you can check out one more rather surprising top rated curiosity by clicking here.