There are a lot of Lego City themed sets and they can make an awesome collection if you are prepared to keep adding more.
How do you know which the best Lego City sets are to start with? Should we go with the most popular ones, or the most challenging, or the most pieces?
I am seriously thinking about buying at least one of these sets for my kids and the number of different sets makes it quite a tough choice. I decided to take a closer look at the 7 best-selling Lego City sets on Amazon to help me to make a choice. These sets are popular and have good customer ratings as well as good reviews. Some of them are also on the list of the Lego City sets with the most pieces.
All the sets discussed in this post are the standard Lego size and will work with all other regular Lego blocks. Kids won’t have a problem adding them to existing sets or using them with other regular sets.
Let’s take a closer look and then you can let me know if you agree with my choice. I have not ranked the sets in any particular order. At the time of doing my research for this review all of these sets were listed in the Amazon Top 100 building sets in the building toys category.
The list price shown for each set is from the Lego Shop. In most cases the price is cheaper on Amazon. Click on any of the images to go to Amazon and see the latest price.
LEGO City Great Vehicles: Auto Transporter (#60060)
- Number of pieces: 350
- Number of models: 3 (the auto transporter and 2 sports cars)
- Mini-figures: 2 (a driver and a dealer)
- Accessories: a clipboard and a briefcase
- Recommended Age: 5 to 12 years
- List price: $29.99
With this having the transporter and 2 sports cars it means that more than 1 child can play with this set at any one time. It is quite possible that there could be some argument over who builds the transporter. The design of the 2 cars is identical but they come in different colors. This means that pieces can be switched between the 2 vehicles to change the colors.
The auto transported has a detachable trailer, lowering ramps and doors that open. Another great set from the Lego City Great Vehicles range. Most of the customers agreed that their children enjoyed building the set and playing with the models afterwards.
Back view of the police station
LEGO City Police: Police Station (#60047 )
- Number of pieces: 854
- Number of models: 5 (the police station, a police car, a police motorbike, a police helicopter and a crook’s tow truck)
- Mini-figures: 7 (3 policemen, a policewoman and 3 crooks)
- Accessories: a good variety of accessories including handcuffs, 2 ball and chains, 3 coffee mugs, 3 walkie-talkies, 2 bank notes, 2 crowbars, binoculars, a flashlight, a backpack, a megaphone and a laptop.
- Recommended Age: 6 to 12 years
- List price: $99.99
This set is also one of the biggest Lego City sets. Apart from having lots of pieces it also has a good number of mini-figures and a variety of accessories. It includes 3 police vehicles: a car, a motorbike and a helicopter. In addition there is the crook’s tow truck with grappling hook.
The police station is modular and is built in sections. It is not easy to move once it is built so it will be a good idea to build it on a sheet of cardboard or something similar.
This set is great for 1 child or many and they will get many hours of play out of it, even if it is the only set that they have. A perfect choice for starting a Lego City collection.
LEGO City Great Vehicles Pickup Tow Truck (#60081)
- Number of pieces: 209
- Number of models: 2 (the tow truck and the car)
- Mini-figures: 2 (a motorist and a mechanic)
- Accessories: a hammer, a wrench, 2 traffic cones and a fire extinguisher
- Recommended Age: 5 to 12
- List price: $19.99
This is a great set to add to a Lego City collection. Children will enjoy both the building of the models and playing with them. The tow truck has a working hoist that will delight most children.
The play options of this set can be expanded by adding other Lego City sets to the collection.
Take you Lego friends on a camping trip
Lego City Van & Caravan (#60117)
- Number of pieces: 250
- Number of models: 2 (the van and the caravan)
- Mini-figures: 2 (a male camper and a female camper)
- Accessories: a dog, a grill, 2 sausages, a bone, 2 coffee mugs and a coffee machine
- Recommended Age: 5 to 12
- List price: $19.99
The kids can take their Lego friends away from the city for a camping trip with this set. Again the set includes 2 models that can be build and allows children to play together.
This is another of the Great Vehicles theme that has made it into the top 100 list. It just shows how much children like the sets that have wheels or other moving parts. You can’t go wrong buying one of the vehicle sets for your child.
