Hello,
I've been looking to buy an electric car for my kids. Hopefully a new learning experience for them. But i literally can't decide on which car to buy for them . It has been a difficult decision to make for a mere electric toy car. Driving a car is an wonderful and important combination of responsibility and pleasure for the kids. To do this at such an early age would hopefully help them grow better. But a car that is safe for the kids without obstructing their learning is hard to find. The electric car will also help them understand how they can protect environment at a young age.Here are my top 2 choices for thr future purchase , please help me with this decision. Also , if you have any new suggestions feel free to recommend .
1. Power Wheels Dune Racer
Key Features.
Two driving modes in the forward direction- 2.5MPH and 5 MPH.
Power Lock Braking System.
Monster Traction system helps in driving even on Wet grass and Rough Terrain.
2.5MPH in Reverse direction.
Storage area under the hood for other toys.
1 Year warranty for the car.
6 Month warranty for the 12V Battery.
2. Peg Perego John Deere Ground Force Tractor with Trailer
Key Features.
2 speeds (2.5MPH and 4.5MPH) plus an additional reverse mode with speed-lock technology.
Adjustable seat with armrests.
High Traction Farm Tyres for better grip on different surfaces.
In-built FM Radio
Light Weight Body
Full size-Detachable Trailer
Free second-year warranty.
I've been looking to buy an electric car for my kids. Hopefully a new learning experience for them. But i literally can't decide on which car to buy for them . It has been a difficult decision to make for a mere electric toy car. Driving a car is an wonderful and important combination of responsibility and pleasure for the kids. To do this at such an early age would hopefully help them grow better. But a car that is safe for the kids without obstructing their learning is hard to find. The electric car will also help them understand how they can protect environment at a young age.Here are my top 2 choices for thr future purchase , please help me with this decision. Also , if you have any new suggestions feel free to recommend .
1. Power Wheels Dune Racer
Key Features.
Two driving modes in the forward direction- 2.5MPH and 5 MPH.
Power Lock Braking System.
Monster Traction system helps in driving even on Wet grass and Rough Terrain.
2.5MPH in Reverse direction.
Storage area under the hood for other toys.
1 Year warranty for the car.
6 Month warranty for the 12V Battery.
2. Peg Perego John Deere Ground Force Tractor with Trailer
Key Features.
2 speeds (2.5MPH and 4.5MPH) plus an additional reverse mode with speed-lock technology.
Adjustable seat with armrests.
High Traction Farm Tyres for better grip on different surfaces.
In-built FM Radio
Light Weight Body
Full size-Detachable Trailer
Free second-year warranty.
Not the kind of car I was thinking of for late teenage kids.
But tell us about where they will be driving it.
But tell us about where they will be driving it.
You want to teach them to protect the environment at a young age? Get them bicycles.
I didn't own a car until I was a senior in college. Neither did either of my children.
I didn't own a car until I was a senior in college. Neither did either of my children.
Looks like we’re talking toy car here, not Tesla vs VW, etc. Two of my adult children own BMW I3, and while they are ergonomically efficient and easy to drive, I’d not consider them a serious choice at the price - but that’s a totally different subject that could easily devolve into the type of polemic shouting match we should attempt to avoid.
I'd vote no.
I don't know how old your kids are, but I'd like to relate a story about what happened
to me six months after I got my drivers license. In 1975 I was driving to my high school
in my parents 1975 Chevy Nova. I was driving on residential streets and just had made a
right turn when I noticed that a small child was coming down his driveway
( Driveway was sloped down ) very quickly in his toy car. I was only doing about 15 MPH,
I locked up the breaks, the car stopped and the kid ran into my front wheel.
Scared the s**t out of me.
His mother came out running, grabbed the kid, ran back in the house and locked the door.
Hope that your kids have good insurance.
I don't know how old your kids are, but I'd like to relate a story about what happened
to me six months after I got my drivers license. In 1975 I was driving to my high school
in my parents 1975 Chevy Nova. I was driving on residential streets and just had made a
right turn when I noticed that a small child was coming down his driveway
( Driveway was sloped down ) very quickly in his toy car. I was only doing about 15 MPH,
I locked up the breaks, the car stopped and the kid ran into my front wheel.
