Higher price equals less parts?

[Wodanis]

Hi,

I just recently purchased the new Prison Transporter set 60043 from the City line. I was pretty hyped about the set from the first time I saw it but after building it was disappointed. I love the overall look but that is what is wrong with it. There seemed to be very little thought about the interior design. For example there isn't a dashboard like other great vehicles. Nor was there any attempt at avoiding gaps in the flooring near the back half next to the wheels. The 1x4x3 wall elements on the sides created a gap next to the wall panel on the interior just in behind the driver. I found that if I just moved the 1x3 bricks to the front and the break away jail bars back a stud it looks better while still being able to have its function.

The ATV the criminal lacks any clips for the hook or his crowbar. Not to mention there are no way to attach the handcuffs anywhere on the van. They used a 1x2 wall element rather than a pair of 1x3 doors too. (This last point is a minor preference.)

For a prison transporter there seems to be a lot of ways a criminal could escape...

I MOD'ed the design in LDD just to see if I could correct these issues and found that for about $1.60 (PAB prices) one could fine tune the design with 13 parts or so. These components are relatively minor as well such as a two 1x1 plates or 1x2 plates.

I took a look at comparing a really well rounded set like the 4434 Dump Truck to the Prison Transporter. According to Brickset the price per piece ratio is:

60043 costs $29.99 CDN at 196 pieces for 12.75 cents per piece

4434 costs $24.99 CDN at 222 pieces for 9.00 cents per piece.

I know of the various factors that goes into creating sets for production but it seems to me that the designer purposely reduced the amount of parts in order to reduce cost. I understand that there are newer parts and this may be the reason why the set is priced higher such as making new molding presses. However I feel like I paid more for less. I really wish I could look at the business case for this to see what decisions were made.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Has anyone else purchased a set recently that seems to have less parts and suffer from a weak design?

Edited February 21, 2014 by Wodanis

[Deathleech]

What is weight price? Someone made a thread about that awhile back and the weight of each set is surprisingly close to one another depending on the price point. Price per piece generally isn't a great way to measure the value of a set because some sets have a ton of large panels and such which are going to cost Lego much more to produce than tiny cheese slopes or what have you. They all count as one piece though.

[AndyC]

Weight is a better metric than piece count, but 60043 also has more minfigs than 4434. Because of their complex design, minifigs are by far one of the most expensive "pieces" to be included in any set.

[Andy D]

Weight is a better metric than piece count, but 60043 also has more minfigs than 4434. Because of their complex design, minifigs are by far one of the most expensive "pieces" to be included in any set.

Here is a link to the post, in my comparisons, the presence of minifigs didn't seem to make a difference.

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=89742&hl=+price%20+lego#entry1769119

Maybe the OP could compare his sts based on weight and see how they compare.

Andy D

Edited February 21, 2014 by Andy D