Looking back to January 2024, LEGO® Ideas launches the Exploring the Cosmos challenge: “Can you imagine how awesome the spacecraft and bases on planets will look like in 100+ years as humans start to explore the cosmos? ”

Fast forward to July 2025, and the 40789 Moon Car, designed by EnchantingNoodle is available from the LEGO Insiders centre for 2500 Points. I’ve been away for a few weeks, visiting Japan Brickfest, so imagine my delight when I got home to discover the LEGO Group had arranged for this set to be waiting for me.

Let’s take a closer look…

This is a 211 piece, featuring 2 minifigures. There are no stickers, and one printed element appears new to me. although on closer inspection, it has appeared in a few LEGO Friends sets over the past year or so. The box shows the space Car on the front, : a retrofuturistic personal transport, flying over a small, brickbuilt moonscape, with a seemingly suspended direction sign floating in the air. The rear of the box demonstrates another angle of the craft, lists its dimensions and explains the LEGO Ideas process.

The instruction manual gives us a brief introduction and quote from the fan designer, before leaping into the instructions. My copy of the set came from the Australian distribution centre and came with 4 numbered paper bags, as well as two larger, 6×12 plates, with studs around the edge.

The parts

Here are the elements:

As you can see, the set includes a collection of light royal blue curved slopes and bows, some of which have only been introduced in the past 12 months. a smattering of grey elements, including traditional pirates/castle arched windows grills and friends cupcakes, set to gain another life as jet outlets. We also have a variety of arches, inverted arches and technic bricks.

The Minifigures

The included minifigures come from last year’s LEGO City line, with green and orange detail. back then, we would have accused them of being scientists and miners, but the use of the globe element as a helmet leads me to confidently suggest they are not part of that continuity. The helmet does, however, convey a great spirit of how we used to think the future was going to look like, with the globe/goldfish bowl being consistent with imagined images of spacemen from the 50s and early 60s – a time when we expected that the early 2000s would feature flying cars and commuter flights to the moon. Unfortunately, it is a little difficult to fit hair pieces on to these figures. Looking closely at the faces, we have a female face, with a smile, faint lip markings and eyelashes, and a sweating, anxious looking man.

I quite like the distortion that the helmets provide.

The Build

The build is spread over four bags: two for the moon car and two for the landscape.

We start by putting together the chassis of the moon car. After laying down a few plates – including a central core that is one stud wide, reinforced with a 3×3 and some corner plates, we put together the arched front engine modules, which we build upwards, but attach to the core sideways. These modules are connected to the core by a single 1×2 brick with studs on the side, but also held together by a couple of the 1 2/3 height bricks with 4 studs on each side: one has the ‘upper’ studs facing upwards, while the front most one is rotated 90º forward. A couple of the 2×6 plates with studs on the side will give the side walls something to add on to. we add a battery panel to the console of the car, and come to the end of bag one.

We add the dashboard and build up the seats in tan – great bucket like numbers; and attach brackets with engine mountings to the rear. The friends cupcake elements help to build a dynamic jet outflow – the folds increasing the area for heat dissipation.

We add side walls to the car, with some built-up intakes, and some wedge plates add the feeling of rear vertical stabilisers – almost inspired by the Lincoln Futura (which in turn, inspired the design for the 1960s television Batmobile.)

We tidy up the exposed studs on the side with some curved slopes, and those on the bonnet with a couple of tiles and a windscreen. The Window arches attach at the front, forming forward grilles, with hidden headlights.

I am left intrigued by two large gaps present in the floor of the car. Perhaps we will come to understand these later.

The next bag is mostly black plates and tiles, which are built up on the large plates with studs around the edges, with some smaller ones (4×4) added in for good measure. We basically build a tray. But what will fit into it?

Moving on, we build up a wall of grey. Not quite a solid wall: it is full of holes and arches, with a could of brackets for good measure. a plate attaches to give the feeling of a raised crater, and we add a signpost, with a lamp and bright yellow directional marker.

