Technic

McLaren P1

A monster 1:8 hypercar build that rewards patience over showroom looks.

4.4/5

Set 42172 · 2024

Pieces3,893

Minifigsn/a

Year2024

Set number42172

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The verdict

If you love the mechanical side of Technic more than perfect bodywork, this one's an easy yes.

You get a proper multi-evening build with the most complex gearbox in the 1:8 supercar line, a pumping V8, and those brilliant dihedral doors. Just go in knowing the front end doesn't quite capture the real P1, and the price stings. It's for the builder who cares about what's happening under the panels.

Best for: experienced Technic fans who love functional mechanics over showroom-perfect bodywork

The full review

What it is

So your mate's eyeing the LEGO® Technic McLaren P1, and honestly, it's a big deal of a box. This is a 3,893-piece set, one of the largest in the active Technic catalogue, and it slots into that prestigious 1:8 scale supercar line alongside the Bugatti Chiron, Lamborghini Sian, and Ferrari Daytona SP3. What you're really buying here is engineering. Under those orange panels there's a 7-speed double clutch gearbox with new drum shifters, a V8 that pumps as you roll the car along, a working differential, functional steering, and all-wheel suspension. That gearbox is the headline act, and reviewers widely reckon it's the most complex transmission Technic has put in one of these cars. If the phrase 'working gearbox' makes you grin, this set is talking straight to you.

The catch

Now for the honest bit, because that's what mates are for. The build is gorgeous in motion, but it doesn't perfectly capture the real McLaren P1's silhouette. Reviewers keep circling back to the front end, since the bonnet and headlights are the car's most recognizable features and Technic's panel-and-beam medium struggles with those flowing curves. From some angles the P1 shape lands beautifully, from others you get that nagging 'something's slightly off' feeling. The bigger elephant in the room is price. Around 450 dollars is a lot, and it's the single thing reviewers flagged most, especially since it costs more than earlier cars in the line. There are smaller gripes too: the dihedral doors only seat cleanly most of the time because a flexible axle catches on the roof, and the suspension is so stiff it barely moves under the model's own weight.

Who it's for

So who should grab it? If you're the kind of person who enjoys the process, who wants to spend a few evenings assembling real mechanisms and figuring out how a hypercar's drivetrain fits together, you'll love this. The Brickset community gives it a solid 4.4 out of 5, which matches the consensus perfectly: superb build, imperfect body, painful price. The build experience earns near-universal praise even from folks who grumble about the bodywork. Who should skip it? If you mainly want a flawless scale replica to sit on a shelf and fool people into thinking it's die-cast, the accuracy quibbles might bug you every time you walk past, and the Ferrari Daytona SP3 gets you cleaner looks. And if this would be your first big Technic set, we'd start smaller and gentler. But for a fan who values what's going on under the hood, the hours spent inside that gearbox are some of the best Technic currently offers.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

Building this is a proper journey across 23 numbered bags, and figure on 20 to 30 hours. You start deep in the mechanical heart of the car, assembling that double clutch gearbox with its two new drum shifters, the V8 engine block, and the differential, which is where the set is at its most engaging. This is chunky, satisfying gear-and-axle work where slotting levers and pins together feels closer to assembling real machinery than stacking bricks. One fair warning: a mistake buried in the gearbox is miserable to fix later, so take those sections slowly. Suspension and steering go in, the frame builds outward, then the panels start dressing the skeleton. The dihedral door mechanism is a highlight worth waiting for. The panel and bodywork phase near the end is the more repetitive stretch, so pace yourself.

For parts nerds there's a lot to love. The set brings genuinely new molds, including a curved panel with a pronounced downward bend for that sail shape, a fresh wishbone suspension arm, and a thicker 12-tooth clutch gear in dark green. The standout parts are the exclusive Wheel 75 x 41 McLaren P1 rims in titanium metallic (pearl dark gray), a classy gunmetal wheel with a lovely deep dish. There's a flood of bright orange elements plus a big stack of recolors, so it's a strong donor set if you build your own creations. And since every decorated piece is printed with no sticker sheet at all, nothing's going to peel or misalign years down the line. At roughly 12 cents a piece for this much mechanical complexity and this many exclusive elements, the part-count value stacks up better than the sticker price first suggests.

Fun facts

01The real McLaren P1 is one of the hybrid hypercar 'Holy Trinity' alongside the Ferrari LaFerrari and Porsche 918 Spyder, and its 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 plus electric motor make a combined 903 horsepower.
02Only 375 real P1s were ever built, and they've since climbed well past their roughly 1.15 million dollar launch price on the collector market.
03Every LEGO McLaren P1 comes with a unique serial number that opens up exclusive behind-the-scenes content.
04This is the first car in LEGO's 1:8 Technic supercar line to use twin drum shifters, giving it a 7-speed gearbox that reviewers call the series' most complex transmission yet.