Scared the s**t out of me.
His mother came out running, grabbed the kid, ran back in the house and locked the door.
Hope that your kids have good insurance.
Bicycle is the answer, but ok for more more than 2 wheels
That's a great project to training them to the future, green atitude and teach them to be ready to what that happens soon Without forgeting opening their mind making them futur sympathetic guys... dificult job and responsability to wet young grass. The project should involve you show them the way... the road and still stay funny as they are kids. The road map could be :
1: instead battery that pollute, think WWF BBC example aka Bio Body Cycle markI, old model but still valuable - picture 1
2: Don't forgett here what people calls "smooth transistion" as we are still drived by Darwin's law, a too fast evolution may be ireversible and environment adaptation is the rule : picture 2
3: the best souvenirs, learnings, come from the family, dare the GCFP aka Green Car Family Patern with involving the clan : picture 3
4: DIY is funnier for kids and futur kids and is the conclusion of the third previous steps. picture 4... you may realise that this is a futur dangerous hobby !
5: step 4 may break he green rule and eventually drive into a psychologic issue: the AGCE disease- picture 5... but still greener than a futur electrical hobby - less expensive too. We have all the disease here but with drivers, tubes...electrical can transport you but is costy...
That's a great project to training them to the future, green atitude and teach them to be ready to what that happens soon Without forgeting opening their mind making them futur sympathetic guys... dificult job and responsability to wet young grass. The project should involve you show them the way... the road and still stay funny as they are kids. The road map could be :
1: instead battery that pollute, think WWF BBC example aka Bio Body Cycle markI, old model but still valuable - picture 1
2: Don't forgett here what people calls "smooth transistion" as we are still drived by Darwin's law, a too fast evolution may be ireversible and environment adaptation is the rule : picture 2
3: the best souvenirs, learnings, come from the family, dare the GCFP aka Green Car Family Patern with involving the clan : picture 3
4: DIY is funnier for kids and futur kids and is the conclusion of the third previous steps. picture 4... you may realise that this is a futur dangerous hobby !
5: step 4 may break he green rule and eventually drive into a psychologic issue: the AGCE disease- picture 5... but still greener than a futur electrical hobby - less expensive too. We have all the disease here but with drivers, tubes...electrical can transport you but is costy...
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Bicycles are much better for children, and lack a battery to run down and need recharging.
Real EVs are not green, since the electricity is generated by dirty coal burning power plants.
They do not protect the environment, that's just marketing BS. Don't indoctrinate your kids.
Coal: Why Is It Dirty? | Green America
Real EVs are not green, since the electricity is generated by dirty coal burning power plants.
They do not protect the environment, that's just marketing BS. Don't indoctrinate your kids.
Coal: Why Is It Dirty? | Green America
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Umm, one that encourages racing or one that models productive work? I gather you are not in an area with lots of paved sidewalk for bicycles. My memory of such toy cars is only small kids will fit in them. Although I would consider either a remote or semi robotic control for the toy tractor after the kids outgrow it. Wagon might just be handy for yard work.
For additional humor you might consider a solar charger.
For additional humor you might consider a solar charger.
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rayma, not all grid distributed power is generated by coal or other fossil fuel burning facilities, but yes there is a carbon/ environmental footprint behind any transportation device - even bicycles.
Do you mean there was as much pollution as now when all Asia was on bicycle ? Nahhhh,
You just can not compare a 8 kg bicycle for kids and an electrical car for Kids... unfair. And anyway you have to feed the kids, so bio dynamic energy is greener than most electrical energy source... the most greener of (full cycle, no pun intented) is solar cells. Maybe a project around that ? But one has to explain the raw reality about how are sourced rare metals and lithiums...and how it's limted if they think with watch in mind.
You just can not compare a 8 kg bicycle for kids and an electrical car for Kids... unfair. And anyway you have to feed the kids, so bio dynamic energy is greener than most electrical energy source... the most greener of (full cycle, no pun intented) is solar cells. Maybe a project around that ? But one has to explain the raw reality about how are sourced rare metals and lithiums...and how it's limted if they think with watch in mind.
I used to build and modify such "Power Wheels" toy for my son when he was little. My chief contribution was figuring out a way to adapt pneumatic tires from Harbor Freight to the little plastic transmissions...
