Review:10242 MINI Cooper/ToaMeiko
ToaMeiko
Country: United States Age Group: TFOL Gender: Male
Joined: December 18, 2012 
№ of Reviews: 7 
№ of Featured reviews: 4
Building Experience: 15 years
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Hello everyone! Today is my first LEGO set review since January, and I'm privileged to be reviewing the upcoming 10242 MINI Cooper MK VII. This set was kindly donated to Brickipedia by the LEGO Group ahead of its release, but will be available to the public in August (or July 18 for LEGO VIP members).
- Set: 10242 MINI Cooper MK VII
- Theme: Sculptures
- Pieces: 1077
- Price: $99.99 USD / €89.99 EUR
- Brickipedia / Brickset
The Box and Contents[edit | edit source]
Click on any image to expand
The set's box highlights the entire set on the front, and shows individual features and details on the back. Inside the box is 8 bags total, numbered up to 3. The two instruction booklets come backed by cardboard, which is always great.
The Build[edit | edit source]
Bag 1[edit | edit source]
Bag 1 doesn't assemble much but the chassis to the car. The only features present in the model at this point in the build are the compartment for the spare tire as well as the gearshift. Unlike past large-scale LEGO cars I've seen where the gearshift only moves on one axis, this set features a gearshift that moves freely in basically any direction. Bag 1 does include two tiles for the front and rear license plates. The set includes a variety of stickers to use as license plates from different locations— the standard license plate pictured on the box, Germany, Denmark, Australia, and the state of Connecticut. My biggest complaint about this, and probably my biggest complaint of the entire set, is that there are not enough tiles included to apply all of these stickers. For those with tiles to spare from their collection, it's not hard to get a couple to use, but I ended up having to use all of the dark green tiles from my collection for this. If you want to apply all of the license plates, you'll have to get 4 extra black 1x4 tiles and 4 extra dark green 1x4 tiles.
Bag 2[edit | edit source]
Bag 2 assembles most of the rear side of the car. It also includes the picnic set: a cloth blanket, a bottle of some blue substance—probably water but could be Gatorade or Windex—and a picnic basket that fits bread, cheese and glasses. All of this fits into the trunk of the MINI Cooper right above the spare tire compartment. The only other interesting thing to point out in bag 2 is the checkered seats, which do look really nice against the dark green exterior of the car.
Bag 3 (Finished Model)[edit | edit source]
Bag 3 finishes up the model by adding the doors, front, and roof of the car. The doors open and close as does the hood. Beneath the hood is the engine that looks pretty nice given the small amount of space to work with. This bag also finishes the interior by adding the dashboard and steering wheel. I do have to say that the steering wheel— a 5-wide piece— is a bit too large for the interior. If there were one, a 4-wide steering wheel piece would have worked much better on this model, however the 3-wide steering wheel is definitely too small. The finished model is definitely a pretty sight. Not only does it capture the look of the MINI Cooper MK VII perfectly, but it's also the least-blocky looking LEGO car set I've ever seen. It's also not a dense, heavy model, however it is very sturdy.
Conclusion[edit | edit source]
| Build/Design |  5 / 5 |
| Playability |  4 / 5 |
| Parts |  4½ / 5 |
| Price | 4½ / 5 |
| Overall | 5 / 5 |
This is by far the best LEGO model car set so far. Looking back at them over time all the way back to early ones such as 8652 Enzo Ferrari 1:17, LEGO has come a long way. The MINI Cooper is excellently depicted in this set. It's also got some great pieces in dark green. It would be fun to recolour this set however the fender pieces don't come in many colours besides transparents since it is a windshield piece. The overall build of the set is great but not overly-complicated, but sure does turn out great. Also for a price of $99.99 USD / €89.99 EUR it's definitely worth it.
I have been enjoying that LEGO is making sets of more classic cars such as this MINI Cooper and Volkswagen Camper Van, but I also wish they'd continue making sets of performance vehicles like the Ferrari and Lamborghini sets. It would be great if LEGO could make an American car for a change, though I have seen some great classic American cars on LEGO Ideas such as '65 Pontiac GTO.
Anyways, I hope you liked this review! If you have any questions or comments, leave them below. Cheers!
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