Ride On Electric Cars

If you have a little adventurer or a child who already loves the great outdoors, perhaps being brought up in a rural environment with local farmers on real quads buzzing over the fields, then this single seater is an ideal battery powered ride on toy for your child.

Manufactured by Italian outfit Peg Perego and marketed in the UK by Mamas & Papas, known to all parents as a stylish high end childrens product retailer, the Corral T-Rex is a beautiful toy aimed at children in the 3 to 7 or 8 year old age bracket.

Being manufactured and marketed by acclaimed organizations with fine Italian pedigrees, the toy invariably has style designed into it from conception, but it is also designed with safety in mind. From a reassurance point of view, it is important to recognise that Peg Perego S.p.A. is an ISO 9001 certified company and that Peg Perego toys conform with the safety requirements provided by the Council of the EEC, of the T.Ü.V.; of the I.I.S.G. Istituto Italiano Sicurezza Giocattoli, and the U.S. Consumer Toy Safety Specification F963.

The Corral T-Rex has a fully enclosed chassis and is easily assembled by an adult following the clear instructions in the user manual. The quad comes with a reverse and two forward gears, but second gear is disabled by a parental locking guard plate, which can be easily modified so that the child can learn to progress on this quad bike before you let them loose. The acceleration is provided by a foot pedal and the braking is automatic: when your child lifts their foot off the pedal no more power is applied and the vehicle stops. The chunky tyres ensure good grip up reasonable slopes. All reassuring safety features for parents.

This Peg Perego Quad has pretty decent performance, for use up modest hills, on tiles and slopes ideally up to 10% and is also suited to use on bumpy paths. The chunky tyres are plastic, which may not start too well on paving or concrete if too much juice is applied too quickly, but handle outdoors on grass and rough ground well. The second forward gear gives that extra burst of power, but don’t forget that there is a gear lock to prevent your child from using more power until you are confident that your little adventurer can handle the faster speeds and still maintain control.

Those gears give a first gear speed of 3.2km/h or 2mph and the second gear tkes the quad up to a maximum of 6.5km/h or 4mph. The reverse speed is 2mph, so parents will be able to keep up comfortably whilst the child learns the basics in first gear, but you might need to get a shuffle on to keep up with 4mph, as the average walking speed for adults is around 3.3mph.

The power in that performance comes from a 12v 8 Ah battery driving two motors, so this quad has two wheel drive like on a real car. The battery playtime life is around 40 mins. If you want your child to be able to play unhindered for longer, then we would recommend a second battery rather than risking overloading using a higher capacity battery for longer single battery use. The batteries are colour coded for the power voltage and capacity, with the plug also colour coded for ease of identification.

All Peg Perego/Mamas & Papas battery-operated vehicles are complete with a single battery and a charger for recharging.

As with all of the Peg Perego range, the styling is very strong, with a bright yellow and black livery with metallic effect touches, flashy well designed decals and one or two nice finishing touches for that authentic look, including the protective hand guards.

At 99.5cm (39ins) long and 63.5cm (25ins) wide the Corral has a modest footprint, and at 64.5cm (25ins) in height it will not take up too much overall space on storage.

Just like all of the other Peg Perego models the Corral T-Rex has a downloadable user manual which has all of the part numbers clearly identified. If, on the off chance, your little one bashes something in, which they can do playing boisterously on an electric ride on quad, then spare parts are available. Complete assembly instructions are given in the manual, so parts can easily be replaced.

As a single seater quad, the Coral T-Rex is suitable for use if your child is between the ages of 3 to roughly 7 or 8 years and up to a maximum weight of approximately 40kg, 88lbs, or 6st4lbs. We would recommend this toy for purchase for a three year old up to a five year old to ensure a decent lifespan for the toy. Choose a larger model if your child is around six years and up.
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Verdict

Can be found online for around £230, which is at the bottom end of the price range for a stylish, well made electric quad toy. If you want a petrol engined, rubber tyred real quad for kids which will buzz up steeper hills much faster than you can keep up with, then you will pay an awful lot more.

If on the other hand, you are looking for an outdoors type childs toy for your little Bear Grylls adventurer to play on, then the Peg Perego Corral T-Rex is highly recommended.

Can be found at Halfords in the UK under Mamas & Papas branding.

This single seater red mini racer is aimed at the younger end of the age range, essentially suiting a child from 2 years upwards. It comes with an adjustable seat to accomodate growth in those early years. Reportedly for use up to around a four year old, but with a maximum reported carrying weight of just 15kg (33lb or 2st5lbs), we think a typical three year old would be the ideal age to get the most out of this toy and a four year old may be more suited to a larger car, jeep or quad.

That said we do believe this is a marvellous toy for the correct age and size child, this little ‘racer’ will ensure your young one enjoys hours of fun at a safe speed.

Designed and manufactured by Italian giant Peg Perego and available under the Mamas & Papas brand in the UK, the mini racer is compliant with the European Safety Standards for toys, with the “US Consumer Toy Safety Specification” and is approved by the Italian Toy Safety Institute.

The mini racer comes in fire red with bright colourful racing decals. There is an alternative little girls model in pink for a princess, but this runs at a few pounds more for no real benefit other than than it looks more like a girls model than what is really just a unisex toy.

The steering wheel has two big red drive buttons, one to each side for forwards and backwards control. Below those, are two big bright orange buttons with built in LED’s. These buttons can be pushed individually to produce eight tunes, but if pushed together produce three car sounds, engine roar, horn and brakes.

As a safety feature, the car has an automatic stopping system. When the two drive buttons on the steering wheel are released, the car comes to an automatic stop.

To ensure a reasonable lifespan for the car, which you would want with a car designed for a fast growing two year old, the little red racer has a comfy seat which can be adjusted into three positions to accomodate different heights and growing bones.

The tyres are Peg Perego’s ‘eva’ tyres which ensure a much quieter use domestically and increases the durability of the wheels.

The single forward gear is enough for very young ones to get used to, consequently the car really only reaches a slow walking speed (4kmph or 2.5mph) so mum or dad can always be close at hand.

Just like all of the other Peg Perego models this racer has a downloadable user manual which has all of the part numbers clearly identified. If, on the off chance, your little one bashes something in, which they can do playing boisterously on an electric ride on car, then spare parts are available. Complete assembly instructions are given in the manual, so parts can easily be replaced.

The mini racer is ideal for use on smooth surfaces: asphalt, cement, tiles and slopes up to 5%. The 6v battery will run for around 60 minutes without a recharge, but with a second battery pack charging up, your little one can have literally endless fun. Comes with a single 6v battery and charger.

This mini racer is small compared to most of the other toys we have reviewed, but bearing in mind that this is aimed at the 2+ years market that is not surprising. The car measures just 91cm (36ins) in length, by 49cm (19ins) wide, so it has a fairly small footprint for storage, and just 52cm (20.5ins) in height.

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Verdict

If you want to give your little one an early start helping to develop their hand eye coordination skills, motor skills and balance that comes from learning basic driving skills such as steering and manoeuvering capabilities in a competetively priced package that will allow them to learn in a fun and unassuming way then this little racer is ideal.

Can be found online for around £130. A very affordable model for a young child. There is a pink version aimed at young girls which can be found at about £160.

Visit Halfords for both racers at the time of writing.