Hey Keyvan,
I got one for Christmas too! I live in Southern California and my local Target told me that it was a very limited edition. They only had a few and told me that I couldn't get it anywhere else. Consequently, I had to pay 20% over MSRP - but I got it! I am surprised that you were able to find one too based on what my salesman told me. You don't think he was trying to mislead me, do you?
Anyway, I am enjoying the model. However, yesterday I was making a slow speed left turn from the hallway into the bedroom and suddenly I had no power. The motor would rev - the clutch appeared to work but it wouldn't move. Upon closer inspection I found the halfshaft hanging out from the left side of the transaxle. Piece of crap toy. Can you imagine someone making a toy where the halfshafts fall out and it won't go anymore? What's the world coming to? I jumped on the intenet and did a search to see if anyone else had this problem. First, I'm pissed..... While searching I found this website that keeps track of all of the selling prices for this model. I now thing the Target guy was lying to me. Turns out I paid too much. Ouch! Oh well, who cares I love this damn thing.
Anyway, I also found that other people have had problems with the halfshafts falling out. I still can't believe that a reputable toy maker didn't do a little more testing. I also found out that when a magazine tested an early production (not a beta car!), they had the failure during the test! That may be your sign. So, I finally found a phone number to get hold of the manufacturer. Embarrassingly, I didn't get the number from the internet, but the manufacturer sent me a letter with a special number to call if I had any questions or problems. How cool is that? So I call this number and all of the regular staff must have had the day off because the person I talked to was absolutely CLUELESS! They were nice enough but claimed not to know about any problems with the halfshafts. Then I was reading more on the internet and I learned that someone else was told by a presumably reliable "internal" source that the halfshaft problem was eventually resolved in later production runs. Allegedly a washer was replaced with a harder one, and SHAZAM!, the problem was solved! How cool is that? But, then I was reading about this other owner who had one of the very last cars to ever be built. Guess what? Yep, his halfshaft fell out too! Bunch of damn weasels! Hardened washer my ass, I guess that DIDN'T fix the problem. So now it is really weird.... You see all of these people really believed that a hardened washer would do the fix. So a lot of people had the upgrade done - some at their own expense and some covered by the manufacturer. Although it appears that if the manufacturer does it, you sometimes get your car back with scratches. Bummer. Stupid toy car makers.
Even more weird is that there has been a 3-week national backlog on the "upgrade" parts that don't work. Too strange.
But the saddest part of all is that the manufacturer just wants to play silent on the topic. I suppose that's partly because there's just too damn many lawyers these days and no one wants to say or do anything that might convey liability.
Anyway, it sure is a good-looking toy. Other people sure seem to like it. I wonder if the manufacturer of their toys treats them any better? Boy, I'm sure glad I didn't spend hundreds of dollars on this thing - or then I might get mad or something.
