The Lego Car Blog Review My Set Competition is underway! Today we’re joined by MOCpages’ Rage Hobbit, who has donned TLCB Reviewing Anorak in order to pen a review of one of his favourite sets. Over to Rage…

The 8070 Supercar from 2011. This car had a lot to live up to.

As part of the Technic Supercar flagship series that started all the way back with the 8880, this set had to try and live up to high expectations and even higher hopes. Was it truly the successor to the acclaimed 8448 Super Street Sensation?

Mostly yes. Sort of.

Differences between this car and its predecessors become evident upon opening the box. This is no old-fashioned Technic set; there’s hardly a single studded beam to be found. I’m sure some people liked this change, others probably hated it, but no amount of pointless arguing will change the fact that this is the way Technic is going to stay.

This retinue of studless pieces is found in several unnumbered bags sprawled inside a rather empty box. Don’t ask me how many bags; they didn’t seem all that special and as such I threw them out moments after opening the set. The three instruction booklets – ranging from 50 to 80 pages – are packed neatly into a plastic bag, along with a cardboard plate so that the booklets don’t get beat up during transit. It’s a nice touch, and something that LEGO should revisit. As per the usual, no B-model instructions are to be found inside the box; they’re found exclusively online *sigh*. LEGO should get the point eventually.

The wheels and hubs are free-floating inside the box, with the electronic components – a Power Functions battery box and M-motor – packaged individually. Tear everything open, dump it all in a big pile, and you’re ready to build.

The build process is fairly engaging yet still pretty simple as compared to more recent Technic sets. Starting with the distribution transmission for the M-motor, you add the rear axle and chassis frame rails before moving on to booklet number 2 and all the other stuff. Some of the aesthetic portions can be a bit of a drag, but overall it’s a good build.

Let’s start with the functions and features. The car rolls very nicely, with the rear wheels driving a V8 piston engine found under the front hood. At this point, supercar snobs will complain along the lines of “It needs a V10!” and “REAL supercars have V12s”, but the V8 suits the scale of the car well. Dual-wishbone independent suspension (a little bit too hard on the rear wheels, with decent travel all-around) is found on all wheels, with the front ones steered through a hand-of-god knob behind the cabin. Steering lock is only okay, but I won’t complain too much.

The 4 main functions of this car are controlled by a distribution transmission found in between the seats where it should be. The solitary M-motor in the set drives the transmission by way of a clutch gear so that you don’t break anything.

The first of the functions is the deployable rear wing. The function works fine, but the mechanism leaves an ugly gap in the rear aesthetics, and the wing looks a bit half-baked. Tip the switch to the other side, and the hood starts to open through a neat and effective linkage mechanism that emulates the kind of thing found in real supercars. The other two functions on the transmission are reserved for the doors, which is also my very favorite function. The doors open individually on a butterfly-ish hinge; a function which works flawlessly and doesn’t compromise the aesthetics. Overall, kudos to LEGO for the functions on this car.

The discerning owner will notice little problems with the aesthetics. Some bits of the bodywork don’t quite align, the seats are too tilted, some of the bodywork holes are too pronounced, etc. If you’re not going to get too nitpicky, however, the overall image is pretty good. Built in LEGO’s customary minimalist style, the car has the profile of a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, the front looks like a fusion of a Camaro and a Mustang, and most of the curves are pretty well executed. I like it.

…Except for the rear. Because of the battery box and spoiler mechanism, the rear of the vehicle is replete with poor color choice and worse gaps. I feel like LEGO could have hidden the rear wing mechanism a bit better, and the battery box sticking out of the back makes it look like the car has a discolored tumor. On the plus side, however, this does make it very easy to change batteries and turn it on and off.

It also comes with a pile on stickers. They mostly imitate air intakes and the like, so I wouldn’t be too concerned about applying them.

I also feel it’s necessary to make a note on the interior here. Most Technic sets, like 9398 and 42029 and 42043 and a million more, have pretty non-existent interiors, but for this car it looks like they actually put a tiny bit of effort into it. The seats are made from more than just 3 x 5 L beams, the transmission lever is in the right place, and there’s even a little dashboard. Not bad.

If you’re not the kind of person who likes to keep their sets in one piece, the set still has a lot to offer. The pieces make a great starter for any budding supercar builder, and the value per piece is not bad at all if you buy it used. The set is also ideal if you want to make a couple modifications.

If you compare this to more modern sets, like 42056 or 42039, it becomes instantly clear that you’re getting a lot in this set in terms of functions and looks. It may or may not be the best LEGO supercar ever released, but it’s indisputable that you’re getting a pretty sweet deal when you factor in the price. Maybe LEGO put a few too many holes in the aesthetics, maybe the rear could have been better executed, but overall I don’t have a lot of complaints on this one. 9/10.

A big thank you to Rage Hobbit for joining us here at TLCB with a top-quality Review to help us increase the Set Review Library‘s stock. If you’d like to write a Set Review for TLCB as Rage has, either for a set you love or for one you hate, then get in touch! At the time of writing there are even prizes available for the best reviewer too!