Why I bought this set

You can’t have a city without some vehicles, and I thought this would be a perfect addition to fill up my road plates. When purchasing, I didn’t have my bulk Lego haul, which did include several vehicles, nor did I have the Daily Bugle, so this purchase made more sense then than it does now. However, I have no regrets, as a New York City taxi is iconic and will add a delightful splash of color to my city.

The build

The set has a 44-page instruction book to take you through a single building stage. There are a few stickers for the license plates, taxi signs, and advertising boards. Toodles, my cat, was available for inspection.

The build is straightforward and begins with framing the taxi’s chassis. Quickly, the vehicle takes form, with insets for the back wheels. The black TAXI signs are yellow sticker elements affixed to 1×2 bricks.

The back of the taxi is decorated with 1×1 transparent red tile for the brake lights and a sticker element to create a license plate. Luckily, these stickers are small, so achieving a good alignment is not overly stressful. A tile piece and a couple of cheese wedges complete the rear’s exterior.

After filling in more of the body, the front of the taxi also starts to take shape. The license plate sits lower on the front, allowing a grill and lights to sit above it.

A series of 1×2 jumpers frame the body of the taxi, while a curved slope creates the truck of the car. Transparent clear slopes sit on the jumpers as the windows.

The top of the car is mostly tile, though it has a single plate 1×6 plate piece down the center for the signs. Curves, slopes, and tile pieces cover all the plate on the vehicle’s hood to give it a polished look. Studs are added to modified 1x plates to resemble the mirrors.

The final components are two sets of wheels and the roof advertising. The wheels are easy to assemble using the standard axle pieces, wheel trims, and tires. The sign on top uses two double side studded bricks with white tile to create the look. A couple of sticker elements advertise a pizza place and the statue of liberty.

You’ll have a few leftover pieces, which is typical for sets with smaller pieces. The final car is about the same size as the box and is easily recognizable as an NYC taxi.

Set review

I would have been thrilled with the vehicle if I had built this before constructing the taxi in the Daily Bugle set. However, as I didn’t, I am left a little disappointed with the result. My major criticism is that you cannot put a minifigure into the taxi, which vastly decreases the playability of the vehicle.

Without playability, this car is solely a display piece, yet it doesn’t have the details or refinement to justify this classification. The transparent slopes that create the windshield are frosted, so they don’t look as good as a panel. The taxi stickers with a yellow background stand out as it doesn’t blend seamlessly with the brick. The Daily Bugle taxi uses translucent stickers with black detail, so they look superior.

It’s not all bad, however. The grill, lights, and mirrors add good detail to the exterior, and there is no confusion about what this build represents. It will look good in the city, and it is nice to have different models of taxi cabs circulating the streets.

Ratings

Build: 3/5
I enjoy building cars and playing with them once they are constructed. While there was nothing wrong with this build, there’s nothing exciting about it either. There were no building techniques that inspired or clever part usage. I also am skeptical of the sticker elements in the set. The target audience is children, but small flimsy stickers aren’t ideal for this demographic.

Display: 4/5
This car will look fantastic in a city for those who do not have the Daily Bugle taxi. This is not a high-end car that adults will want to display on a shelf, so I am not evaluating it with that in mind. The design is of a classic American car with a large hood. The signage at the top of the car is classic and highly effective up close and at a distance.

Price: 3/5
Coming in at just over 8 cents per piece, this isn’t the best-valued set offered by Lego for a non-licensed product. Nothing included is especially interesting or expensive, though the cost of wheels and the axles does push the price up. It is a decent, solid car, but it isn’t screaming bargain. It is exclusive to Lego, so picking this up on sale is challenging, but if you can get it for 10% off, that is probably a fairer price.

Final thoughts

For a city builder, including service vehicles such as taxis is all part of world-building. If you don’t have any other taxis, then picking up one of these isn’t something you will regret. After all, the yellow chassis looks spectacular on the dark grey road plates. If you’re trying to qualify for a gift with purchase and need something small to reach that threshold, adding this inexpensive set to your cart won’t be the worst decision.

Buy the set

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