Ultimately, I had a twistgrip throttle controlling a PWM motor controller, 6V motors on 12V and that one went along really nice. I even made one that was 4-wheel drive - a bit overkill, since the pneumatic rubber tires gripped so well. One of them I adorned with headlights...
Ultimately, I had a twistgrip throttle controlling a PWM motor controller, 6V motors on 12V and that one went along really nice. I even made one that was 4-wheel drive - a bit overkill, since the pneumatic rubber tires gripped so well. One of them I adorned with headlights...
Here he is riding the fast one. I somehow adapted MC handlebars to allow the twist grip throttle. Note the tires from Harbor Freight. He had a lot of fun with that and now owns his own Toyota Tundra - I'm sure some of the kinetics / motor skills he established riding the toys helps him drive today.
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I vote “Bicycle”;
When I was a 'kid' (age 7 to 12), I had silly little red bicycle that at first was a bit too large for me, then by the dawn of High School, was WAY too small. But upon that bicycle, I tootled around the town endlessly; I biked across town every other day at 7 AM for piano lessons. I went to Little League practice; I went to friends' houses, to the bakery and deli at the other end of town for treats. I went everywhere possible on that silly bike. And my friends endlessly made fun of me for having such a crâhp-bike in 7th and 8th grade.
But … I wore out the tires no fewer than 3 times. Replaced them, myself. Overinflated one set, and blew one up at the filling station. Big lesson, that. I took apart the brakes, learned how to fix them. It had NO gears, not shifters, no caliper brakes. Just a 'reverse pedal-to-brake' idea. The small crank foot-to-foot height meant I could really speed up pumping, and often beat out my friends with their bigger, 'smarter' bikes. No one could seriously challenge me in 'the dirt' either. No… no 'dirt tires'. It was a young boy's general purpose, all steel, crâhp bike. And it worked. Probably my father's best gift … along with the tires, inner tubes and lost tools.
I say this because one a kid accepts the difficulty of “getting it” in 2-wheel locomotion, he or she also quickly finds that freedom comes with it. It may no longer be the case that parents let their kids roll endlessly all summer long doing some-of-what-they-like, “but be home at 6 PM, or you will not get dinner!!!”. We had no cell phones, beepers, or anything. Yet, we didn't get into serious trouble. Little stuff, lots of little stuff. And we inevitably 'got tickets' from coppers who stopped us for this-that-or-the-other-thing. And paid them with OUR savings, per our parents demand.
Lots of little lessons.
And electric 'car' for a kid? Sure, you can get some of the joy of tootling around. But typically the wheels are stupid, the whole thing gets used for a few weeks, then something breaks, it is not fixed, and it is set aside like ALL THE OTHER STUPID TOYS that come from China.
As it was … my favorite toys were those from which I could use for a myriad of different things. Tinker toys, bikes, a skate board, Lego, Tonka trucks, a large Erector Set. Even when I was only 7, the Erector Set was my favorite … and remained so for years. Many a finger got cut with tis nice sharp edges. Not after awhile! At one point, having become inspired by Roman Chariots, I nabbed some boards and things from dad's wood pile, and made one that could attach to the bike. My younger brother loved it. It was, like the bike, crâhp … but boy it could scoot around. Axle and wheels from one of dad's unused garden leaf carts. Paint job from left-over house paint. Countersunk screws, no two matching, of course.
Learned the tough lessons of structural integrity and the benefits of corner bracing and triangle-shaped bracing. Version 0.9 fell apart before lil bro got on it. Version 1 made it across the back yard, then fell apart. Version 2 was much better, but fell apart when we took it down a leafy path. Version 3, held together quite well, but the attachment-to-bike broke rather soon after getting underway. Version 4, great, but was as ugly as sin. Version 5, was the complete-re-do. Scored wheels at a Flea Market, and got Uncle Bud to do some rudimentary metal work for me. That one was the last. Lil Bro and I whizzed around endlessly, until we took a corner too hard, he went flying and broke an arm. Dad, of course, indicted the chariot. Turned it back into firewood. Oh well … another of life's lessons learned. Talked recently to my lil' bro about it, and he recalls it was his proudest memory of me, his older brother. Made a toy, for him, that was super-fun.
