LEGO® Technic parts review: 42083 Bugatti Chiron

It's a beast in so many ways –  the LEGO® Technic 42083 Bugatti Chiron contains 3599 pieces and is priced at £329.99 / $349.99 / 369.99€. We're celebrating it at New Elementary with a series of three posts this week and to start, Alexandre Campos is opening the box and seeing what new and recoloured parts lie within.

After the success of the 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, it was kind of expected that The LEGO Group would launch a second "LEGO Technic Expert" set. The 42056 raised the bar on size, complexity, and authenticity for LEGO Technic. Not to mention it introduced many new elements that would see wide usage across the rest of the Technic line, such as the Technic Steering Wheel Hub Holder with 2 Pin Holes and 2 Axle Holes (Design ID 23801), the Technic Axle Connector 3L (Design ID 26287), or the Technic Panel Curved 7 x 3 with 2 Pin Holes through Panel Surface (Design ID 24119).

Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own. This article may contain affiliate links; we may get a small commission if you purchase.

After a period of secrecy and rumours, LEGO Technic set 42083 Bugatti Chiron was unveiled on 1st June 2018 at the LEGO House, with the presences of the top brass from TLG, Bugatti, and the LEGO fan community, plus a real-life Chiron.

Box, instructions, stickers

Usually the box is little more than a container for the elements and a fancy image to draw people to buy the set. However, the 42083 is a special case. The box's artwork is simple, yet gorgeous.

The front just shows the LEGO Technic and Bugatti logos, the set's number, description and recommended age, and the finished model on a simple blue background. Mind you, this is the ROW (Rest of World) box version: the one for the Americas has more information in the front, like the number of parts.

The back of the box shows the rear of the car in the same simple background, details of the engine, disc brakes, seats and steering wheel, as well as the obligatory legal stuff. Unlike other LEGO boxes, fortunately you don't have to destroy this one to access its contents: four bits of sticky tape and you're done.

Opening the box shows a great attention to detail: the set is divided in six smaller boxes, five of which form a "puzzle" that shows the front of the real Chiron. Turning them around, they form the image of the Chiron's rear. The sixth box contains the wheels, each with its own recess and disc brake printed underneath.

The inside of the lid also received its own large dose of attention. It shows beautiful stylised drawings of six Bugatti cars throughout history, form the Brescia to the Chiron.

The two instruction books are veritable doorstoppers, each with more than 300 pages. Before the contents or each small box are added to the model, we are presented with some photos and comments about the development process and the real car.

The Dreaded Sticker Sheet is also present to lend some extra detail to the model. The stickers appear to be durable and of high quality, and their colours match those of the bricks quite well. I have one major gripe, though: at least on the copy I received, the cuts in the stickers appear to be a bit misaligned with the prints in them. This isn't very noticeable on large stickers that go in large parts, but it sticks (ha ha) out like a sore thumb on small stickers like the one for the centre of the steering wheel.

New moulds

With the Chiron, TLG have introduced some new moulds that fans have long been clamouring for, namely those used for building gearboxes. These are the driving ring extension, and the 20T clutch gear.

The driving ring extension comes in Bright Yellow [TLG]/ Yellow [BL] (Element ID 6211768) and is an update of the older version (Design ID 32187), meant to mesh with the rest of the new version gearbox elements (Technic Gear 16 Tooth with Clutch on Both Sides, Design ID 18946; Technic Driving Ring 3L, Design ID 18947; Technic Driving Ring Connector, Design ID 18948; and Technic Axle Connector 3L, Design ID 26287). One very welcome change from the old version is the inclusion of eight internal dogs, from the previous four. This considerably reduces backlash when reversing the direction of movement. This set includes a single specimen of this element, which makes it quite rare until other sets that use it appear.

The Gear 20 Tooth with Clutch on Both Sides comes in Bright Blue [TLG]/ Blue [BL] (Element ID 6224999), and can be considered a cross between the 16T clutch and the regular 20T gear, shown here. Together with the 16T clutch, it allows for simpler gearboxes to be made, as there is less need to use extra gears to implement different speeds. Four of these gears come included in the set.

Another new element should prove quite useful for both gearboxes and function splitters such as on the 8043 Motorized Excavator. It's the Technic Changeover Rotary Catch, known amongst the Technic Team as the "wave selector", and this set contains two in Bright Orange [TLG]/Orange [BL] (Element ID 6227330). It has a "lip" along its periphery, whose position varies between each edge of the element. It works in place of the Technic Changeover Catch (Design ID 6641), in that the lip, when placed inside a driving ring's groove, shifts it between its two extreme positions plus neutral as it rotates. Unlike the older changeover catch, this wheel can be turned to continuously do this shifting: for every 180º turned, the wave wheel shifts the changeover catch to one of the extreme positions, with neutral (middle) at the 90º between them. This sounds complicated when explained, but it's actually quite simple when seen in motion.

Plus, with the Power Functions servo (Design ID 110903), with its range of 90º in each direction from a neutral point, this new element should make motorised switching really easy. The set comes with two of these selectors, to implement its 8-speed gearbox.

