Review: 60345 Farmers Market Van
Posted by Huw,
60345 Farmers Market Van is one of four City Farm sets that have just been released. It also complements 60347 Grocery Store that we reviewed a few weeks ago.
The attractive colour scheme, novel subject matter and new plant pieces attracted my attention as soon as I saw it, so it was a rare day one purchase.
Summary
60345 Farmers Market Van, 310 pieces.
£24.99 / $44.99 / €29.99 | 8.1p/14.5c/9.7c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A colourful and attractive set with broad appeal
- New plant pieces
- Poppin' colour scheme
- Outrageous price in the USA
Minifigures
Horace, the farmer on the left, is a character in the LEGO City Adventures cartoon. Like all the farmworkers in this year's sets he's attired in lime green dungarees with an attractive 'fields and sun' motif on the front.
The lady with the striking hair-do works in the van. Her hairpiece has been produced in black and dark brown before but appears in blue here for the first time. Her padded-jacket torso is also new.
The guy in the red bomber jacket is a customer.
Crops
The model consists of two parts and the first to be constructed is a section of 'field' although given the variety of crops growing in such a small space it's more like an allotment.
The colourful produce includes chillies and corn, and what I presume are grapes in the middle.
The plants make use of a new piece, 1566 PLANT, W/ 3.2 SHAFT, NO. 1, that connects to 37762 CANDLE, NO. 1, to form the stems.
The crates contain apples, a banana and a Pumpkin. A smaller one filled with chillies is also provided.
The field is modular and breaks into three sections.
The new dual-moulded corn piece, 1411 VEGETABLE, NO. 4, looks fantastic, although I believe the cereal grain is usually harvested before the yellow kernels become visible.
Carrots are also being grown, and an almost-hidden play feature transforms them from small plant to a full-grown root vegetable, which mysteriously is growing above the ground!
The rabbit has been around since 2017 but is new here in light grey.
The van
The vehicle, resplendent in orange and green livery, matches the style and size of previous great vehicles in the City range.
The giant carrot on the top clearly signals what the van is selling but the drag it creates will surely increase fuel consumption, or perhaps reduce kilometres per kilowatt if it's an electric van. Perhaps an opportunity was missed to mark it as such, to further the set's 'green appeal'.
The price list (one of three stickers) on the side proclaims that apples (or perhaps bell peppers) cost 3 units, carrots 4 and chillies 3.
The rear doors are created using the new 6x6 double door frame and two 80683 DOOR 3X6 which are new in white.
There's room for two crates of produce in the back.
The right hand side windows are hinged to give access to the interior in order to position the lady with the blue-rinse. There's not much in it: just a till with a 5 unit coin on top.
The window on the left side slides open enabling customers to be served. As usual, though, the hatch is a bit high compared to the height of a minifigure.
Verdict
Farm-related sets are coveted and popular among AFOLs, and I think this one will be too, despite the lack of farmyard animals. The van is well-designed and on a par with other recently released civilian vehicles. The bright green, lime and orange colour scheme really pops, and it was that which initially caught my attention.
The section of field may be small and the crops not particularly realistic, but nevertheless it looks great and something we've not seen in a set before. The corn piece is a welcome addition to both foodstuff and plant elements.
The bright colours and pleasing design should also make it attractive to youngsters, too, and I suspect it's the sort of set that parents would choose to buy their kids rather than one focusing on conflict.
It's great to see the City theme yielding something other than emergency services, construction or fast cars: simply ordinary folk going about their daily business and I hope that we see more like it in the future.
Price-wise, it's £24.99 / $44.99 / 29.99€ for 310 pieces, which makes it pretty good value in Europe but once again the inexplicable 'City markup' has been applied to the price in the USA which makes it less so there.
It's available from LEGO.com and all good retailers now.
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58 comments on this article
I would guess the play feature with the carrot just represents pulling it out of the ground, rather than the actual growing process. Cool set!
'It's great to see the City theme yielding something other than emergency services . . .'
I suppose now that LEGO City's plentiful emergency services have finally sorted out all the crime, all the fires, and all the medical issues, the residents now have no excuse not to plant chillis and corn.
