Fill it up at the LEGO 60257 Filling Station [Review]

No self-respecting LEGO City is complete without its fair share of vehicles cruising the streets. But this prompts important questions: Where do these cars get their fuel? Where do the drivers grab a hot dog and coffee? And what’s to be done about all those emissions? LEGO’s new Filling Station — set number 60257 — provides some of the answers. Read on, and see what we think of this new addition to the LEGO townscape.

60257 Filling Station has 354 parts, and features 2 vehicles and 4 minifigures along with the filling station’s buildings. The set will be available from 26th December in the UK and EU, and 1st January in the US and Canada US $49.99 | CAN $69.99 | UK £44.99

The box and its contents

The box front and rear depict the set from a couple of different camera angles. Beyond scooting the vehicles around, there are no real “play features” as such in the set — no trap doors waiting to drop unsuspecting hot dog thieves into a dungeon, nor any shark-repelling flick-fire missiles mounted atop the surfers’ camper van.

The box contains 4 numbered parts bags, a loose baseplate and vehicle base, and 4 instruction booklets and a sticker sheet bundled together in a further plastic bag. Despite the booklets being packed together, two of mine were still torn — a function perhaps of the thin paper they’re printed on.

The build

The 5+ suggested age for the set, coupled with the thin instruction booklets, had me suspecting much of the construction would be straightforward studs-up building, and perhaps a little boring as a result. However, that’s not the case at all, with bag number 1’s dark blue SUV full of interesting sideways stud connections.

The finished vehicle is a nice little model, and the accompanying minifigure is a perfect choice. With her blonde bobbed hair and sunglasses, clutching her mobile phone, I think she looks like a classic SUV-driving “Soccer Mom” (or if you work in hospitality, one of the dreaded “Karens”). In a nod to the modern age and climate concerns, the SUV is an electric one rather than a gas-guzzling beast, getting its power from the charging station you’ll put together later.

Bag 2 gives you the parts to build the camper van. And let’s be clear right from the start — it is not a Volkswagen Camper Van, absolutely not. The not-a-Volkswagen is decked out in Dark Turquoise with an orange stripe — an appropriately bright and breezy colour scheme for its pair of surfing owners.

Construction is, once again, more interesting than you might imagine at first glance, with the build progressing asymmetrically in order to build the van’s interior and side doorway. The sticker added to the van’s rear perfectly captures the beach-bum aesthetic, and LEGO fans won’t be able to help smiling at the King Kahuka sticker, harking back to the good old days of Islanders and the LEGO Racers videogame.

The finished van is a cracking model. The roof lifts off to allow access to the interior, and the external shaping perfectly captures the look of a classic camper van. Mind you, it’s definitely not a VW van. Absolutely not. Because that boomerang on the front is not supposed to evoke the VW logo at all. Nope.

Bag 3 contains the parts for the garage office, which boasts a simple interior including a cash register, a coffee machine, and a TV tuned to the football match. Outside, there’s the charging station for electric vehicles — the famous Octan brand making its move into more sustainable energy. The power for the charging station comes from the solar panels on the office roof, where an angled Octan sign sits above the door.

The final bag, number 4, is for the petrol pumps and canopy. The pumps themselves are nicely designed, with printed sloped bricks and stickers providing a good level of detail. I liked the attachment of the hoses, allowing them to move easily, but unless your minifigures are securely attached to a baseplate, the hoses won’t bend to their will.

The canopy is attached using sideways brackets, another example of an interesting building technique in what might otherwise be considered a simple set. It looks great above the pumps, perfectly capturing the look of its real-world counterparts.

The finished set is surprisingly large, occupying a satisfying footprint. If a kid is into cars they’re sure to have great fun pushing the vehicles in and out of the filling station, and sending their minifigures into the office to grab essential snacks for their journeys.

Stickers and interesting parts

The sticker sheet doesn’t feature anything particularly unusual, although the different sized Octan stickers might come in handy for vehicle livery on custom models, and the King Kahuka inclusion on the camper van is a delight. As for parts, the selection is of mainly regular pieces, but there were a couple of more unusual pieces or colours which sparked my interest…

The minifigures

The set contains 4 minifigures plus a cool little dog. Along with Karen the SUV driver, we’ve got male and female surfers, and the “Garage Guy”.

Karen looks good in her pink top, and the surfers look totally gnarly in sleeveless hoodie and Hawaiian shirt. Garage Guy takes the corporate dollar, looking smart in his Octan uniform. All the minifigures feature some back printing, and all but Garage Guy have alternate expressions on the heads.

Summary

This is a great LEGO City set, with bags of playability if kids are into cars. Ok, there are few real “play features” included, but there are two decent vehicles which are good fun to put together and then scoot around. Personally I also think it’s great to see the depiction of electric vehicles as a “normal” everyday thing rather than some piece of exotic technology. Add in a nice selection of minifigures, and the cutest dog ever, what more do you need? For the price, this feels like a decent value City set, and a positive addition to the LEGO streets.

60257 Filling Station has 354 parts, and features 2 vehicles and 4 minifigures along with the filling station’s buildings. The set will be available from 26th December in the UK and EU, and 1st January in the US and Canada US $49.99 | CAN $69.99 | UK £44.99


The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Sending The Brothers Brick products for review does not guarantee coverage or a positive review.

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