Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Colourful, Inexpensive |
| Disadvantages: |
Made my child hysterical |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
no |
Readers of my previous reviews will know that I'm a big lover of the Bruin Bear range by Babies R Us (a department of Toys R Us). On this occasion though, I'm sadly disappointed.
The Bruin Wacky Sounds Driver is a colourful interactive steering wheel toy suitable for ages 12m+. The base unit is an attractive bright green and made from sturdy plastic. Dominating the toy in central position is a large, chunky blue steering wheel complete with a beeping horn in the middle. Baby can twist and turn the steering wheel just like Mum or Dad does when they're driving with the added "bonus" of watching Bruin Bear's little model car, positioned just above the steering wheel, turn about at the same time.
Either side of the steering wheel is an ignition key that sets off the sound of an engine revving and a gear stick that pulls up and down to produce other engine noises. Finally there's a yellow indicator lever that moves up and down situated just behind the steering wheel to one side that makes the indicator arrows towards the back of the toy light up.
The two selling points for this toy are that there are "7 wacky driving sounds" and that it has a "shakin' action". Unfortunately whilst most babies enjoy a nice little drive, I doubt many would find the sounds of extremely loud revving engines overly soothing so I have no idea why the designers chose such abbrasive and loud sounds for the toy. Maybe my little boy's just a big girls' blouse but he personally prefers the Winnie-The-Pooh theme tune to the sound of someone hitting the throttle full pelt.
With regards to the "shakin' action", the feature is literally as it sounds - and then some. When you turn the steering wheel, the
Bruin Bear in his little car starts to vibrate surprisingly violently and the whole toy shakes, rattles and screeches along with it. To make matters worse, Bruin Bear bellows out, at the top of his voice, "woo-hoo-hey!!!". The noise level is much, much too loud and the first time my son heard the bear go off he jumped, screamed and burst into tears then took a good few minutes to calm down afterwards. He was genuinely petrified and kept pointing at the toy and gibbering in between sobs.
I put the toy away after the initial scare and bought it out again a month later but he burst into tears the second it went off and refused to stop until I'd hidden the toy out of sight. After the third bout of tears I chucked this toy in the bin. Just as well it was a first Birthday present rather than something I'd wasted my own money on!
£17.99 is the retail
price for this toy and it's exclusively available from Babies R Us at Toys R Us. Even if my son did like this toy I would still find the price too high considering the minimal
activity this toy has to offer. You can buy a much nicer steering wheel toy from Tesco Extra for £4.99 and it comes with a wider variety of sounds and buttons without the scary "shakin' (and yellin') Bruin".
I really am thoroughly disappointed with Bruin on this one and wish my son had never laid eyes on this frightening toy.