 There are two new other new moulds introduced, which, although not as potentially wide in their usability, are always nice to see.
In addition to the already known Steering Wheel Hub 3 Pin Round (Design ID 92909), there is now a version with a disc brake, the appropriately named Steering Wheel Hub 3 Pin Round with Disc Brake (in Dark Pearl Grey, Element ID 6219840). This version measures 5 studs in diameter, and helps adding some realism to vehicles that use this kind of brake. There is a fundamental difference, though: whereas the old version already has pins to attach a wheel, this one has pin holes instead. This means that, to attach a wheel other than the ones that come with this set, one will need to use pins.

There are also two printed parts, the only ones present in the set: five (one is spare) Tile Round 1 x 1 with "EB" Bugatti Emblem in Earth Blue [TLG]/Dark Blue [BL] (Element ID 6219604), and one  White Tile 1 x 4 with 'Chiron' and Variable Code Pattern (Element ID 6225597, not pictured). This last one, like on the 42056, contains a unique, laser-engraved serial number that can be used online.

Finally, we have the most unique mould to this set: the wheels (Element ID 6217976).

These, just like the wheels (Design ID 23800) on the 42056, are 62.3 mm in diameter and 42 mm wide, and fit Tires 81.6 x 44 ZR Technic Straight Tread (Design ID 23799), but have the distinctive Chiron design and, unlike all previous LEGO wheels, have pins instead of pin holes to mount on the wheel hubs. This means that, to attach to a "regular" wheel hub with pins, one must use two pulley wheels or three pin joiners.

Elements in new colours

With its Dark Azure and Dark Blue colour scheme, the 42083 should make fans of these two shades of blue quite happy. The set fills numerous gaps the parts selection in this colour, with many beams, panels and other elements. Even if you don't like the Chiron's looks or functionality, you may be interested in it as a (rather expensive) parts pack.

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Spread amongst the many parts bags and boxes in the set, we can find these parts in Dark Blue:

• Technic Panel Car Mudguard Arched 15 x 2 x 5 (Design ID 24118, Element ID 6217690)
• Technic Liftarm 1 x 13 Thick (Design ID 41239, Element ID 6225685)
• Technic Liftarm 1 x 7 Thick (Design ID 32524, Element ID 6217673)
• Technic Liftarm 3 x 5 L-Shape Thick (Design ID 32526, Element ID 6217683)
• Technic Liftarm 2 x 4 L-Shape Thick (Design ID 32140, Element ID 6217682)
• Technic Liftarm 1 x 2 Thick with Pin Hole and Axle Hole (Design ID 60483, Element ID 6233765)

• Technic Panel Fairing #5/#6 Long Smooth, Side A/B (Design ID 64681/64693, Element ID 6218007/6218005)
• Technic Panel Fairing #13/#14 Large Short Smooth, Side A/B (Design ID 64394/64680, Element ID 6217687/6217689)
• Technic Panel Fairing #17/#18 Large Smooth, Side A/B (Design ID 64392/64682, Element ID 6217685/6217686)
• Technic Liftarm 1 x 9 Bent (6 - 4) Thick (Design ID 6629, Element ID 6218115)

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These make their debut in Dark Azure:

• Technic Panel Fairing #17/#18 Large Smooth, Side A/B (Design ID 64392/64682, Element ID 6218009/6218010)

• Slope Curved 10 x 1 (Design ID 85970, Element ID 6218011)
• Technic Panel Fairing #21/#22 Very Small Smooth, Side B/A (Design ID 11946/11947, Element ID 6203232/6203233)
• Technic Axle and Pin Connector Angled #4 - 135 degrees (Design ID 32192, Element ID 6217671)

• Bionicle 1 x 3 Tooth with Axle Hole (Design ID 41669, Element ID 6225507)

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There are some parts that appear for the first time in Medium Stone Grey [TLG]/Light Bluish Gray [BL]:

• Technic Panel Fairing #21/#22 Very Small Smooth, Side B/A (Design ID 11946/11947, Element ID 6236922/6236920)

• Technic Panel Engine Block Half / Side Intake (Design ID 61069, Element ID 6221073)

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Sand Yellow [TLG]/ Dark Tan [BL] also gets some additions:

• Technic Liftarm 1 x 11.5 Double Bent Thick (Design ID 32009, Element ID 6223319)

• Technic Panel Curved 7 x 3 with 2 Pin Holes through Panel Surface (Design ID 24119, Element ID 6220599)

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There's a plethora of rigid hoses and flex axles in several sizes and colours:

• Hose, Rigid 3mm D. 40L / 32.0cm (Light Bluish Grey, Element ID 6112684)
• Hose, Rigid 3mm D. 34L / 27.2cm (Dark Blue, Element ID 6227567)
• Hose, Rigid 3mm D. 26L / 20.8cm (Red, Element ID 6227560)
• Hose, Soft Axle 19 (Dark Azure, Element ID 6217670)
• Hose, Soft Axle 16 (Dark Azure, Element ID 6220033)
• Hose, Soft Axle 7 (Dark Blue, Element ID 6225776)

READ MORE: Part 2 of this review looks at the build process

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Products mentioned in this post were kindly supplied by the LEGO Group. All content represents the opinions of New Elementary authors and not the LEGO Group. All text and images are © New Elementary unless otherwise attributed.