Review: Finn McMissile Zero Gravity Car From Disney’s Cars 2

Written on Jun 13, 2011 by RuthJS and filed under Disney, Reviews

Fans can see Finn McMissile make his debut in Cars 2 when it comes out in a few weeks. But, in the meantime, for about $40, kids 5 and up can take the new RC Zero Gravity Finn McMissile for a test drive . . . up the walls! Disney has introduced some of the new characters from this long awaited sequel, and Air Hogs RC has made them go vertical. The result is a fun RC car that delighted our testers.

Out of the Box

When you first take Finn out of his packaging, you’ll need to put 6 AA batteries into his remote and then plug him in to charge. The car draws charge from the batteries in the controller, allowing Finn to be very light and keeping the weight of heavy batteries in the remote. There’s a handy storage area that houses the charging cable and clips closed when the cable is not needed.

I was curious to see what kept Finn stuck to the wall, and, as he was charging, I flipped him over. The secret to his spidy-action comes from a fan under the car body which is surrounded by flexible, clear, plastic “fins.” When the fan is on, these plastic flaps create a seal against a smooth, flat surface (like a wall) which causes a suction that keeps the car stuck.  Pretty nifty.

However, I should note that these fins look an awful lot like clear tape, and, being the obsessive person I am, I started to pull them off before I thought better of it and read the instructions. It’s a good thing I did, too, because several of my testers started by pulling at the “tape” as well, and I was able to head them off.

One other feature to mention are the wheels; Finn has a LOT of them. First, there are two drive wheels under the body which make him go. These wheels are rubbery and give him good grip on smooth surfaces. Second, there are two wheels on the front and two on the back of the body. These are designed to help Finn make the transition between walls and floors.

Finally, there are Finn’s own tires. While these are just for show, they do rotate if you spin them, they just don’t help him to roll.

Charge

Once I plugged the car in, Finn was fully charged in less than half an hour. The charge lasted about 20 minutes before the car stopped responding when I tried to get him to climb walls. Not surprisingly, the suction fan drains the battery, and I was able to play with Finn on the floor a lot longer than when he was climbing.

Handling

As for steering, Finn was not the best at taking directions. Even with trim adjustments, he listed to the left. But, he would get where I wanted him to go, albeit in a roundabout way. Once he was on the wall, the handing was even less accurate. Still, he glided around my light switches and pictures like a champ, much to the delight of anyone watching.

Getting up onto the wall was sometimes difficult for Finn, but the directions mentioned making a ramp to get him past baseboards on the floor and up to the flat wall surface. This worked reasonably well, but it was also very satisfying to just turn on the suction fan and stick the car to the wall and watch him stay.

Here’s a video of Finn McMissile Zero Gravity in action.

Tester Response

So, how did my testers like Finn McMissile? They LOVED him! Not one was bothered by the semi-accurate handling or the need to sometimes put the car on the wall manually if Finn didn’t feel like climbing up the ramp. The only negative comment I got was, “I wish the charge lasted longer.” Other than that, I was hit by a barrage of, “Cool!” and “This is awesome!” and “I really like this toy!”

In a Nutshell

The Zero Gravity Finn McMissile had a few drawbacks, but overall, he was a lot of fun to play with. Here’s a summary of what we found:

Pros

• Super cool wall-climbing action makes Finn McMissile more than just another RC car
• Takes easy-to-find AA batteries
• Reasonably priced at around $40
• Charges quickly

Cons

• Charge lasts only around 15 or 20 minutes with the wall fan on
• Is difficult to keep in trim/traveling in straight lines

We give Finn McMissile Zero Gravity RC car:

4 out of 5 stars

 

 

 

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