Lego City Police Mobile Police Unit (#60044)
- Number of pieces: 375
- Number of models: 1
- Mini-figures: 3 (2 policemen and a crook)
- Accessories: a satellite dish, a folding antenna, a hidden city map, a coffee machine, 3 coffee mugs, handcuffs, a ball and chain, a crowbar, a flashlight, a walkie-talkie, a flashlight and 2 traffic road blocks.
- Recommended Age: 5 to 12
- List price: $44.99
This is medium sized set that offers a lot of play scenarios. The control room has 3 surveillance screens; There is a small jail and the trailer can be detached and has support legs. Add a few vehicles and you will have everything needed for hours of playing fun.
Lego City Deep Sea Explorers Exploration Vessel Building Kit (#60095)
- Number of pieces: 717
- Number of models: 3 (the exploration vessel, a shipwreck and a submarine)
- Mini-figures: 7 (2 crew members, 4 scuba divers, a deep-sea diver)
- Accessories: white shark, 2 grey sharks, swordfish, octopus, shark cage, and seaweed
- Recommended Age: 8 to 12
- List price: $119.99
This is a big Lego City set and is one of the 11 biggest sets. In addition to the accessories it also features a scuba scooter and a remote sub.
This set is really great to expand a Lego City collection or even on its own. It has many elements and play options and would allow a small group of children to play together. The underwater scenario adds a new dimension to the play options and will capture the attention of most children. It also offers them the opportunity to learn more about the ocean, shipwrecks and scuba diving.
Lego City Great Vehicles Racing Bike Transporter (#60084)
- Number of pieces: 178
- Number of models: 4 (the pickup, a trailer and 2 racing bikes)
- Mini-figures: 2 race drivers
- Accessories: a wrench, 2 crash helmets, a fire extinguisher, a trophy and a podium
- Recommended Age: 5 to 12
- List price: $19.99
Another set with wheels in the the best-sellers! This time with 2 racing bikes. There is more than 1 model so again this set can be enjoyed with a friend or 2 (or siblings). It combines well with most of the other Lego City sets to expand the play options and will also give many hours of play on its own.
All of these sets offer great play options on their own as well as being great sets to add to an existing Lego City collection. It is not difficult to see why they are all popular and made it into the Amazon top 100 building sets.
I have also done a brief review of the 11 largest Lego City sets if you want to take a look at that. Two of those sets are also on this list, the Deep Sea Explorers Exploration Vessel and the Police Station.
Which of these sets are you likely to purchase? Or does your child already own them all? I would love to hear your thoughts or experiences with these sets, so please leave a comment.
What a really great website. I was looking for some Lego for my kids as they go crazy for it, the same as i did as a kid.. Wonderful reading. Thank you
Chris
Hey Chris, thanks for stopping by.
I would love to hear which set you chose for your kids, please stop back and let me know.
I remember my earlier days on lego, still a kid at heart and still love them, thanks for sharing chris.
Best wishes to you.
Ty
You don’t have to give up playing with Lego as an adult, there are some very challenging and interesting sets out there that will keep us both challenged and entertained.
My son loves the Lego City playsets! Thanks for the great reviews with Christmas coming up!
You are welcome, I am pleased you found it helpful.
Lesley,
Having a 9 year old son, my house is full of Lego’s. You have a few suggestions for the Christmas holidays here. Thanks for the information.
John
A 9 year old should have no trouble with these sets and the ones with more pieces will give him a good challenge. Let me know which one you choose.
Hehe I really love that you’ve made an entire site on the concept of rating toys and lego. Great respect for realizing my childhood dream! 🙂 Will definitely keep an eye on this site for when my kid grows up. Thanks!
Tommy
By then there will be a lot of options for you to choose from. There are so many building toys on the market. They can cater for any child’s line of interest and they are so good for developing critical thinking skills.
Oh man, nostalgia hit me hard with this post of yours!
Lovely list and I like how you added info about the details. I remember lusting after that race bikes set as a kid, never got it unfortunately. Looking at the new Lego sets I cannot stop the urge to say – oldschool Lego IS the best!
What happened to those amazing medival sets with knights, skeletons and wizards though? They are my dream lol
Thanks for stopping by.
You should really think about getting yourself a Lego set if you enjoyed them so much. There are some really challenging ones that would suit an adult. Perhaps one of the Architecture series, or even the big Lego city sets?