The LEGO Technic 42115 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 rolls in: the good, the bad, and the ugly [Review]

Back in 2016, LEGO Technic did a new thing: it drastically raised the bar for LEGO sets targeted at adults by creating the 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS with not just a complex and detailed design, but also premium packaging befitting a luxury product. Two years later, the Technic team followed it up with a stunning recreation of one of the world’s most expensive vehicles, 42083 Bugatti Chiron, and we hailed both vehicles as among the best sets LEGO has ever produced. Announced last month, now LEGO Technic is back for a third time with another supercar, the 42115 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37. Revealed by the Italian brand late last year, the Sián marks the company’s first hybrid vehicle in its 57-year history. The LEGO model is available now with a retail price of US $379.99 | CAN $489.99 | UK £349.99 and includes 3,696 pieces. Has LEGO struck gold three times in a row with Technic supercars? Yes, but not without some unfortunate missteps. Let’s take a closer look and unpack the good, the bad, and yes, even the ugly, in this lime green speed demon.

The box and contents

The box immediately shows a departure for this set, with the front of the box displaying a stylized image of the Sián’s hood with the Lamborghini emblem, and nothing else. The back of the box is where you’ll find the traditional box art with a photo of the model, the LEGO logo, and other details. Although this set bears the new 18+ age rating, it does not feature the 18+ branding with the stripe of monochrome bricks along the bottom, as we’ve seen in the rest of the 18+ sets so far, such as the Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series 75275 A-wing Starfighter, instead featuring a subtle carbon-fiber pattern behind the bottom stripe.

The fun with the box doesn’t end there, however, as the top of the box imitates the Sián’s rear with exhaust pipes and taillights. Luxury packaging inside the box has been a hallmark for the previous two Technic supercars, and it’s no disappointment here. Opening the box reveals yet another nod to Italy’s most bodacious auto brand, with the pieces packed into six separate boxes arranged to imitate the Sián’s carbon-fiber engine cover, with the middle four boxes overlapping each other like scales. Unlike the previous two supercars, the exclusive rims aren’t on display, because that would have spoiled the look. Similar to the Bugatti, the Sián’s unopened packaging weighs in at more than 13 pounds (13.6 to be precise), compared to the Porsche’s measly 11 pounds.

The six interior boxes correspond to the numbered sets of parts, and box six holds only the tires and gold rims. That’s right, all 3,696 pieces are divided into just five groups, which means each time you open bags for a new parts group, you’ll be digging through more than 700 pieces. Thankfully, the part bags are divided into somewhat sensible groupings even within the numbered groups, but nevertheless this is certainly a contributing factor to making this one of the longest construction times you’ll encounter in a set.

If you’ve built either of the previous Technic supercar sets, about now you might be wondering where the instruction manual is, since both the Porsche and Bugatti carefully nestled them in on top of the inner boxes. Here the two manuals sit side-by-side below the inner boxes, with a single image of the finished model sprawling across both. The inside of the box lid is matte black, with glossy black lettering that’s easy to miss at first. The number 63 adorns the inside, a reference to the automaker’s year of founding, as well as the total number of Siáns the company will make — sorry, they’ve all sold already. There’s also a quote in Italian from Ferruccio Lamborghini, “Questo è stato il momento in cui ho finalmente deciso di creare un’auto perfetta,” which translates to “It was the moment when I finally decided to create the perfect car.”

The two manuals are as thick as you’d expect from a set of this size and complexity, and together they span 656 pages. The opening pages of book one include 26 pages of glamor photography and background information on both the real car and the Technic model. As with the previous Technic supercar models, each of the numbered parts groups is also introduced with a special spread and a bit of information. Throughout the opening pages and at the beginning of each parts group, there’s a QR code with a direct link to a short video on LEGO’s website about the model; even if you don’t own the model, you can check them all out. Here’s a sampling of the opening pages.


The parts

The Technic Sián’s lime green color scheme brings a host of elements in that color, with 60 unique elements appearing in lime, many for the first time. However, five elements in the set are completely new, and naturally, five of them are lime green. First up are the new wheel arches. They’re nearly identical to those introduced in the Porsche 911, and then again on the Bugatti Chiron, except that these have curved tops rather than a flat upper surface. Then there are a pair of left and right matching trapezoidal panels that make up the car’s hood, along with a set of what are clearly helicopter rotor blades, and indeed they’ll make their next appearance in the recently revealed Technic Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey set. Here they form the lower door sills.

