Comparing and ranking all five LEGO Technic Ultimate supercars
How does the upcoming 42172 McLaren P1 stack up next to the previous four LEGO Technic Ultimate supercars? One reviewer has put them through their paces to find out.
The LEGO Group has debuted a new LEGO Technic supercar at 1:8 scale every two years since 2016, which means August’s 42172 McLaren P1 is the fifth entry in this long-running series. It’s preceded by 42143 Ferrari Daytona SP3, 42115 Lamborghini Sían FKP 37, 42083 Bugatti Chiron and 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, and together they make for a formidable (and space-hungry) display.
But if you only have the space or budget for one of these cars in your collection, which one should you pick? That’s the question put to the test by LEGO YouTuber Alex Nunes, who’s used his review copy of 42172 McLaren P1 to rank all five of the current LEGO Technic 1:8 supercars as of 2024.
He’s judged them by 10 different categories, including their looks, interior, doors, wheels and tyres, hood/spoiler function, gear shift, suspension, plaque, ability to grab them with one hand and their price per weight. In Alex’s opinion, the Lambo takes the gold medal for looks, while the P1 sits in fourth place behind the Bugatti and Ferrari (with the Porsche bringing up the rear).
42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS actually comes up short in several categories, which perhaps isn’t so surprising given it’s the oldest car in the range and new parts and techniques have emerged since 2016. But the sets otherwise all have their individual strengths and weaknesses: while 42115 Lamborghini Sían FKP 37 wins on aesthetics, Alex says the wheels and tyres of the P1 and SP3 are superior, for example.
That’s because the rims on the Lambo and Bugatti both protrude beyond the tyres, whereas the Ferrari and McLaren’s rims sit flush to their tyres. It’s just one example of the small improvements the LEGO Technic team has been making to these cars over the past eight years. 42172 McLaren P1 also comes out on top for its butterfly doors, which Alex describes as ‘awesome’.
The YouTuber also compares the gear shifts in all five cars, but that turns out to be a relatively straightforward category, as the LEGO Group has apparently improved with each and every new car – so the McLaren takes the cake, followed by the Lambo, Ferrari, and so on. It’s a slightly different story for their suspension, though.
“Suspension’s important to me because that’s a big part of how these vehicles work, and it’s all about the balancing,” Alex says. “Does it come back up? What elements are used? And this one, for me anyway, the Ferrari was the absolute best for suspension travel and just the looks of it.” He goes on to note that the SP3 and P1 both benefit from newer suspension, but actually puts the 2016 Porsche in third place.
The P1 gets extra points for being the easiest car to grab with one hand, while the Ferrari falls down flat in that category by virtue of being a convertible (the roof lifts off, so there’s nowhere to grab it). Finally, Alex compares the five cars by their price per weight to see which one represents the best value – and the winner is actually 42083 Bugatti Chiron, coming in at $118.64 per kilogram.
The most expensive LEGO Technic supercar by weight is 42115 Lamborghini Sían FKP 37 at $155.71 per kilogram, while August’s 42172 McLaren P1 is not far behind at $146.58 per kilogram. Alex assigned points per category to each of the cars – one point for last place, five points for first place – and added them up to find an overall winner. You can check out his rankings in the table below.
| LEGO Technic supercar | Looks | Hood/spoiler | Interior | Wheels | Doors | Gear shifts | Suspension | One hand grab | Plaque | Price per weight | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42172 McLaren P1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 38 |
| 42143 Ferrari Daytona SP3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 34 |
| 42115 Lamborghini Sían FKP 37 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 33 |
| 42083 Bugatti Chiron | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 24 |
| 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 21 |
Based on his 10 categories, each LEGO Technic supercar has actually improved over its predecessor overall, leaving 42172 McLaren P1 at the top of the podium. But the video’s top comment points out a potential issue with Alex’s ranking system, in that he awarded the same number of points in every category regardless of how important they might be.
That meant the cars were given just as many points for having effective suspension as including a plaque, and the LEGO Group didn’t start including plaques with these cars until 2020. The commenter suggests adjusting the number of points awarded per category, which Alex acknowledges ‘could have moved the positions a bit’.
Still, if you’re currently in the fortunate position to be weighing up which LEGO Technic supercar you want to get your hands on, seeing them all side-by-side might be enough to help tip the scales for you. You’ll need to turn to the aftermarket to get your hands on 42083 Bugatti Chiron and 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, but 42143 Ferrari Daytona SP3 and 42115 Lamborghini Sían FKP 37 are both available now.
42172 McLaren P1, meanwhile, launches August 1 for £389.99 / $449.99 / €449.99. Early adopters will receive a free buildable P1 logo through August 7 (or while stocks last). Check out our written review of the latest LEGO Technic supercar, or click through to watch our video review.
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- I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.
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You can export those points to spreadsheet and give weights for each category. Then you’ll see what is the best in your opinion.
problem with the lamborghini is all the colours are off. it’s hard to display mine and get those “winning” looks because it looks badly produced and they’ve never offered a correction.