My first thought when I saw the announcement of this set, was one of reasonable excitement - firstly because it’s my favourite type of model - a Car - and secondly because I thought that Lego would now have the inclination to add new elements to help form tricky areas like the headlights etc - an area that I felt was somewhat lacking on other similar scale models like the Epic 911 Turbo etc. Read on for my full on opinion…
Set details:
Set Number: 11381
Pieces: 1673
Age: 18+
RRP: £129.99
Size: When built 37cm long, x 14cm wide & 9cm high
Release: 1st August 2026
What’s in the box
There are 10 numbered paper bags, a manual, a small brown envelope (hood fabric) and small bag with the Windscreen (finally!) ZERO Stickers…
Build experience
This is going to be difficult for me. I detest being negative - I prefer to see the positives in everything - but I don’t know whether my expectations were too high, or whether the designers cut a few too many corners..
There are some very delicate areas that kept falling off during the build which is frustrating, but my biggest gripe I think was the use of so many colours - why use 3 or 4… when 9 or 10 will do! It’s not easy on the eye…
Design & accuracy
I’ll be brutally honest - I’m not impressed. It’s a REALLY difficult shape to achieve - and they’ve clearly had a go - but I think they have tried ‘too hard’ in some places, and have come up woefully short in others. Like those headlights 🫣 - The Hood Mechanism is also ridiculous in its construction - obviously it’s going to be reasonably complex - but boy have they overdone it - it’s about 6 different colours (all visible!) - As for the front hinged bonnet - well…. Check out the pictures - I need say no more.
Any drawbacks?
A few yes - Bumpers are held on place with a single stud on all 4 corners. As you’ll see in one of the pictures, one corner had dropped off without me realising when taking finished photos! The biggest gripe I have is again, the use of colour - displaying the model with the bonnet open is now a big NO NO - it looks thrown together using someone’s scrap bin! I know why Lego like to use so much colour - but they went too far with this I feel. It’s ruined the whole look of what is supposed to be the most beautiful car ever designed…
Pros
- Price - for 1600+ parts I think it’s good value
- Some new elements now in Dark (Earth) Green
- Printed tiles throughout - no decals
Cons
- 50 shades of dark green… poor quality still during production
- Delicate areas on all corners whilst you build
- Not nice to display with bonnet/hood up - doors open etc.
- Very little scope for alternate builds/MOCS
Display value
I just cannot be positive - the whole model looks rushed - and made to look like it was made using your spare parts bin. It’s not pretty is it.
Final Verdict
I really wanted to love it - I did - but I don’t. I just think they could/should have done so much better. It’s a hard design to pull off I know, but if you are going to attempt it - you need to do better than this IMO.
I can see this being retired pretty quickly so if you want it, buy it as soon as it’s on offer...
