Set Review: 3177-1 Small CarName: Small Car
Set Number: 3177-1
Theme: City
Year: 2010
Pieces: 43
Minifigures: 1
Price: USD 4.99
This year, LEGO has been moving towards incorporating more civilian-related sets in the highly popular City line. We’ll be taking a look at one of the smallest City sets to be released this year, the Small Car.
The Box
The box pretty much just shows the set superimposed on a background depicting a road, some bushes, as well as a building. In the foreground is a city, with the LEGO City logo hovering right on top of it. The sole minifig in this set is seen happily walking to his car, presumably to go to work.
The back basically shows the same thing, only with the minifig in the car. As you can see the box uses the punch tabs as a way of opening it.
The Pieces
Once you open the box, you’ll find yourself with a single plastic bag, the car base, the instructions, as well as an instruction booklet. I’m not sure why LEGO didn’t use a single sheet for the instructions instead of using an entire booklet, considering that this is such a small set.
The set does come with some good pieces. Some pieces worth mentioning would be two 65 degree 2x1x2 slopes, white cheese slopes, white car doors, a suitcase, the windshield, and a minifig torso with a very nice hoodie printing on it.
The Build and Design
As with all LEGO sets, the first thing to do is build the minifig. The hoodie torso is a new piece this year, and it looks wonderful. It would work well for both genders as well.
It even has back printing!
The build is incredibly short; it will probably take a minute or two to put the whole thing together. When you are done however, this is the end product you’ll find yourself with.
The extra pieces included with the set are a white cheese slope and a transparent round plate. Not bad at all!
It’s only four studs (80 LDU) wide, so the car lives up to its set name. The driver is missing his front license plate though…
Unfortunately there aren’t that many details inside the car. Adding a dashboard or something to cover up those studs would have been better.
I don’t understand why the designers decided to use a 2x1 green plate in there…
It’s nice that there’s a little space for the suitcase in the back of the car, but the back is completely open and exposed to the elements. With some simple modifications though, a rear windshield can probably be added.
The rear of the car is pretty basic. The driver is missing his rear license plate as well…
The car looks exactly like a Smart Car from the side – I’m assuming the designers modeled this car off of a Smart Car.
The minifig alongside his ride, all ready to go to work.
Final GradeDesign: 7/10 – It’s realistic and does bear a close resemblance to the Smart Car, however there are some design flaws that detract from the look of it.
Parts: 8/10 – Has some nice parts, but none of them are particularly hard to come by.
Minifigs: 10/10 – The minifig that comes with this set would have to be one of my favorites due to the torso.
Build: 6/10 – If you’re looking for an intriguing and lengthy build, this wouldn’t be for you considering that the build only lasts about one or two minutes.
Playability: 7/10 – It’s perfect in a City landscape, but by itself all you can do is push it around really…
Price: 9/10 – Five dollars is a fair price for 43 pieces.
Final Grade:47/60 or 7.8/10The Small Car is a great set to get if you’re out shopping and want to get a little treat for the kids if they’ve been behaving the whole time, or if you just want to expand your LEGO City collection at home. It also is great seeing civilian sets starting to pop up more often in the LEGO City line.