It's interesting the farm modules can be extended onto themselves with the technin pin bricks.
The downside of the build is the choice of pin bricks with no removable pins, so the pins stick out on the grey side :
https://brickset.com/parts/6321770/brick-1x2-w-horizontal-snap
I guess those grey pins can be imagined as underground irrigation pipes, makes the grey color a little more in context at least.
Well overpriced for the USA IMO. The van is similar to past sets such as 60150/60253 so that gets $20. The side build would be $10-$15, even with a 3rd minifigure. No way this is worth $45. This is only good for a 25%+ sale. UK, easy day 1 purchase if I lived there.
Anyone else find the corn setup a little bit funny? Ears of corn don't grow on "branches" and the top of the corn stock features an iconic tassel which is missing.
Where’s the green pepper from the menu?
@durazno33 said:
"Anyone else find the corn setup a little bit funny? Ears of corn don't grow on "branches" and the top of the corn stock features an iconic tassel which is missing. "
Grapes don't grow unsupported either...
Disregarding the minor embellishments, I will be more happy if/when the new vegetables make it into some kind of "XTRA" style garden mini-set. Buying multiple of the new farm sets to get these pieces would be rather costly.
I hadn't really thought about the drag issue when I got and then built the set, but it occurs to me that you could reduce it by turning the carrot around.
With every review here I play a round of "The Price Is Right": I just look at the first image of the review and then try to guess the price. So far I was never high enough to be over the price of TLG. Try it yourself, it's fun.
Very overpriced in US dollars. I'd buy this at 20% off but not at full retail.
If only one was able to add a bit of goat cheese to the vegetable melange, but, alas, no goat.
Hilariously overpriced in the US. Straight up robbery.
@NatureBricks said:
"Of course you can't complain about the price, you aren't in the USA!"
You make a good point: I've added that as a negative.
Holy smokes! I know the price of organics has gone up with inflation, but geez $45 for veggies now?
Woah, that US price is absurd! Well, glad we are getting fairly priced stuff for once here I guess, but why can't they ever seem to get that right globally? I ain't a farm guy and starting a new display for them would be a very dumb decision that doesn't need elaborating. Grey bunny I want though!
Also, @Huw you mention that the menu has prices for peppers, carrots and chillies, however I think you mistook apples for peppers or just made a typo there. Unless round peppers have recently been discovered in the UK, of course ;)
That thing costs R$449.99. No way, absolutely no way....
@Huw said:
" @NatureBricks said:
"Of course you can't complain about the price, you aren't in the USA!"
You make a good point: I've added that as a negative."
Canadian price is even more outrageous. $59,99 CAD, which is $46,56 USD. Plus the 15% sales tax, that $69 CAD. Or about €50. I'm not getting it.
Hmm,
$44.99 for 310 pieces of vegetable-nonsense or $99.99 for the 1254 pieces Galaxy Explorer...
Decisions, decisions...
Kilometres per kilowatt makes no sense, or maybe it does in the LEGO universe :)
@iriz said:
"Hmm,
$44.99 for 310 pieces of vegetable-nonsense or $99.99 for the 1254 pieces Galaxy Explorer...
Decisions, decisions..."
Chew carrots or "to boldly go where no one has gone before" you mean;)
Good to see Poe Dameron buy his veges locally..
@mr_Fikou said:
"Also, @Huw you mention that the menu has prices for peppers, carrots and chillies, however I think you mistook apples for peppers or just made a typo there. Unless round peppers have recently been discovered in the UK, of course ;)"
You are probably right, given apples are in the crates but they could be bell peppers.
$0.145 per piece in the US?!
I don’t see any weird pieces here that justify inflating the price per piece that high. It’s not like there is a road to blame. Really, I’d like to hear how Lego justifies this pricing…and just having it excessively priced for the US (and Canada).
"it's the sort of set that parents would choose to buy their kids rather than one focusing on conflict."
Exactly, this is the kind of thing I would buy for a child (like the recent City ice cream van 60253 too or the tractor 60287). The healthy food aspect will have an appeal to parents too. And it's colourful, and not trying to appeal just to one gender (as I fear some of the more conflict based sets are).
