Customer Ratings & Reviews

This is a cool looking car and has some cool features but overall it's speed and handling are terrible and not worth the price.

Not Worth the price & doesn’t works great. My 9 year old son doesn’t likes it.

Sphero - Ultimate Lightning McQueen - Red it will not download audio update

Ultimate Lightning McQueen is straight-up magic, for real. The attention to detail put into this toy is astonishing - from the charging mechanism (you plug him in, the plug goes under his gas cap), to the care put into the app (there's a ton to do and Lightning gives you feedback the whole time), to the impact sensors ("Ow! That's gonna leave a mark!"), to how he handles on carpet (exceedingly well), to his headlights and taillights that actually work, to the fact that he can reverse or get a speed boost, to his idle chatter, the fact that his MOUTH MOVES when he talks, and the whole chassis moves up, down, and all around. OK, sure, that's nice, right? Let's take it a step further: he knows if he's upside down. He knows if he's stuck. He tells you when his battery is low. He knows when you've picked him up and when you've set him down and he comments about it. He talks about what screen you're on in the app and gives feedback about what's happening inside the app, too. This is a SLICK toy that adults and kids alike will appreciate. He's not just a functional RC car, he's FUN to drive - he's not just a gimmicky car that "kinda works" - nope, Lightning has pep and travels well on hardwood as well as carpet. The controls are easy to learn, there's a reverse feature, a speed boost feature, lightning can also burn donuts AND drift with like two buttons. Will your kid be able to figure it out? Probably after like 2 minutes of practice (the on-screen instructions are pretty helpful, too). He's got race mode where you combine a little app play (pit stop puzzle game) and driving him around. All in all, he's pretty open-ended - there's a ton of fun things to do with him (from watch Cars - he responds to the movie - to just tooling around driving him from place to place). He's super speedy, the battery life is darn good for an RC car, the handling is good but you'll want a significant area to play with him on (and probably padded while you get used to his turning radius). I goofed plenty and he didn't show any scratches or scrapes. I was afraid to really wreck him, but he seems pretty padded, especially around the front bumper. If I had to conjure up a complaint, he's a little loud on unboxing (as in when Lightning is talking, the driving mechanism itself is quiet)... but I was also testing in my carpeted basement office, so the sound carried. Lo-and-behold, HE HAS HIS OWN VOLUME CONTROL. Did I mention these Sphero folks have figured out how to package magic? The app is not clunky (as Sphero has had a ton of time to figure this out with the other products - and in fact, I'd say this app is a significant step up from the Sphero BB-8 app, which I consider to be the weakest part of the Sphero BB-8 experience). If you or your kiddo is a Pixar Cars fan IN THE SLIGHTEST, this is the toy you/they will want to have without question or delay.

This is some of the most fun I have had in a long time with a remote controlled car. This is more than your normal remote controlled car it’s an interactive experience. With a touch on either side or even the hood this car will reach to you. Looking through the windshield you’ll see the eyes react to you as well as the mouth up front. After a a quick 30 minute charge and a app download I was off and running. It’s amazingly accurate with the iPhone app controls. The app has different functions such as the donut feature. I let a few of the neighborhood kids give it a go and I’m sure a few of the parents will be making this purchase for Christmas. The Sphero - Ultimate Lightening McQueen is a blast to operate you can’t go wrong with it.

