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Greenlight is well-known in the diecast collector world for their 1/64 diecast cars and trucks including larger 1/18 vehicles for movies, TV shows and such. This is Greenlight's first foray into offering radio controlled vehicles. Remember to visit the main reviews section for more. All of my reviews unless otherwise stated are products that are purchased directly by me from a retail establishment either in-person or online thus they are unbiased for the most part.
Greenlight 1/18 '67 Eleanor Radio Control Car Gone in 60 Seconds Review
Here's the custom '67 Ford Mustang known as Eleanor from the remake Gone in 60 Seconds movie released during the year 2000. Greenlight and others have already done this up as 1/18 diecast cars but this is the first officially licensed replica as an r/c car. I take a look at Greenlight's first attempt with their radio control line which I assume they'll release more of these replicas later depending on how well this one does but you never know. Read on to get my opinion on this 1/18 scale r/c car if I think it is worth buying.
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Greenlight has contracted this out for them from a
company called XQ which has a fairly diverse line-up of radio controlled
cars from late model Shelby Super Snake Mustangs to exotic Ferraris. They are slowly phasing out 27 and 49mhz replacing them with
2.4ghz units such as what this one has. The advantage is that you
can run more than two cars without worrying at all about frequencies.
Now we'll see if this Eleanor will be "Gone in 60 Seconds" or last a bit
longer as an r/c car by Greenlight. The first thing you'll notice taking it out of the package especially if you are used to the heft of 1/18 diecast cars is how lightweight the car feels which is good because less weight equals more speed. There is a brief but concise instruction sheet and some odd stickers which I'll get to later. You will need 4AA batteries for the car and 2AAs to put in the controller. Most new to 2.4ghz will have to read the instructions and learning a bit about "pairing" which means the car and controller are connected to each other one a free 2.4ghz channel. In the old days, it was turn on the controller then the car and off we went but now we need to "pair" this car to the controller which allows it to find a channel available. The process was fairly simple as all you do is turn on the car and then turn on the controller. The red LED light will flash on the controller while the pairing is working and the front wheels on the car will wiggle once or twice. This will take under a minute. Once the light goes out then you're ready to go take this car for a drive. Trying it out on low-pile living room carpet proved that the car has decent power and speed. This is tuned to have average speed and was able to maneuver the living room area fairly well. The steering is quick left and right, pulse style and not digital proportional. There is only one forward and reverse speed but responds very well without much hesitation with a very responsive, sturdy stick controller for toy grade. Now time to bring up some of the downsides to this car which is really more of a personal nature than anything. There is fixed suspension and the chassis has low ground clearance so be sure to run this on flat surfaces and do not attempt to do many terrain transitions like over bumps or from hardwood floors to carpet. In actuality, it is a street car so it is made for smooth surfaces like your driveway or living room with a low-pile carpet, nothing high or thick plus do not run this through water. I would have liked front and rear lights but I can cope without them. There is no protective front bumper so watch where you're driving and try not to hit anything if that's possible but you shouldn't be running this into people, pets or anything else anyway so be a safe r/c driver and observant of your surroundings. The fit and finish on this is very well done with the body being made out of solid hard plastic with a well done finish including blackened out windows, clear lenses for the front headlights and red lenses for the custom brake lights out back. The entire car was done with detail in mind and matches fairly well to the movie car. You can tell they had outsourced this car especially in the chassis area to offer radio control but overall I can't find any major complaints about this r/c car. Maybe in the future we'll see more from them. I should note that you'll find the Greenlight logo on the bottom of the car and on the controller so you'll know where it came from. Street Price: $22.50 Requirements: 6 AA Batteries, Philips Screwdriver (To Open Battery Compartments) Pros: Cons: Summary: Good job Greenlight! If you're looking for your own '67 Eleanor to drive around, don't hesitate to buy one at the street price listed. I'm sure they won't be around for long as they might be Gone in 60 Seconds, pun intended! After taking this out for a test drive, I deem this a good value for the price and it put a smile on my face. The ground clearance restricts you to running only on smooth floors and low pile carpet but has good enough power to transverse these areas. Most cars in this range are like that anyway. I would have liked to have lights but like the well done detailing and box art. Now if they would consider doing the original 1973 Gone in 60 Seconds Eleanor Mustang next I'd be really happy. Do not deter let the ages 14+ rating on the outside of the well-done box art for this r/c car as it would be good in the hands of kids ages 8 and up because while it is fast it is average for a toy r/c car. An adult would have to get the car set-up for them as mentioned about pairing but the task is fairly straightforward. I figure they had to do the age restriction because of the PG-13 rating of the move remake. Now a Mystery: These stickers were included with no explanation in the instructions. Anyone know anything about these?
I hope you enjoyed my review on Greenlight's first r/c car and will be doing more soon which probably looks to be another Fast & Furious r/c car. Feel free to email me your comments / questions regarding this review. |
Custom Eleanor 1967 Mustang 1/18 RC Car sits looking sharp from the Gone in 60 Seconds Remake.
Bottom View of the 1/18 Eleanor Gone in 60 1967 Mustang Chassis
Rear View of the 1967 Eleanor Mustang showing the rear custom panel.
Twin Stick Controller Shown with Antenna in the Up Position.. . The antenna comes folded to allow it to fit within the packaging |
