After much debate and research, I decided to get this for my 8 yr old's Christmas present. I don't know about other people, but I consider this a VERY expensive gift for a kid. However, a gas powered go-kart typically costs $
*** new, used ones about $500. He out grew his power wheel mustang $*** and was very sad. Although this does not go as fast as a gas powered one, it does go at least twice as fast (est. 10-15 mph) than power wheel type cars, which run 5 mph tops. This go kart is much safer than gas powered ones, which is also a plus since the kid is only 8. On Christmas day in Wisconsin 2015, we had no snow on the ground which was a stroke of luck! My son had put it together ahead of time and made sure it was fully charged, so I can't speak to how easy, or hard it was to assemble. He said it was a snap, but he also has replaced car engines and transmissions so I'm sure it was nothing to him!. Anyhow, the result was priceless!!! My grandson cried tears of joy. I didn't know kids could even do that! He was able to ride it around our property that Christmas day, which is 1.5 acres. It went really fast on pavement, was just a little slower on grass, and a little slower yet when going on grass up a pretty steep hill, but it never went nearly as slow as his power wheels did. I think this go kart is a perfect fit as an in-between measure from power wheels to gas go karts and the price matches it's capabilities. It does run for about 45 minutes before needing a re charge, which is fine with us. I had looked into other electric go karts such as razor, but their wheels were so tiny with no ground clearance so I knew they would be terrible on grass/fields. My son who put it together later admitted that he had rode it around for a test drive. He is 5'10" and 190lbs and said it went fairly fast for him, even made it up the hill as well, but slower than when the 8 yr old was on it. I'm just glad he didn't break it! This one works well and provided our family a really great Christmas memory. My grandson has only been able to use a few times since then because we tend to have crummy weather until April (just got 6" of snow 3/24/16) but so far so good.