LEGO® City review: 60432 Command Rover and Crane Loader

Space, the final frontier… wait, wrong context.

2024 is the year of the Space "supertheme" – the superior theme across many lines this year. My New E colleagues already featured some of the Space sets from the LEGO® Friends line, 42602 Space Research Rover and 42605 Mars Space Base and Rocket, and today brings our first review from the LEGO® City Space January wave.

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

60432 Command Rover and Crane Loader
US$84.99/ £59.99/ 69.99€/ AU$129.99
758 parts
Released 1 January 2024

Set 60432 on LEGO.com

Parts

Recolours

This set brings two exclusive recoloured parts, including one in the new Reddish Orange. 

• 1x Rock Panel 2 x 4 x 6 in Dark Orange (6475328 | 54782)
• 8x Tile 2 x 2 Curved, Macaroni in Reddish Orange (6475326 | 27925)

The remaining parts in Reddish Orange are shown below, since they are available in other sets.

New colours

Here are all the parts in Trans-Black and Reddish Orange; still young colours within the LEGO palette.

• 5x Brick 1 x 4 without Bottom Tubes in Trans-Black (6446985 | 35256)
• 6x Panel 1 x 2 x 2 [Side Supports / Hollow Studs] in Trans-Black (6469858 | 35378)
• 1x Panel 6 x 5 x 3 1/3 Curved Top in Trans-Black (6513900 | 5065) / (6468172 | 5065)
• 1x Windscreen 6 x 6 x 1 2/3 in Trans-Black (6510197 | 65632) / (6469314 | 65632)

• 2x Brick 1 x 6 x 4 with 4 Pinholes and Cutout in Reddish Orange (6468285 | 49699)
• 18x Plate 1 x 2 in Reddish Orange (6466720 | 3023)
• 2x Plate 1 x 8 in Reddish Orange (6467485 | 3460)
• 1x Tile 1 x 1 with Groove in Reddish Orange (6475042 | 3070)
• 1x Tile Round 2 x 2 with Hole in Reddish Orange (6471811 | 15535)
• 4x Vehicle Track, Roller Coaster Straight 4L in Reddish Orange (6468985 | 80562)

Like all Space sets in 2024, the fresh Reddish Orange is used as a highlight colour for details and overall colour scheming.

Rare parts

• 8x Wheel Hard Plastic Large (54mm D. x 30mm) in Black (6097664/6468516 | 2515) – Appeared in this colour in four sets from 1989 to 1995 and six sets from 2015 to 2020. Also the highest quantity of this part in a set.

• 1x Technic Panel Car Mudguard 15 x 2 x 7 in White (6295159 | 46882) – Made its first appearance in 2020 in 51515 Robot Inventor and second in 60350 Lunar Research Base in 2022.
• 1x Wheel Arch, Mudguard 10 x 4 x 2/3 in White (6442096 | 3166) – Was used only in one other set in this colour, 2023’s 60378 Arctic Explorer Truck and Mobile Lab.
• 2x Plate Special, 2 x 2 Studs and Bar (Mech Chest Plate / Armor) in White (6166886 / 6341397 | 27167) – Appeared only one time each in 75370 Stormtrooper Mech of 2023 and 70366 Battle Suit Lance in 2017.

Interesting parts

Here are some less-rare pieces which may still attract you to this set.

• 4x Brick Curved 1 x 4 x 1 2/3 in White (6433643 / 6508109 | 3573)
• 6x Plate 1 x 5 in White (6350399 | 78329)

• 10x Technic Pin Connector Hub Perpendicular 3L with 2 Pins in Light Bluish Gray (6408168 | 2393)
• 8x Slope Curved 2 x 2 Inverted in Dark Bluish Gray (6445057 | 1750)

Printed pieces

While they are not new to this specific set, the 2024 LEGO City Space supertheme brings us a bunch of cool new printed parts:

• 1x Tile 1 x 2 with Gold Circuitry / Solar Panel print in Black (6465826 | 105883)
• 2x Tile 1 x 2 with Battery, Graph print in White (6465630 | 105858)
• 3x Tile 2 x 2 with Modern Classic Space Logo print in White (6465626 | 105854)
• 1x Tile Round 1 x 1 with Battery print in White (6465627 | 105855)
• 1x Book Cover with White HUD, Target, and Dark Blue Graphs Print in Trans-Light Blue (6469015 | 106342)

The build

First, I want to introduce the range of minifigures, robots and aliens that come with this set. 