Like both previous Technic supercars, the fifth new element is the distinctive new hubs. Colored in LEGO’s fragile but increasingly common drum-lacquer gold, each hub is individually bagged. While normally I’m not a big fan of drum-lacquer gold, they’re a pretty accurate representation of the real satin gold rims. It’s a shame that LEGO doesn’t print on tires though, because the matching gold lettering for Pirelli P ZERO featured on the real tires would have looked splendid. The hubs fit the same tires as the previous two supercars, the 81.6 x 44 Straight Tread Tire.

You have noticed by now one thing in this unboxing that’s conspicuously absent: the sticker sheet. The cheap-feeling stickers were one of my gripes with the previous two sets; if LEGO is purporting to offer a premium experience, do-it-yourself stickers for the decorated elements is not the right move. Thankfully they’ve been banished here and all decorated elements are printed, and there are a lot of them. All in, there are 30 printed elements (plus 2 extra) across 11 unique prints, ranging from the carbon-fiber details on the engine to the brake calipers, gas cap, and decorative ID plate. There’s also a white 1×4 tile that sits beneath the hood laser-etched with a code that’s unique to each individual set. The unique code gives access to an “owner’s club” on LEGO’s website, which offers downloads of a certificate of ownership, desktop wallpapers of the set, posters, and ringtones.


The build

The construction is divided into segments, with each boxed set of parts corresponding to a distinct part of the car. The build begins with the gearbox and rear suspension, and the first box contains all the parts for these, plus a few unnumbered bags of parts used throughout the subsequent steps.

The double-wishbone suspension will feel familiar to anyone who’s built the Bugatti, and that feeling familiarity will become a common refrain throughout the model. Four stiff springs sit atop the assembly to provide the bounce.

Once you’ve got the rear suspension laid down, it’s set aside for work on the gearbox. In standard fashion for Technic models, the gearbox takes up quite a lot of the car’s bulk, and it’s impressively detailed. The gearbox is an 8-speed controlled by paddle-shifters behind the steering wheel. It’s an incredible feat of engineering, but one that doesn’t bring much that’s new from the previous two cars.

At the end of the first box, the gearbox is then mated to the beginnings of the monocoque frame and synced to the rear suspension and gearbox. Already at this stage, the paddle shifters are visible in the lower left.

The next segment contains the engine and front suspension, starting with the Sián’s monstrous V-12 engine. In typical Technic fashion, it’s built with the piston and cylinder combo introduced in 1990, and which have appeared in more than 75 sets since then. It’s a hit of nostalgia every time I build a Technic model using this assembly, but it’s also a bit of a let-down that the magnificent V-12 engine on this Lamborghini is fundamentally identical, right down to the yellow pistons, to the engine of every single other Technic set, whether it has one cylinder or a dozen.

The engine is then slotted into the main chassis, and the front suspension and differential are on the build dock next. It’s largely the same as the rear suspension assembly. The tricky part comes when mating it to the rest of the chassis, where a handful of pins and axles need to align. It takes a minute to get them all correct, but ultimately is a smooth process.

The result is finally something you can recognize as a vehicle, if you squint really hard.

The engine detailing consists of a variety of round and macaroni bricks for the complex exhaust, along with all those carbon-fiber printed tiles. The twisting pipes are a nice deviation from the beams and gears that have been the bulk of the build so far. Along with this, a bit of framing is added, though it looks a bit odd, as this all sits beneath the final body panels. Don’t worry, you’re not actually building a Land Rover! By now, we’ve only completed Box 2, though we’re 75 percent of the way through the first manual.

The third box contains the parts for the interior details and seats. The seats are a pair of hip-hugging racing buckets, with a little printed Lamborghini crest on the headrest.

Along with the seats, you’ll also lay the groundwork for the car’s most visible functions, the famous scissor doors and the retractable spoiler.

The door mechanisms are long beams that run in channels along the sides of the cockpit, while the spoiler mechanism, controlled by a lever in the passenger footwell, runs just inside the door on the passenger side.

One final function is added before moving to box 4, and it’s a nearly invisible one but of huge importance in the final model. That’s the handle. Like the Bugatti, the roof of the model is reinforced so that it can be lifted by grasping it from the windshield area. You have to make sure you’re actually grabbing the reinforced handle, though, because the roof body panels are a bit larger. Also, don’t make the mistake of grabbing the Porsche 911 this way (its handle is in the back) you’ll experience a catastrophic failure. I speak from experience.

Box 4 is called the Rear Spoiler, but it contains a great deal more than just the spoiler with most of the rear half body panels being included. The distinctive trio of hexagonal taillights are made with the new 1×1 tent slopes, which appear here in red for the first time.

The spoiler itself is a weave of Technic connectors and small panels, joining to make the compound angles of the wing’s delta. It’s attached in the center to a pylon that rises when the lever in the cabin is pulled.