I like that the 3x6 door is now available in a solid colour. It can now be used for situations where more privacy is needed, e.g. a wheelchair accessible bathroom (a single door would be better for that purpose but I don't think there's anything suitable unless you do a brick built one?).
The US price is ridiculous. I can only assume that they are charging what they think the market will spend and that's higher in the US than Europe? But not going by AFOLs' opinions obviously so they must be expecting to sell to the masses who aren't aware of the disparity and see it as good enough value for money at the high price.
@Huw said:
" @mr_Fikou said:
"Also, @Huw you mention that the menu has prices for peppers, carrots and chillies, however I think you mistook apples for peppers or just made a typo there. Unless round peppers have recently been discovered in the UK, of course ;)"
You are probably right, given apples are in the crates but they could be bell peppers."
I think this is a case of lost in translation...
In Dutch there is a clear distinction between 'paprika's' (bell peppers and sweet peppers) and '(chili)pepers' (hot peppers); they are considered to be very different species by most people (reflected in the language), despite being closely related in reality.
Seems like a perfectly fine set in itself, but I feel even the European price is already stretching it. Not so much by the price per piece metric, but I just don't see €30 of stuff here. But that American price is downright outrageous....
@TheOtherMike said:
"I hadn't really thought about the drag issue when I got and then built the set, but it occurs to me that you could reduce it by turning the carrot around."
The way the carrot is positioned is definitely the best way to go, and I expect a quite modest drag from the carrot actually (speaking as an aerospace engineer), especially when the leaves would be flexible.
So I purchased this set here in the US a couple of weeks ago. It’s a great little set. We are currently developing a small farm area in our city and this fits perfectly. Unfortunately the price is tough to think about. However I don’t see that trend changing anytime soon.
This should be $29.99. I might could see $35, but wouldn’t like it. $45? Absolutely insane!
@durazno33 said:
"Anyone else find the corn setup a little bit funny? Ears of corn don't grow on "branches" and the top of the corn stock features an iconic tassel which is missing.
Yeah, some varieties might grow 2 ears of corn per stalk, but I've never hear of 3. But botanical inaccuracies aside, the step piece looks pretty useful."
Great set as a healthy alternative to the pizza and ice cream vans.
But vegetables growing without their plastic bags? Who's gonna believe that.....
@Reinier said:
"Kilometres per kilowatt makes no sense, or maybe it does in the LEGO universe :)"
Over here it's kilowatt hours per 100 kilometres.
I will only call corn vegetable 4 from now on.
In the chipotle line, at BBQs, when talking about Iowa.
“I’d love vegetable 4 on the cob!”
Not a fan of this new corn piece at all, and they certainly didn't do it any favors by including it in a set that also features greatly creative parts usage to represent grapes and peppers. It's far too specific to be used as anything but corn. The carrot was already pushing it, but at least that has two functional connection points.
@Reinier said:
"Kilometres per kilowatt makes no sense, or maybe it does in the LEGO universe :)"
I had to guess at the units, since my order for a new electric car has been delayed yet again :-(
As @AustinPowers says, KwH per 100Km is probably the correct measurement, equivalent to litres per 100Km.
Excellent review, the van is appealing and the subject matter is well designed in my opinion. But the price? The van would be reasonable at $20 to $25, and the side build could at most be $10. So $30 to $35 are all right, but $45 is way overpriced.
ugh, 44.99 USD? Even with a 20% discount from a retailer, that's an awful lot the set.
I mean the vendor trucks they have now are 20, the collection of the farm parts are probably maybe 10 bucks. So maybe should be 30 USD?
I was so disappointed in the price. I wonder how Lego can justify a price increase in one market but not in others. Surely it should be the same across the board. Nevertheless, I did get all the farm sets released this year and am happy I did so.
@eggbert20 said:
"This should be $29.99. I might could see $35, but wouldn’t like it. $45? Absolutely insane!"
I finally was able to reward myself with some goats. I ordered 7189 from Germany. I also added this set and 60346 because the BL seller had them at EU cost and shipping wasn't much more.