We have two blue astronauts operating the rover, one green science astronaut and one yellow construction-like astronaut (I called this one Ripley, for no reason). They are also accompanied by a robot sidekick. On their exploration they encounter two squid-like lime aliens.

Before we can begin our exploration in space, we need of course a ride and something to explore – let’s go.

Our mission starts with the alien rock cluster, which is surrounded by unearthly plants and medium lavender parsnips. 

Inside the cluster is a crystal or core that reminds me of the Tesseract from Marvel or the Rift shards in Fortnite. The rock face can be pushed away by pulling the trigger, revealing the crystal behind it.

Next up is the science module. As previously mentioned in our review of LEGO Friends set 42602, the modular airlock system throughout the Space supertheme sets is identical. You can easily load one of the station modules onto the command rover, or dock this module to the big 60433 Modular Space Station.

With the third bag, we finally start on the rover itself. 

As one would expect of a vehicle, we start by building the undercarriage and wheelbase – as with most LEGO vehicles, this is the least exciting part of the set. The first interesting parts come together towards the end of the third bag, when you assemble some technical-looking, greebled mechanism that later lifts the science module out of the vessel.

The next steps are straightforward. The next interesting detail that comes up is the suggestion of suspension. It is just a bar and a Technic connector but gives you the impression of a heavy vehicle.

At the end of bag 4 you add the big Technic mudguard. This area of the set is the one I struggle the most with. While I like the part itself, I just don’t think it works well in this place. The pinholes were the first thing my eyes were drawn to, when seeing the first images of the set. And, while building the set, it still didn’t feel adequate to me.

At the beginning of bag 5 you use another mudguard on the rear of the vehicle. This smaller one mirrors the shape of the bigger one, but fits better into the aesthetic of the rover.

Another minor and nitpicky point is the way that the curved elements are used to shape the top of the vehicle. There is a one plate offset between the Porsche slopes and the subsequent curved slopes that go right to the back of the rover. While it is clearly not breaking the optics, it would have looked much smoother had the curved elements formed a consistent line. 

The remainder of bag 5 is building up the body of the rover and you finish off the model with its massive wheels in bag 6. 

I have one point of critique that goes beyond nitpicking about parts usage and visual aesthetics. The model is very limited in its movement and can roll only forward and backwards. A turntable in the front and/or the back axis would have increased the playability of this set a lot. While you clearly can’t expect a rotating front suspension in a LEGO® Speed Champions set, in a LEGO City set that is basically just a big vehicle, that would have made sense to me.

I also want to point out aspects of the model that I really like. 

The loading crane on the back of the rover is fully functional, in a logical way. What I mean is, you can reach the ground with it, but also the two power-cell packs left and right of the rover. This functionality is achieved by the double rotation axis of the crane. While it is for sure not a critical aspect to the model, I really appreciate models that follow a logical approach.

Conclusion

My points of criticism are more nitpicky and most likely influenced from my artist/AFOL point of view. This set (and by extension the whole line-up) gave me real strong sci-fi and space exploration vibes. From a pop culture point of view, it has a colour scheme that reminds me of the video game Starfield, or the Netflix series Lost in Space – in fact the alien robot from that series looks much like the robot companion here. Or just overall "NASA mission vibes", what with collecting dust and rock probes.

It gives you everything you would need or expect from a ground vehicle for space exploration – a science module, crane loader, power cells, alien plant, and some rocks to collect. 

Also, parts wise, you get a decent package of mostly generic elements but also some diamonds, like the small mudguard, Porsche slopes and the mech chest armor parts. All in all, this set is a good deal for its price and one of the top sets of this LEGO City wave.

60432 Command Rover and Crane Loader
US$84.99/ £59.99/ 69.99€/ AU$129.99
758 parts

Set 60432 on LEGO.com

READ MORE: May 2024 Space sets revealed: 10341 NASA Artemis Space Launch System and 31212 The Milky Way Galaxy

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