Tell me, what's an 'electric crâhp-car for a kid' going to get your kids, by comparison?
⋅-⋅-⋅ Just saying, ⋅-⋅-⋅
⋅-=≡ GoatGuy ✓ ≡=-⋅
When I was a 'kid' (age 7 to 12), I had silly little red bicycle that at first was a bit too large for me, then by the dawn of High School, was WAY too small. But upon that bicycle, I tootled around the town endlessly; I biked across town every other day at 7 AM for piano lessons. I went to Little League practice; I went to friends' houses, to the bakery and deli at the other end of town for treats. I went everywhere possible on that silly bike. And my friends endlessly made fun of me for having such a crâhp-bike in 7th and 8th grade.
But … I wore out the tires no fewer than 3 times. Replaced them, myself. Overinflated one set, and blew one up at the filling station. Big lesson, that. I took apart the brakes, learned how to fix them. It had NO gears, not shifters, no caliper brakes. Just a 'reverse pedal-to-brake' idea. The small crank foot-to-foot height meant I could really speed up pumping, and often beat out my friends with their bigger, 'smarter' bikes. No one could seriously challenge me in 'the dirt' either. No… no 'dirt tires'. It was a young boy's general purpose, all steel, crâhp bike. And it worked. Probably my father's best gift … along with the tires, inner tubes and lost tools.
I say this because one a kid accepts the difficulty of “getting it” in 2-wheel locomotion, he or she also quickly finds that freedom comes with it. It may no longer be the case that parents let their kids roll endlessly all summer long doing some-of-what-they-like, “but be home at 6 PM, or you will not get dinner!!!”. We had no cell phones, beepers, or anything. Yet, we didn't get into serious trouble. Little stuff, lots of little stuff. And we inevitably 'got tickets' from coppers who stopped us for this-that-or-the-other-thing. And paid them with OUR savings, per our parents demand.
Lots of little lessons.
And electric 'car' for a kid? Sure, you can get some of the joy of tootling around. But typically the wheels are stupid, the whole thing gets used for a few weeks, then something breaks, it is not fixed, and it is set aside like ALL THE OTHER STUPID TOYS that come from China.
As it was … my favorite toys were those from which I could use for a myriad of different things. Tinker toys, bikes, a skate board, Lego, Tonka trucks, a large Erector Set. Even when I was only 7, the Erector Set was my favorite … and remained so for years. Many a finger got cut with tis nice sharp edges. Not after awhile! At one point, having become inspired by Roman Chariots, I nabbed some boards and things from dad's wood pile, and made one that could attach to the bike. My younger brother loved it. It was, like the bike, crâhp … but boy it could scoot around. Axle and wheels from one of dad's unused garden leaf carts. Paint job from left-over house paint. Countersunk screws, no two matching, of course.
Learned the tough lessons of structural integrity and the benefits of corner bracing and triangle-shaped bracing. Version 0.9 fell apart before lil bro got on it. Version 1 made it across the back yard, then fell apart. Version 2 was much better, but fell apart when we took it down a leafy path. Version 3, held together quite well, but the attachment-to-bike broke rather soon after getting underway. Version 4, great, but was as ugly as sin. Version 5, was the complete-re-do. Scored wheels at a Flea Market, and got Uncle Bud to do some rudimentary metal work for me. That one was the last. Lil Bro and I whizzed around endlessly, until we took a corner too hard, he went flying and broke an arm. Dad, of course, indicted the chariot. Turned it back into firewood. Oh well … another of life's lessons learned. Talked recently to my lil' bro about it, and he recalls it was his proudest memory of me, his older brother. Made a toy, for him, that was super-fun.
Tell me, what's an 'electric crâhp-car for a kid' going to get your kids, by comparison?
⋅-⋅-⋅ Just saying, ⋅-⋅-⋅
⋅-=≡ GoatGuy ✓ ≡=-⋅
Great story GoatGuy.
I would vote the same. The best toys are powered by your own brain or brawn.
JoeJ- you can't deny that boy!
I would vote the same. The best toys are powered by your own brain or brawn.
JoeJ- you can't deny that boy!