Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Layla's Astana Hotto

       
 
 
Made By:
Jada Toys
Scale:
1/24
MSRP:
US$12.99
Overview:
Packaging (Design):9/10
Packaging (Durability):6/10
Casting (Body):9/10
Casting (Interior):N/A
Casting (Chassis):9/10
Casting (Engine):N/A
Paint (Exterior):10/10
Paint (Interior):N/A
Paint (Trim/Graphics):9/10
Overall Panel Fit:9/10
Total Score:8.7/10

 
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Jada Toys Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Astana Hotto
Jada Toys Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Astana Hotto packaging Jada Toys Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Astana Hotto headlights Jada Toys Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Astana Hotto taillights Jada Toys Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Astana Hotto side weapon Jada Toys Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Astana Hotto front sawblade Jada Toys Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Astana Hotto rear

 
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Background

Layla Gray is a skilled driver and former recruiter for the crime organization SH1FT3R. After meeting Tony Toretto and his crew, Layla defected and became one of the most experienced members of the team. Her car is the Astana Hotto, a high performance sports coupe loaded with special features and tools.

 

Packaging

This is identical to the package we saw with the Thresher, with the portrait and text on the front of the box updated Layla and her ride.

 

Casting/Paint

While the casting is, like the rest of the series, a simple plastic shell with black plastic used for the glass and chassis, this is arguably the best of them all. First, the body is very nearly flawless. If not for a faint parting seam between the headlights and upper inboard lights, the "nearly" could be dropped - there's no sign of sink marks, rough edges, or any other casting errors anywhere. I'm not counting the weapons ports as errors since they're part of the gimmick, though the two on the doors do kind of stick out. It would have been nice to see these moved forward to look like front fender extractors the same way Jada did on the Thresher & Baja Crawler. The front weapons mount is tucked in under the front bumper, and passes as an air intake easily enough. The rear wing is a separate piece, fit tightly to the fastback. Both bumpers are separate pieces, and while the rear one fits a little better both look good. All eight front lights have clear lenses ,and the taillights have transparent red lenses. A hexagonal button sticks out of the roof, painted the same gold as the bumpers. The rest of the body is finished in a satin pearl white with printed blue, orange, and teal stripes on the sides. Paint and print are all excellent, with no sign of bad coverage or dust in the finish.

There's no interior, but the chassis is a single black plastic piece that extends out to make the splitter, side skirts, and rear diffuser. It's nicely detailed with a dual exhaust system, engine and transmission detail, rear suspension arms, and a separate gold muffler. Wheels are gold with slick low-profile vinyl tires.

 

Features/Accessories

Pressing the button on the roof will produce one of three sound effects: an engine revving and two different metallic weapon sounds. All three are accompanied by the headlights, indicators, and taillights flashing. There are also three snap-in spy accessories included: the same front-mounted saw blade from the Thresher and a pair of fender-mounted non-firing guns.

 

Accuracy

As with the other cars in the Spy Racers series, the Astana Hotto looks great but could use some more paint apps. But the shapes are all there, down to the tiny inlets near the back corners of the hood and the proper cuts to the fender flares.

 

Overall

This is my favorite of the Spy Racers cars. It looks great, I love the classic Z influence, and Jada did a great job capturing all the broad strokes and most of the details. The only drawback is how hard it is to find, but if you can do so it's definitely worth picking up.

 

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