The rest of Box 4 goes swiftly, with a sizable serving of lime green panels and a few long flexible axles to smooth out the edges. It also includes the car’s engine lid, which oddly does not hinge open, but instead slots into place with a pair of long axle pins. To view the engine the cover must be entirely removed. Each side of the engine cover is festooned with a trio of 2×2 tiles representing the Italian flag. Only the top edge is visible when the lid is in place, and it’s a good approximation of the multicolored stripe on the real car.

By the end of Box 4, the Sián is really taking shape, with the car’s sharp edges finally visible.

Since Box 6 contains just the rims and tires, that really leaves just one more subsection of parts, Box 5. And after a quick jaunt constructing the splitter, it starts off with a bang. The assemblies for the Sián’s crazy three-bladed headlights are one of the most complex and odd constructions I’ve ever come across in a Technic set for a non-moving piece. The whole time I was building it, the thought running through my mind was simply, “what even is this?”

It turns out it’s all in service of holding the three white lightsaber blades at just the perfect angles. Changing the blinker fluid on this car is going to be a nightmare.

Finally, the last major element to be added are the doors. What’s a Lamborghini without scissor doors? To paraphrase Russ Hanneman from HBO’s Silicon Valley, these are the doors of a billionaire. Because of their unique opening mechanism, the attachment points on them are a bit untraditional as well, with a long axle that allows them a bit of movement as they open.

Finally, you’ll open Box 6 and pop the tires on, each with a printed 1×1 round tile bearing the Lamborghini crest. Be sure you align the tiles properly the first time, however, because due to the way the rim is shaped you’ll be hard-pressed to ever remove them. But after that, you’ll still have a small handful of pieces remaining from Box 5, because you’re not quite done yet. No billionaire travel machine is complete without matching luggage, and since the Porsche and Bugatti both provided, so too does the Lambo. A small grey bag fits neatly into the frunk.

And just to one-up the score on its previous supercar brethren, the Sián adds something new: a display plate. The modified 4×6 tile is printed with the car’s official logo, and a small frame is attached to let it sit at a pleasing angle beside the car. It’s not quite as informative as the spec placards for UCS sets, but it’s a bit more classy, like something you’d see beside the car in a showroom, though it does feel like LEGO could have done a bit more to enhance its design.


The completed model

The Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 is a beautiful car, and the LEGO model of it is similarly magnificent with a razor profile and sharp lines throughout.

While Lamborghini will customize each of the 63 Siáns to its owner’s preferences, the hero car used in all of the advertisement is a luxurious green the brand calls Verde Gea. The shade of that car is far closer to LEGO olive green than to the lime green featured here, but LEGO’s last big vehicle was the olive green Land Rover Defender. Color choices for LEGO models are frequently based on the other currently available LEGO products on store shelves, with the company being careful to select distinct colors whenever possible to entice shoppers. And unlike many other supercar brands, Lamborghinis have always been known for outlandish colors (Ferrari famously limits its color palette, and has completely banned pink).

So while I don’t think lime green would be on my list were I in the market for a Lamborghini (and spoiler: I’m not), it works well, especially since dark azure and orange were both already taken by the previous two supercars. Together, they make a splendid display.

The good

The Sián is a marvel of Technic engineering, and while it looks great from any angle, the front facia and rear are both stunning. The thin spoke headlights are prominent on the front, and the satin gold rims add elegance rather than bling.

Around back, the modern angular style that Lamborghini has been perfecting since the landmark Countach is on full display, with an aggressive stance that looks almost alien.

The mechanisms work as well as you’d expect from a nearly $400 set, which is to say, flawlessly. The doors open with a surprisingly swift motion when you press down on a panel just behind and above each seat. You’ll need to close them the old fashioned way, however.

Inside the cockpit, there’s a custom instrument panel and a pair of paddle shifters similar to those on the Porsche. Tap one of the shifters on either side of the steering wheel, and there’s a satisfying ka-chunk as the motion is transferred down to the gearbox and a new gear ratio is slapped into place in the 8-speed transmission. A small shifter for F-N-R sits in the center console.

One cool detail is that the bottom of the car has several intentional windows for seeing into the intricate gearboxes, which is a great feature. It’s fascinating to watch the clutches engage and disengage as you shift gears, and helps make some sense of the jam-packed “box of magic” at the heart of the car.

The many printed elements strewn through the set add a welcome bit of decoration, rather than the tedious burden imposed by stickers. The move to full printing is a long-overdue decision when asking a premium price for a luxury product targeted at adults.

