LEGO Off-Road Buggy Review

We’ve reviewed a ton of sets in 2021 thanks to our good friends at the LEGO Group, and when I originally reached out to pick up our last review item of 2021, I decided to go in a totally new direction – LEGO Technic. I’ve reviewed City sets, Ninjago sets, Ideas sets, and more. But I’ve never purchased a Technic set, let alone reviewed one. So our good friends were able to send the LEGO Off-Road Buggy for review. While only featuring roughly 375 pieces, it was easily the toughest build of 2021.

The Build

When it comes to LEGO reviews, I generally always rope my kids into the action and have them help me with the builds. Even when we look at the 18+ LEGO Ideas sets, the kids are always able to pitch in, in some capacity. This time, however, Lochlan made it to page 6 before throwing in the towel. Like most Technic sets – I suspect at least – this one was hard to put together. There are so many pieces that need to move, spin, bounce and more, and making sure they go into the right spots is fairly difficult. It’s a complicated build book for sure!

But that isn’t the fault of LEGO. It’s just the reality of Technic LEGO sets. They are, at their core, more difficult to construct. This one was especially difficult as it included a battery pack and rear wheel motor that needed to be built and wired properly. While this adds to the difficult, it also adds to the fun.

And we generally always talk about price-per-piece to determine the value of the set. On the surface, the 129.99 USD price tag for only 375 pieces is incredibly lousy. But, once you factor in the battery pack and the motor, the price doesn’t seem all that insane.

All that being said, if you place value on your sets based on the build time, then this one is fantastic. I would assume I could put together a regular 375 piece LEGO set in under 30 minutes, but this one took me almost 2 hours. Placing each piece precisely is key to a successful build, and should you forget an important piece – easy to do, and I did – it sometimes requires deconstructing large portions of the build just to fix your tiny mistake. While I can build other sets while watching sports or movies, I couldn’t with this one – I needed to be laser focused.

The Play

Did I forget to mention this set doubles as a remote control car when complete? No? Well it does, using your smart phone and an application to control the car. And it truly is an off-road experience. We took the car for a spin at the park after it was built, and although the controls can be difficult (more on this later), we were able to drive over longer grass, pavement, wood chips, and even some lightly mudded areas. I stopped the kids before driving through a puddle, though – while I assume it can be done, I’m not sure it’s a great idea.

As stated, the controls can be a bit difficult. You can adjust between a 360 control stick panel or the two stick method, where one stick controls forward and back, while the other controls left and right. While I preferred the 360 control stick, my kids opted for the two stick method. All of us had driving issues.

Overall, it is an expensive set, but one that is well worth it.