Who would have thought that I'll end up buying this McLaren, where in truth I am a big Porsche fan. So naturally I'd go for the 918 Spyder, right?
Well, you see, I've been aiming for the Minichamps 1:43 scale of the 918 Spyder Weissach Package. That white model with the Martini livery was indeed an eye candy. But then I watched Chris Harris' video of him reviewing the three hyper hybrids. While the ending of the video ended in a rather vague manner as to which truly won, the lap times suggested otherwise (SPOILER ALERT!), with the McLaren P1 being the fastest around the race track. But in the three-way battle, you can clearly see the McLaren dominating the other two. Hence, that car also captured my interest, but I then set that aside in my mind and pick it up if I have spare money.
With that video watched, and as well as having a trip to Hong Kong, off I go in search for the Porsche first. When I arrived, I immediately started my search, and to my disappointment, the Porsche I'm looking for was nowhere to be found, not even in the showroom itself. However, I did not let it go over my head and ruin the trip. So I set my sights next on the McLaren, having proven its worth, and being a 1:43 collector, I was pleased by the fact that AUTOart makes one in that scale too.
Then I have successfully found the new location of the AUTOart store in Hong Kong (the one in Gloucester Road, Wan Chai is closed off) now located in Causeway Bay, but still accessible via the MTR. Upon entering the store, I immediately picked this shiny, Ice Silver colored P1.
Why? This is where my review shall start. First, the silver color along with its glittery "Metalflake" effect is my favorite in terms of durability. While the other colors share the same effect, they show imperfections on the panel gaps, particularly on the yellow one. The silver is just... perfect.
The carbon fiber weave is also perfectly executed for the scale. AUTOart quality at its very best.
However, the biggest deal breaker is the price. AUTOart 1:43s have gotten massively more expensive. This P1 even belongs in the basic lineup of 1:43 scale models, yet is priced at around 2700 pesos (converted from 440 HKD I spent for this). I'm not sure if this is the cheapest one you can get for the scale, and if it is, it might deter me from buying 1:43s from high end brands.
Though is it worth the price? Yes it is. And this car saved me from my disappointment for the entire trip.
) is doing very well and while they haven't taken over the store next to them yet, the shelves are starting to fill with all sorts of pick-and-buy goodies.
