LEGO® cars and LEGO® compatible cars worth buying

LEGO® has an extensive catalog of vehicles, but there are also alternative brands that complement LEGO®'s offerings, and that are 100% compatible. In this article, we put together an introduction to all car model lines from LEGO®, as well as alternatives from CaDA, Cobi, and Mould King, three of the most known alt brick brands on the market.

LEGO® and other alternative brands specialized in cars

In recent years, the brick-building market has experienced exponential growth. Block by block, the LEGO empire continues to grow, and under this umbrella numerous alternative brands have emerged. Within these, legitimate brands have deliberately distanced themselves from the spectre of copyright infringement, and offer different construction approaches, alternative designs, and themes that the Danish brand does not work on.

Several of these alternative brands have opened the doors to a variety of vehicles that go beyond more traditional proposals, whether they are European cars with official licenses, exclusive designs from renowned MOCers, remote control vehicles, or military vehicles with a historical focus.

These brands also compete on price, since they do not have a brand value anywhere near as LEGO®. Among the most notable brands for their quality are CaDA, Cobi, and Mould King. But first let's talk about LEGO® cars.

LEGO® cars

LEGO® has about fifty car sets in its catalog. Most of them fall within three collections: Icons, Technic, and Speed ​​Champions.

LEGO® Land Rover Classic Defender at €240.

Icons has a huge variety of attractive themes for AFOLs. We find here retro cars from companies such as Porsche, Land Rover, Corvette, or Chevrolet, and even cars from Ghostbuster and Back to the Future. The age recommendation is 18+, although there are sets from 700 pieces to 2,000 or so.

LEGO® Ferrari Daytona SP3 at €450.

The Technic line has a little bit of everything, from simpler sets with around 200 or so pieces for kids aged 7 and up, to more complex constructions for ages 18 and up. There are even big sets, like the Ferrari in the photo, with 3,778 pieces. As for the licenses, the majority are from sports and high-end car manufacturers, which fit well with this type of construction, such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mustang, Audi, Bugatti, or Mercedes.

LEGO® Audi S1 e-tron quattro at €27.

Speed ​​Champions sets are much smaller, usually around 200-350 pieces, and are appropriate from ages 7-9, but also for adults who collect cars for their dioramas. Currently there are about 21 sets with licenses of Nissan, McLaren, Mercedes, BMW, Pagani, or Lotus.

CaDA Cars

In just a few years, CaDA has established itself as one of the leading brands in the sector, thanks to making its own high-quality bricks, and by seeking lines not so exploited by LEGO®, such as RC vehicles. CaDA also typically offers the option of purchasing the same car in its motorized or non-motorized version for larger sets. In those cases, it sells the engines separately.

CaDA RUF GT Remote Control at €149.

Within the CaDA catalog there is a collection of sports cars, with smaller remote control cars with some technic parts, which cost around €30, but there are also larger ones at 1:8 and 1:12 scales in a technic style with prices around €100-€150.

CaDA Technic Viva Hypercar by MOCer Thijs De Bour. 4,739 pieces, €186.

The Master Series collection brings together designs created by well-known MOCers in the LEGO® world. The collection includes technic-style cars, an excavator with 5 engines, and some military tanks designed by Eric Trax, Bruno, Markus Schegel or Artemy Zotov.

CaDA Humvee 1:8 scale. €186.

CaDA also has a very popular line of off-road vehicles with the Humvee, Artic Cat or Suzuki licenses.

Last, there is a complete collection of heavy machinery, with a fleet of 5 small vehicles for younger builders, and other larger sets such as the imposing Telehandler designed by Eric Trax, a MOCer specialized in construction machines.

Cobi Cars

The Polish company Cobi has been on the market since the 80s, and has managed to find its place by going for themes very different LEGO®, with a historical focus.

Cobi Opel Rekord C Coupé 1:12 scale, €130.

Cobi has specialized in iconic car sets from European companies, such as Skoda, Opel, Citroen, Maserati, Lancia, or Abarth. In its catalog you'll find large cars at a 1:12 scale, for prices around €100-€130, but also a wide collection of mini retro cars (Youngtimer Collection), which are great play sets for young builders that are also fun to collect and display for AFOLs. The prices of these are between €15-€20, depending on the set.

Cobi Horch830BK Cabriolet at €18.

One of the biggest thematic gaps left by LEGO® is the military. Cobi has done well targeting a very powerful market. Cobi's Historical Collection has military cars, sidecars, armored vehicles, tanks, and many other military vehicles from the wars of the 20th century, licensed by Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Sikorsky, or Cessna.

Mould King cars

Mould King is a giant in the alt brick world. Much of its success is due to the fact that they launch unlicensed sets imitating some LEGO® lines (read “Space” Wars, Ghost “Hunters” etc.), at much more affordable prices than those of the Danish brand.

The quality of their bricks is excellent, and they have a very wide and varied catalogue. However, they were born in the shadow of Lepin, and are not exactly one of the most legitimate brands.

We cannot fail to mention them here since their catalog of cars is varied and extensive, with standard constructions, technic, remote control, and various themes such as classic cars, sports cars, racing cars, off-road vehicles, and also heavy machinery.

 Mould King The AE86 Mini Sports Car at €18.

Based on the size of the sets, there are two categories. The smaller cars, between 300-400 pieces, which come with stackable display boxes to make them collectible, at prices around €18.

Mould King Icarus P1 GT Sports Car Remote Control. 1,928 pieces. €120.

The other collection of larger cars, at scales between 1:16 for the medium sets and 1:8 for the giant formats, is also formidable. 

Summary table

Latericius: Made of Bricks is the only Spanish store specialized in alt bricks. We only work with legitimate alternative brands, such as Cobi and CaDA, that offer original designs and/or licenses, and high plastic quality. If you want to take a look at our collection of vehicles click here.