We lay this wall down into the tray, and have a nicely framed landscape.

Finally, we add an angled stand for our vehicle, with a couple of brackets fitting into the slots in the base of the car, to hold it steady.

Let’s throw our heroes into the blackness of space, or at least, a partially illuminated lunar surface:

I enjoyed this build.

The set has a great retro-futurist feel – the way that we imagined the future would be like, back in the 50s,60s or 70s – in particular, as I have alluded, the Lincoln Futura, with its rear stabilisers and gently under-slung side walls. The front grille has the smooth curves fits in with this vibe.

The use of the spherical helmets enhances this, similar to those seen in art and movies of the 50s, including some of my first exposure to ‘Science Fiction’ – Tintin’s Destination Moon and Explorers on the moon (Fun fact: this rocket is currently in development as a ‘usual process’ LEGO Ideas set.)

Overall, it’s a fun build, suitable for both zooming and swooshing. If you are a fan of Space sets, it’s probably worth your while if you have the points. You can find it in the LEGO Insiders rewards section here.

What does 2500 points cost?

LEGO Insiders points are typically earned through purchases at LEGO.com, or LEGO Brand retail stores (NOT Certified stores, at this time). Points are earned at the rate of approx 1pt per Danish Kroner/4.5points per AUD/6.5 points per USD/ 8points per GBP/ 7.5 points per euro). The full conversion rate is available here. To earn this, you must spend $AUD550 under normal sales conditions, which probably means two or three moderate-to-large-sized sets: relatively easy to achieve in today’s climate. You can also earn 20 points by scanning the QR Code on the front of most instruction manuals.

What is 2500 points worth?

Conversely, what would 2500 LEGO Insiders points be worth as a discount on a LEGO set?

Now, checking the discount value of my points, and the little note about my points at the checkout, one point is worth 1.1cent (Australian) – so the set is, in principle, worth $AUD27.50. Add $AUD12.50 for shipping, if you opt to purchase something inexpensive from LEGO.com, just for the purpose of completing the purchase and it comes to around $40 – probably not what I would pay to purchase this set if it were on the shelves – but I’d consider it to be an acceptable price on Bricklink or ebay in the immediate future.

BUT It’s LEGO Insiders Days

Until July 17,2025, LEGO are running their Insiders Days Promotion (consider it a distraction from Amazon’s Prime Days.) – there are some sets with discounts, as well as DOUBLE INSIDERS POINTS on selected themes – specifically City, Classic, Creator 3in1, DUPLO®, Friends, LEGO® DREAMZzz™, NINJAGO®, LEGO® Animal Crossing™, Minecraft®, LEGO® Wednesday & LEGO® Wicked themes only. NOT Harry Potter, Super Heroes, Icons, Iconic, Ideas or Star Wars. Gain the points to purchase sets like this in the future for half of what you might have spent last week!

There are also a variety of sets across different themes on sale – you can find them here!

In conclusion

So, there you have it, the sleek 40789 Moon Car from LEGO Ideas and Insiders Rewards. I give it a 4/5 Arbitrary Praise Units: its design is unique in the realms of LEGO Space, and there are a few interesting building techniques used in it. The overall lines and colour scheme certainly fit a retro-futurist aesthetic – from the car’s grill to the fishbowl helmets, evoking nostalgia for the optimistic view of the future we had years ago, looking at ye olden predictions of how things could be. The lunar landscape to display it on adds to the value.

I have to admit, I am tempted to adapt the model for other LEGO Space themes from across the years: MTron; Blacktron, Iceplanet… maybe even a space police version. This might require a little time, and a large Bricklink wanted list. The great thing about this model is that there are NO UNIQUE ELEMENTS. You will be able to find the instructions on LEGO.com or in the LEGO Builder App if you want to build your own recolour.

This set was provided by the LEGO Group for Review Purposes. All opinions are my own.

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!