Otherwise, I cannot imagine paying the U.S. prices. When I first saw them, I assumed @Huw had made some horrible numerical mix-up. Now, I understand that is simply the current Lego marketing strategy moving forward.
I have noticed the US prices seem to be very expensive this year. Can get most of the cheaper City, Friends stuff cheaper here in Australia. This set is AU$35 (US$24) at the moment. $39 at Kmart.
The price really is madness. I mean, it's cheaper in Australia than the US, and that's never ever happened before.
The larger vehicles seem to be getting larger.
Like, the last few years (with sets like the camper van, the tractor, the prisoner transport police van) were medium-sized City sets, not small but reasonably-priced with larger vehicles. This year, I noticed that Lego has done away with those. We still get the smaller sets (like the orange F1 racer or the police car), but there's no medium-sized boxes anymore. The larger vehicles are now in larger sets with matching prices.
They really are making it increasingly hard to support them, aren't they?
@PDelahanty said:
"$0.145 per piece in the US?!
I don’t see any weird pieces here that justify inflating the price per piece that high. It’s not like there is a road to blame. Really, I’d like to hear how Lego justifies this pricing…and just having it excessively priced for the US (and Canada)."
Simple: grey rabbit. remove the cute rabbit and this set is $24.99. Could you imagine what would be the price if they had decided to put a squirrel instead? You'd have to mortgage your house to buy it.
At 30 bucks, this would have been a day one purchase. At 45, I'm not buying it on general principle.
Meanwhile the random set of the day succesor 75091: Flash Speeder was $30 and €45 in 2015.
€45 is like $50 in 2015 dollars.
Made no sense either.
Is USA price confirmed or a possible error?
Not sure if it's already been mentioned but the carrot should be the other way around (point forward) to reduce drag.
@asherkobin said:
"Is USA price confirmed or a possible error?"
Not an error
They're seriously out of their god dang minds with the price of this.
It went from a "that's cool, I'll probably buy it" to "there's absolutely no multiverse where I purchase this"
@KaiserCoaster said:
"They're seriously out of their god dang minds with the price of this.
It went from a "that's cool, I'll probably buy it" to "there's absolutely no multiverse where I purchase this""
LEGO pulled a 75203 : Hoth Medical Chamber situation on this in reverse, that $30 set was €50 in some EU countries , and €40-45 on others which is still too much.
City Tax is the new Star Wars reverse tax ?
And it gets even worse , with those €20 sets selling for $35 USD,
60340 : The Blade Stunt Challenge
60341 : The Knockdown Stunt Challenge
60342 : The Shark Attack Stunt Challenge
There’s a lot to like here but that price is worse than the Star Wars markup so I will only get this if I run across it on 50%+ clearance. :-(
$45 is a damn joke: this is a $33 set factoring inflation into account
I see you have saved the best farm set for last ;)
Show me the animals! :P
@BrickKing said:
"Not sure if it's already been mentioned but the carrot should be the other way around (point forward) to reduce drag."
Nope, it's definitely the right way round from an aerodynamic perspective.
I've just picked this up from Warehouse as part of their Buy One, get second half price, definitely took the sting out of the tail.
@NatureBricks said:
"Of course you can't complain about the price, you aren't in the USA!"
Try buying LEGO in Australia. Most of the time we are paying almost double (if not more) what you guys are.
I love this set! It will go great next to my 60253 Ice-Cream Truck, perhaps I could build sort of a food truck society! Plus, my mom loves rabbits so I could give the grey one to her! She'd love that
Okay so it took me longer than I would like to admit for me to realize that the fire hydrant is in fact NOT a fire hydrant, but rather, just a regular water spout. I was pretty convinced the veteran city designer who made this was having severe rescue services withdrawls and just NEEDED some sort of firefighting in there, but now that I've used two brain cells and checked the review again, the only thing I'm convinced of now is that I need to check my glasses prescription.
I’m from Iowa, so I feel it’s my civic duty to buy this just for the corn alone. Is that piece available anywhere else?
@nrith said:
"I’m from Iowa, so I feel it’s my civic duty to buy this just for the corn alone. Is that piece available anywhere else?"
https://brickset.com/sets/60347-1/Grocery-Store Now we need a potato for the Idahoans.