When this thing was first announced I saw the videos online and thought it was awesome and now I finally have it! It’s hard to believe this thing is a toy. We certainly didn’t have toys like this growing up. I already have Sphero’s BB-8 so I’m familiar with how life-like their toys can be but this thing takes it to a new level. In addition to the front being able to bounce, the car truly feels alive with the LCD eyes and moving lips when it speaks. I'm giving this to my son who has a Lightning McQueen themed room but at only four years (almost 5) I'm a little nervous to actually let him drive it. Hopefully it'll spend most of it's time on the nightstand as it also just looks awesome. It's very well made and has all the details you'd expect. The animatronics are top notch, but I'd expect nothing less from Sphero which is quickly becoming my favorite toy company. When you take it out of the box you are supposed to charge it for about 30 minutes. I plugged in and about 5 minutes later Lightning McQueen’s voice said “ready!” so I took it off the charger and downloaded the app. Meanwhile, while the app was downloading and the car checking for firmware updates it was bouncing around on it’s front two wheels and quipping about being bored and asking me what I wanted to do. Once the app connected to the car it asked me to plug him in again so that he could update. The charger is actually where McQueens’ fuel cap is located which is pretty cool. With the app there are two way to control the car. The first I would call the “Sphero” way in which you have to stand at the rear of the car to orient yourself, press a button, then move a virtual joystick to both steer and accelerate the car. It's similar to the way you control the BB-8 toy and quite honestly I found it very difficult to use with a car. Luckily, you can switch the controls to RC which will give you a traditional (but virtual) accelerator and steering control. The car itself moves as you would expect, it can get to about 5 mph and can do donuts pretty easily. It's actually a lot of fun to drive. The tail lights function just as they would on a real car, lighting up when you brake. In the app, there is also a button to make him speak, which honestly if all this toy did was speak, move it's eyes, mouth and bounce around it would be an awesome toy in and of itself. The fact that it does all of that and is fully driveable is amazing. There is also a "speed button" which will make Lightning go at full speed along with the VROOM sounds which are actually pretty loud and will probably scare your small pets. All in all, I highly recommend this car, but I will say it's fun factor can be a bit limited by the fact that it would be painful to break this car. I don't know how much abuse it can take but this is something I'm probably gonna only use inside. Save the outside jumps for cheap throwaway R/C cars.

The car is easy to set up - has the car itself which is very high quality, the charger which plugs in to the fuel door (so cool), and an app to download onto your phone. I had a bit of trouble at first until I realized the WiFi on my phone had to be turned on. The first update took a few minutes since my internet was really slow. The software is very easy to use and navigate. One of the funnest parts of this car is the talking - it talks while charging and talks when you turn it on and drive it. The eyes in the windshield also move, as does the body (all on its own too) - at impressive angles. The car is very responsive and can go frontwards and backwards and make donuts. You control the speed and direction on the finger joystick. It's pretty durable, even when smashing into dressers and other obstacles (and makes hilarious comments about it). It doesn't take long to learn to drive. Besides driving it, there is a Pitstop Panic game which is fun and challenging, racing against opponents, and you can watch the original Cars movie with Lightning McQueen and watch him react. You can also build your own scripts for him which I have yet to do. This has been some amazing fun and I was surprised at how much enjoyment comes from engaging with this remote control car! Any child or adult would love this.

Admittedly, I only saw the first Cars movie, and had forgotten the character names, but when I saw this "toy" I knew that my grandson would love it. As a retiree from high-tech, I was blown away by how well the technology was integrated. A color LCD windshield really brings the car to "life" with its moving eyes. The car also responds to touch on the hood, trunk, sides, and the top. Lastly, the moving mouth is in sync with McQueen's voice. All of this makes the car perform like the cartoon character that we see on television or on the movie screen (editorial comment: where was this stuff when I was a kid??). LED headlights and taillights come on if the action ends up in a dark environment. VERY helpful for finding McQueen when a child sends him off in an unexpected area. Of course we adults never do that sort of thing. The quality of construction and detail-orientation is exceptional. The use of technology was done extremely well in that it remains a toy and not something overly complex to use. Since my grandson is almost two and a half, I had to spend plenty time getting used to it before we played with it together. Purely to make his initial experience a good one, nothing more. :)

While this car is cool in how animated it is, I can't justify it with the clunky app that is required to controll Lightning. Half of the time the app won't sync to the car despite being right next to my device. The car is great, the app is not.

Such a cool toy!! I think I enjoy it more than my son. This car is so much different than your regular rc car in so many ways. The controls are easy to use, the response is great, and the way it drives is spot on with how he moves in the movies. The eyes are so cool and the unit seems to be very durable. I can't wait to play with it when I get home!!

The car has a quick response to my iphone.like the turns it make. My son loves playing with it.realistic sounds.

Very cool toy that drives and maneuvers well plus has a built in "personality". Fit and finish of the toy is really good too. No decals, all painted on details!

The charger connector is too fragile. The second time I tried to unplug it, the dongle broke. I also wish there was a physical remote control instead of the smartphone app. My son loves it but I had to return it when the charger connector broke.