The last Hot Wheels Fast & Furious Premium Mix for 2024 is here
Next week I’m going to Saisho Fest, an event all about tuned Japanese cars. Last year Fast & Furious songs were playing in the background and I felt like a happy little kid when I was there with my RX-7.
It’s incredible how many people were influenced by The Fast and the Furious back then. Twenty years later, the saga still has sentimental value for most of us, even though it has moved away from its origins. In fact, I’m writing this story while listening to Organic Audio – Nurega, one of my favorite songs from the first film.
Over the past few years, I’ve collected several Hot Wheels Fast & Furious castings, including Dom’s RX-7, Brian’s Eclipse (and Supra), etc. The series is seemingly an unlimited source of inspiration for Mattel, even if the number of hero cars is limited. Earlier this month, we saw a five-car Silver Series mix featuring DK’s 350Z and Leon’s R33 GT-R.
And now it looks like the final mix of the Premium Fast & Furious for 2024 is just around the corner. I think it’s the last one, considering how Mattel has approached this line in recent years. We had five sets in 2019, but only four for 2020, 2021, and 2023. Maybe we’ll see an additional Premium bundle, but we’ll talk about that in another story.
Ford F-150 SVT Lightning
Photo: Lamley Group
The Ford F-150 SVT Lightning is just one of the many vehicles driven by Brian “Earl” Spilner in the Fast & Furious franchise. It never achieved the same legendary status as the R34 GT-R, the Eclipse or the Supra. But it still played an important role in building the latter.
Designed by Mark Jones, this casting debuted in the Fast & Furious: Motor City Muscle mix in 2020. Mattel has since developed four more variants, including the Ultramarine Blue version we recently saw in the Boulevard series. You might be hard-pressed to find a single difference between the First Edition release, the 2023 Premium Bundle’s appearance, and the latest release.
All three use Mag-Style Real Riders wheels, but it’s hard to get upset about the situation. I think it’s time to finally add it to my collection, as all the previous ones have slipped through my fingers too many times.
1996 Nissan 180SX Type X
Photo: Lamley Group
You see the oldest cast in this new mix. It’s one of Dmitriy Shakhmatov’s first projects at Mattel and it turned out great! I remember buying several of the first iterations right after the model debuted in 2015.
The 2018 Nightburnerz variant with the Yokohama livery is still one of my absolute favorite releases! It’s crazy that we’ve only had one premium version of this mold before, which was the 2019 Car Culture: Street Tuners set. But I guess the folks in El Segundo know its market potential today, as we just had a Super Treasure Hunt release with Case M from the mainline series.
The Fast & Furious appearance is reminiscent of Tokyo Drift, with a Metalflake Blue finish and 5-spoke Modern Real Riders wheels. But does anyone remember seeing the car in the movie?
1987 Chevrolet Caprice
Photo: Lamley Group
A new Hot Wheels set wouldn’t be exciting if it didn’t include a few new features. Enter the 1987 Chevy Caprice, a brand new model designed by Rob Matthes. It’s a replica of the car Ludacris drove in Furious 7, a movie I never watched.
I’ve never been interested in the Chevrolet Caprice and I’m not sure I’ll start now, but some of you might disagree. The gray paint matches the Red Line Preferred Series Real Riders wheels.
You can hardly see anything through the tinted windows and I would rather wait for the next version before I buy one of these tiny cars.
2018 Bentley Continental GT3
Photo: Lamley Group
The 2018 Bentley Continental GT3 is the only Ryu Asada-designed casting in the mix. I’ve ignored it since its debut at Nightburnez 2020, although the first Metalflake Green variant was decent. Mattel has kept giving us five more variants through 2023.
The five-spoke wheel design gave way to a ten-spoke model, but there was no magic. The mold is going well in 2024, with three new variants, including the release of the European Car Culture-themed multipack. The others are both premium models, and we’ll be talking about the release of Car Culture: Race Day sooner rather than later.
The Fast & Furious model’s white and red paint job isn’t exactly stunning, but the car does score points with the modern 10-spoke Real Riders wheels. Some might argue that it’s not a faithful replica of the car from The Fate of the Furious, but I think the Hot Wheels version is a little better overall.
Toyota FJ Cruiser
Photo: Lamley Group
The Fast and the Furious isn’t all about sports cars or supercars. And that’s OK, we all need an everyday car to take care of the family, right? The Toyota FJ Cruiser is the second brand new addition to the mix and is the work of Ronald Wong.
He’s the man who designed the Pagani Utopia, the 1924 Honda Civic Type-R, the Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.8 and many other cars for Mattel. The FJ Cruiser is not his first Toyota casting, as he also worked on the Land Cruiser FJ43 and the 1989 Supra (Team Transport). Even though I’m not necessarily a fan of these big cars, I would say the FJ Cruiser is the star of the new Fast & Furious mix.
The black-on-black finish looks great with the Off-Road Real Riders 8-Dot wheels, and I’d buy one regardless of its role in Fast X. Overall, this new set offers a decent mix of vehicles, and I’d probably rate it a 7/10. Which is your favorite?
