Hot Wheels Double Loop Dash Review

Parts and Construction

I played with Hot Wheels as a kid so I knew what kind of quality I was used to as a kid. The cars are virtually indestructible. Now I didn’t, however, get to build many tracks as a kid so this was a treat for me. When we opened the box, it was basically everything I expected. Of course, some assembly required. Construction wasn’t bad. Took about 5 minutes to assemble. Seems like longer though when you have impatient kids.

What is great about the Double Loop Dash is the way the pieces fit together. You have option build the track anyway you want to. You don’t have to build it the way they say (even though it works the best this way) in the instructions. You can combine pieces any which way you please. I am guessing you could combine pieces from other sets as well to make your track as epic as possible. Since the Hot Wheels connectors are universal, connecting different tracks are easy.

Putting the tracks together with the Hot Wheels universal connector system made setup very easy. All you have to do is slide one of the small, blue, connector tabs underneath the tracks you are trying to connect and slide them together. Once the each circular inserts on the ends of the connector tabs fit inside of the round cutout of the track, you are connected.

Just follow the directions and putting the other items together should be quite quick and easy.

How it Plays

The Double Loop Dash comes with two cars if you don’t have any Hot Wheels previously. Now, don’t worry, these cars are the best. More on that later. Mine came with a red and gold car. Of course there was a fight between my two kids on who was getting what. Not only that but which side they wanted to be on.

So once things were settled, they enter each car in each respected car launcher. They both hit the levers on the top of their car launcher for the first time and sent each of their cars flying down lane. Now, my kids are 6 and 3. The power in which each of them hit the lever was different. My 6 year old hit the lever with so much force that her car flew off the track. My 3 year old hit the lever and her car barely got up the loop and slid right back to the starting point (crying almost ensued). After a few tries, they both managed to hit their lever with just enough force for their cars to stay on their track, get over the loop, and through the finish line.

Where things got fun was when we started racing. As I stated previously, we had some Hot Wheels we have collected over the past couple of years. We started racing each different car to see how they operated on each track. Lets just say that the ones included with the Double Loop Dash were the best by FAR. I do believe they were specifically design for this type of Hot Wheels’ activity. They are light and short which made going around the loops a breeze.

The cars included with Double Loop Dash are the best by FAR

There were some other cars we had that did okay and could handle the loop just fine. The problem with a lot of the other Hot Wheels cars’ is that they are just too heavy and/or too long. If the car is too long, the front has a problem handling the curve of the loops. If it is too heavy, you will have to hit the lever with enough force to attempt to get it over the loop. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. So, many times, my kids just stuck with the original two that came with the Double Loop Dash.

Nothing like sister rivalry on a Sunday afternoon in PJs. Plenty of sister drama for all.

There is a cool finish line at the end of the track. The finish line has a checkered flag you have to manually stick up after each race. The flag falls on the side of the winner of the race so everyone knows who won. My 3 year old had plenty of trouble hitting the lever just right so my 6 year old got the checkered flag a lot much to my 3 year old’s dismay. And with all sister rivalries, bragging and crying over who won most definitely happened.

Cleanup and Storage

Once the fun is over, it’s time to put this long track away. This is probably my favorite part of the Double Loop Dash. You were probably thinking you had to take this apart to put it away. NOT THIS TIME! This set has joints that snap up when you are ready to put this away. The archways double as carry handles and the breakpoints for the joints to get this set into storage mode.

As you can see from the above picture, the track joints only snap in one direction so there are no worries about putting the tracks in a wrong direction. With the track folded, you can put the Double Loop Dash just about anywhere. We put ours in a tall cupboard with some other toys. When they are ready to play with it again, just take it out, snap it back into place, and start racing!

Overview

Overall, the Double Loop Dash is a great starter set to get into Hot Wheels – Easy setup, decently cheap, comes with everything you need, simple cleanup. It is a great gift to give to kids who are into cars and things that go fast in general. Your kids are sure to have a blast for a least an hour or more.

That being said, there are a few things that you should know. The first thing is the connecting tabs for the tracks. If you are not careful, the blue connecting tabs can get lost very easily. Especially, if you have a 3 year old who likes to use them for something other than racing Hot Wheels. So what I suggest is to get some spare blue connectors. You can get a pack of tracks with connectors or just the connectors by themselves.

Replacement Track Connectors

Just looking for the connectors alone? You can get these on their own. This way you can have spare connectors in case one of your kids lose them.

Here is the kicker about the Hot Wheels Double Loop Dash. I would love to put the link so you can buy this item but as of writing this, I cannot find this item in stores or online anymore. I have looked high and low and no one seems to be selling it. I’m not sure why. It’s not that old. Maybe just 6 months old.

Because of this, I have suggested two other beginner Hot Wheels track sets that you might be interested in:

Hot Wheels Criss Cross Crash Track Set

Looking for motorized Hot Wheels fun? This track set is great for getting your Hot Wheels to launch around loops and crash with multiple cars. Does need batteries though.