Post
by Tbird100636 » Sat Mar 09, 2013 6:41 pm
Between the HW Elite and Ertl Joyride, both do have flaws. Like someone else said only a diehard KR fan could design a perfect KITT or KARR replica. HW and Ertl are trying to design one for the masses, though HW pretty much put more effort into getting it right. My choice, the HW Elite. It is the most accurate KITT die cast to date. My observations are as follows:
Starting from the front, the season 1 nose is fairly accurate. The fog light grilles are not bent or damaged. However, behind those grilles there are no fog lights. I know when the Super Elite model comes out it will have functioning fog lights but this one should have at least had a set of dummy lights behind the grille. The scanner, well, I'm on the fence on this. The trailing effect is much better than the Ertl one, but the scanner is only 6 segments (6 bulbs/LEDs). Why couldn't they have done a full 8 segment scanner like Aoshima did??? And it seems it is better viewed from a downward angle. If viewed straight on or slightly below (like on a shelf) it seems like it is skipping in the middle. It almost seems as if it isn't bright enough, like the batteries are low. But on a sealed brand new unit??? I'll try some new batteries eventually. I also would have liked a constant on switch like the Ertl Joyride rather than the the slow off function. The lens for the scanner also doesn't have any segmenting. The cut-outs on the nose... well they are cut out... The aren't actual lenses covering the park/turn lights or the front edge of the headlight doors. And speaking of the headlight doors, the pop-up feature is cool, but it seems like they don't open far enough. I got them to open more after fiddling with them but they still seem not totally open. They do close correctly though. The fender and hood vent grilles are a great touch.
The doors open and close smoothly with the realistic hinges compared to the Ertl Joyride's cheap exposed ones. The T-Tops do sit correctly closed on mine. The sit correctly open as well. But the installation and removal of them are a bit complicated. HW's directions aren't very clear on whether the T-Tops have to be in more of a closed position or open position when putting them in. It looked more like the closed position to me so that's how I installed them. It was tight tilting them in. I was afraid of breaking the small pivots on the side being plastic. They didn't break, but one of them on the left T-Top got a little worn down and is a bit looser than the right. I did find removing and installing the T-Tops were somewhat easier removing and re-installing in the vertical position. The right side opens and closes flawlessly. The left side opens easy, but when closing it sticks, you have to pull slightly out to close it. The width of the roof between the T-Tops doesn't really bother me considering the function of them opening.
On the back half, the taillight cover is the correct flat style. The licence plate is the correct colors with the bright metal frame. The changeable plate is a clever gimmick, but wasn't that a onetime thing from season 2??? It is a bit of a chore to flip it over though. The rear hatch surprisingly has the run of the mill cheap exposed hinges, but making a model with more realistic hatchback hinges that aren't fragile probably cost prohibitive and would result in an increase in price. One feature I would have like to see was the opening gas filler under the licence plate from early season one (where Michael gasses KITT up at the sleazy Mom & Pop gas station).
Then there's the wheel and tire issue that cropped up early on. I too noticed compared to the earliest prototype (the all white one) the final prototype the scale of the wheels seem dis-proportionate to the tires. Like the wheels were too small. When I saw the actual production model pictures it was kind of confusing and hard to make out. Some pictures looked like the wheels were still too small. Others looked like they were right. After seeing it in-person on my own the wheels are the right scale. The tires look OK too. If anything, maybe the tires could be a lower profile (shorter sidewall), and/or maybe the bowling ball cap's size could be tweaked a little to fill out the wheels some more.
On the inside, The interior is better than the Ertl Joyride. The seats are less plasticky and more realistic looking, right down to the PMD badges. But the ejector seat function seems really chintzy. Pushing the seats down it seems like you're going to break the seats. On mine, the fold forward feature didn't work well on the driver's seat at first. The seat would pop up when attempting to fold. After working the seat a bit it was better. The rest of the factory Pontiac Trans-Am interior components are faithfully re-produced. Missing is the cargo shade that attaches to the hatchback, hopefully the Super Elite model has it. Something I noticed about the dash when looking at it compared to the Ertl Joyride's one. The center-right of the dash doesn't come out as far as it should. It doesn't curve as much as it should in the monitor area. The monitors aren't exactly right, but better than the Ertl. Overall, the HW Elite dash does look better than the Ertl Joyride one. The gauge graphics are good, the consoles are great, the steering wheel is more realistically shaped. Two more things noticed. First and foremost, the season 3-4 lighted gas pedal. It's supposed to be modeled off of a season 1 car, so this is incorrect. Second, the Pursuit light under KITT's modulator is Red. This would be correct for a Season 2 dash, but a Season 1 dash has a Blue Pursuit light.
Now let's talk about the undercarriage and underhood area. HW really shot the moon making a story or Knight Rider Universe correct drivetrain and undercarriage. The turbine engine is extraordinarily detailed. The rest of the underhood area is too, right down to the warning labels and the Alpha Circuit cover label. Underneath, the rocket boosters, turbine exhaust ports and all of the other details are great. My mere gripe on the undercarriage is the steering linkage looks un-realistic compared to the Ertl Joyride model, which is more realistic and closer to an actual Pontiac Trans-Am. I thought about it having a tow bar on the front having a Season 1 nose, but I believe the tow bar was more for the TV show's production and serves no purpose in the Knight Rider Universe. i also thought about a real working grappling hook like the Ertl Joyride model, but why bother??? The one on my Ertl Joyride KITT model broke right after I bought it, and because of that I never touched it on my KARR model.
So to conclude, the Hot Wheels Elite KITT is not perfect, but is much better than the Ertl Joyride KITT. In my opinion, the Elite model should have been a Season 1 car, but the Super Elite should have been a Season 3 car. It would have been the closest thing to having every generation of KITT in a die cast model.
Last edited by
Tbird100636 on Sat Mar 09, 2013 9:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.