Lego City Vehicles & You

Lego City is a popular Lego theme that covers sets that focus on a realistic take on 'city life'. Sets have been released under the label since 2005, when it replaced Lego World City (2003 & 2004) which replaced Legoland Town (1978 - 2002), so it's safe to say that there are a lot of Lego City sets existing in the world at large today. For this feature, I'd like to place a spotlight on a subset of Lego City: its vehicle sets.

Vehicle sets (ones that don't include a building or structure, just vehicles and minifigures) have been a staple of Lego City since its inception. They tend to range in size, the smallest of which are often the cheapest Lego sets to buy, since they cover everything from BMX bikes to ships. There is no shortage of variety when it comes to the kinds of vehicles Lego has chosen to replicate through its colourful interlocking brick system.

My own love of Lego City vehicles stems from my hope of someday setting up a semi-permanent city square display full of food trucks and other things that would make up a small market. Therefore, I've been collecting Lego City vehicles for several years. A small part of my collection is made up of the aforementioned food trucks: 60150 Pizza Truck (2017), 60253 Ice-Cream Truck (2020), 60345 Farmers Market Van (2022) & 60384 Penguin Slushy Van (2023). Each is similar in size and build features (the sliding window, sidewall hinge and themed signage & interior, etc), but all include additional accessories that help bring the set together (e.g. the Pizza Van comes with a small table and umbrella along with a pizza delivery scooter). They're incredibly charming and would work well in any city-themed Lego build or collection.

Emergency Services

Did you know that the Lego City theme includes seven sub-themes that are related to the police? No? Well, now you know and, now that I think about it, it's probably why they made Lego City Undercover (2013). Along with Fire and EMS, Lego City has a lot of sets related to the emergency services and especially the vehicles they use.

Let's start with Fire and the various firefighting vehicles you can get your hands on. If you're looking for a large fire truck then 60112 Fire Truck (2016) is right up your alley. Measuring in at 16x37x9cm, this set boasts not only the fire truck and its accompanying ladder trailer but also three minifigures and a small burning structure (so the firefighters have something to fight). My favourite feature of this set is the extendable ladder which swivels a full 360°; the interactivity of this set makes it an excellent toy with loads of small features (like the small storage section of the trailer) that really bring the set together. I can just imagine how much this thing would be to play with as a kid.

On the other end of the size scale is 60279 Fire Hazard Truck (2021) is a small sturdy four-wheeler truck with a plough on the front of it. This set is detailed despite its size and comes with one minifigures (as well as some small set pieces). It's a charming vehicle that sets itself apart by having a turning mechanism that allows it to be pushed around smoothly - perfect for play!

Due to the number of police-themed sets in Lego City, I'll be covering one of the most recent releases (January 2023). Included in the January 2023 releases was 60369 Mobile Police Dog Training. The name tells you everything you need to know about what makes up this set: a boxy car and trailer full of dog training equipment, two minifigures and two dog figures. The car and trailer are fairly standard, but perform their function of being a drivable attached vehicle pair to a satisfying degree. This set is well thought out. It includes loads of small details like food bowls, and dog leads, one of the minifigures is wearing a padded suit that they use to train police dogs, nothing is out of place or seems unnecessary, making it a pretty good value for money set at ~£18 (as of May 2023).

Lastly is EMS (Emergency Medical Services) with 60116 Ambulance Plane (2016). As far as Lego planes go it is standard-sized, easily holdable in one hand. There is something to be said about the sleek shape of the model as well as the clean red lines of the design work that contrast the overall white of the plane. It's an unassuming set that stands out because it captures its real-world counterpart effectively. It includes three minifigures (two emergency workers and a motorcycle rider) and an additional vehicle in the form of a simple green motorcycle. One thing this set needs to be marked down for is that to gain access to the driver's seat the top of the front section of the plane needs to be removed. Although, this is a design element that plenty of Lego planes suffer from. Despite that, this set would be at home in a mountain or general outdoor-themed Lego display.

Everyday Transport & More

Public transport, personal cars, and specific vehicles you'd expect to see roaming any urban-to-suburban city street, Lego City has covered a lot of bases. One example of this would be the food trucks spoken about during the introduction. This section will cover a couple more interesting sets that blend seamlessly into the Lego City theme at large.

60283 Holiday Camper Van (2021) falls under the subtheme of 'Great Vehicles' and it lives up to its name. This set includes 2 adult minifigures and a baby minifigure (which really should be called a 'tinyfigure' because it is small). It is a double-length white and blue camper that is about 26cm long. A lot of features are packed into that small space, such as a separate driver's seat and a sitting area with a small table. The front of the camper's roof has an easily detachable section which includes the camper's beds. A wall of the camper swings away from the main vehicle to allow for easy play-or-display access to its interior. I should also mention the myriad of food pieces and small accessories like the baby carrier and holdable camera pieces that help make the set into a displayable scene. Overall, the Holiday Camper Van offers a lot for a compact medium Lego vehicle.

Something that should be noted about Lego City sets is that they don't always have to be glamorous to be great, which is especially true for one of the most recent sets: 60386 Recycling Truck (2023). This isn't the first garbage truck to be released under the theme, but it is the first to focus on recycling. Featuring not only the truck, this set includes 3 minifigures, an accompanying recycling station set piece and a white kitten (which is very sweet and kind of hard to get if you don't want to spend a lot of money). The bin section of the truck moves and can be posed in similar ways to its real-world counterpart, even allowing things to be stored inside of it. This set is obviously leaning more towards the tastes of adult collectors, but this would be a great teaching tool for kids to learn about the benefits of recycling.

Vehicular Variety

Lego City has also covered some less-than-everyday vehicles throughout its run, such as Stuntz (yes, it's spelt with a 'z'). These make super fun presents for children since they are imaginative sets and work as part of creative displays.

Stuntz includes everything under the umbrella of extreme motorsports. The sub-theme's vehicle sets are mostly made up of small individual Stunt Bikes that include a detailed offroad bike and matching minifigure rider. A large vehicle that has been released as part of this theme was the 60294 Stunt Show Truck (2021). The set includes a bright green and orange semi-truck, a long trough trailer with a water tank, a stunt bike, a jump ramp and four minifigures. The entire set is full of colour, small designs and character that make it stand out from regular Lego City sets but sits right at home with the rest of Stuntz. Having this set along with a few of the individual stunt bikes mentioned before would make an easy-to-put-together display.

Closing Statements

Maybe you've read this far across the literary wall of Lego City vehicle adoration that is this feature and if you have then I hope you've gleaned some knowledge about some of the amazing vehicles the theme includes. This is just the tip of the iceberg of what the theme has to offer. There are loads of reasons to get at least one of these sets, even if it's just because you like how it looks in a cabinet. Happy collecting!