 

The bad

Like all Technic cars, the interior feels a bit spartan, due to the nature of the Technic system. The real car is awash in suede, brown leather, and polished carbon fiber, and no hint of that is present here. A few more System elements would have helped. This is a minor nitpick, to be sure, but looking inside the cabin feels more like looking into the interior of a NASCAR racer than a luxury supercar. I also briefly touched on the engine cover earlier, but with the model complete it’s even more striking that it doesn’t hinge to open. It feels weird removing the engine cover completely to view the V-12.

For all the lovely printing, there’s one decoration that’s missing. Each black fin should have a gold “63” on the outboard side. The sizing here would necessitate spanning multiple pieces, but I don’t see why that couldn’t have been solved with some clever techniques to attach a printed tile to the fin, perhaps a 2×3 shield tile pointed forward.

The ugly

Let’s talk about the color. Lime green looks splendid, except when it doesn’t, because it isn’t. Lime green, that is. The true color of this LEGO model can best be described as “lime green-ish” because the colors of individual elements meander throughout the yellow/green spectrum. The variance isn’t truly huge, but LEGO is known for its superb quality, and fans expect that, especially when spending what for many people is a week’s wages on a single set. The mismatched colors are quite obvious in person, with the small Technic connectors being among the worst offenders at several shades darker than the rest. The smaller variances that you see among the beams are not a trick of the camera, either.

Another bad mismatch was visible in the two large panels on each side of the engine cover, where they’re markedly different shades. Response from LEGO on this issue has been mixed, with some initial responses stating that this color variation falls within expected color tolerances, but as more consumers have come forward noting the issue, LEGO seems to be backpedaling a bit and have provided some buyers with replacement elements. It’s not clear if the replacements will have the same issues. Nevertheless, if you purchase the set and notice these issues, you’ll do well to add your voice to the chorus in noting your concerns to LEGO’s customer service.


Conclusion & recommendation

Another of the world’s most expensive supercars, the Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 slots in beautifully next to the Bugatti Chiron and Porsche 911 GT3 RS. It’s a technically complex model that provides one of the more challenging build experiences you’ll find in a current LEGO set. For those who haven’t had the pleasure of handling the previous two models in person, it’s hard to convey just how big this set really is. It’s just shy of two feet long, and despite its flat profile, nearly 5 inches tall.

While the very hefty $380 USD price marks an increase from the previous two supercar sets, the price-per-piece ratio still comes in about average. The play features all work well, though if you’ve built either of the previous two cars, you won’t find much to give you new wows here. For those new to this series, however, this will be one of the most engaging builds you’ll find, and the result is a mean, green, speeding machine built on the back of the Italian bull brand, all bundled up in LEGO’s very best packaging. It doesn’t get much better than that.

If you’re concerned about the color issues–a very valid concern–then you may want to wait six months or a year before dropping the big bucks. While discounts on the previous two have been rare, the Sián will certainly be available that long, and we hope that LEGO will use that time to get the color concerns sorted out. At the time of writing, the Sian is out of stock in most regions anyway, leaving those who haven’t purchased yet with no option but to wait. And once the colors are sorted out, it will definitely be worth the wait.


LEGO Technic 42115 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 is available now with a retail price of US $379.99 | CAN $489.99 | UK £349.99 and includes 3,696 pieces. It may also be available from third parties on Amazon and eBay.

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick a copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

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5 comments on “The LEGO Technic 42115 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 rolls in: the good, the bad, and the ugly [Review]

  1. Jeramie Shake

    As always, the reviews are one of the best parts of this site. Thank you so much!

  2. Jimmy

    Thanks for this review! Tragic about the color mismatch. That’s somewhat to be expected between different materials or materials with different levels of gloss (like beams and the flexible rods). But the color match between two beams should be near perfect, no excuses IMO.

    Styling-wise, I’m disappointed in the large side air inlets, just aft of the door. On the real car it’s a strong line from sill rising up to near the top of the fender, before kinking strongly forward. On the lego version the Technic panel has a corner that really spoils the shape, (I think it’s part 64394).

    I agree that the missing “63” on the rear vertical fin is a glaring omission. I wonder if it has to do with Lego trying to avoid printing on black bricks (I think I read elsewhere that that’s sometimes and issue and why they choose to do stickers on black elements)?

  3. 1963

    The 63 is obviously because the olive green show car is numbered 63 of the 63-car production run. Since the Lego set has color number 64, it would be inappropriate to print number 63 on the fins.

  4. Erik Tomlinson

    I am assuming they didn’t go to the trouble of hinging the hood because it would seem that it doesn’t hinge in real life. I can’t find a single picture of a Sian with the hood open, and supercar/hypercar manufacturers are increasingly designing their products so that you have to have them serviced to actually get at the motor. (See all modern McLarens, for example.)

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