Create a Car vs Thomas & Friends™
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Create a Car
This app allows young children to design and build their own cars using a variety of parts and styles. Once created, they can save their vehicles to a garage and then drive them on a road, collecting suns and avoiding obstacles. It also includes educational prompts to encourage imaginative thinking and descriptive language.
- Design custom cars
- Save creations to garage
- Drive cars on a road
- Over 70 parts
- 30 car styles
- Five player profiles
- Educational prompts
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Create a car and drive it! Create a Car is a top-selling creativity app for children ages 3 to 6. The app has been featured in numerous print publications and is an Apple "Staff Favorite." Create a Car is developed specifically for young children. Features: -Five player profiles -Over 70 parts -30 fun car styles -Save creations to the garage -Drive creations on the road -Higher order questions based on Bloom’s Taxonomy Education: Sample lesson idea Students use their imagination to invent vehicles to do specific tasks. Once the vehicle has been designed, students can save the vehicle in the garage. Next students can type information to describe the vehicle by following an instructional objective or by using the guidance questions provided. Finally, students can share the vehicle and their description with the class or teacher for feedback. All this can be done without leaving the Create a Car application! Sample Bloom’s Taxonomy questions for the vehicle description feature 1. Knowledge: List and describe some of the vehicle parts. 2. Comprehension: Explain what this vehicle can do. 3. Application: Where can this vehicle be driven? 4. Analysis: Identify the most important vehicle parts and explain why they are important. 5. Synthesis: If you could create a part that is not in the game, what would it be? 6. Evaluation: How could your vehicle be improved? How to create a car -View parts by swiping left of right on the parts bin -Select a part by dragging it from the parts bin to the work area -Move a part around the work area by touching and dragging it -Select a part in the work area by tapping it -Deselect a part in the work area by touching the white background or another part -Delete a part by dragging it to the parts bin *Move the vehicle and all parts used together by touching the vehicle body and dragging it -Scale a part by pressing and holding -Flip a part by tapping once -Rotate a part by pressing and holding -Save vehicle to your garage -Exit the work area and return to your profile How to use My Garage -View vehicles in the garage by swiping left or right on a vehicle -Start your vehicle -Add or edit vehicle information (name, description, features) -Edit your vehicle’s appearance -Delete your vehicle -Exit the garage How to drive (as far as you can) -Touch anyplace on the screen to accelerate and steer -Avoid skulls -Collect suns Game Settings (found in information) Delete player profiles ----------------------------- PRIVACY DISCLOSURE Create a Car: - Does not contain third-party ads. - Does not contain in-app purchases. - Does not contain integration with social networks. - Does not use analytics/data collection tools. - Does include links to apps by ABCya.com in the iTunes App Store. For more information on our privacy policy please visit: http://www.abcya.com/mobile_app_privacy_policy.htm Create a Car is kidSAFE Certified. ---------------------------
Thomas & Friends™
Children can drive their favorite engines and build custom train tracks on the Island of Sodor. This app offers hands-on fun, encourages imagination, and helps develop important skills for preschoolers and neurodivergent children.
- Drive favorite engines
- Build custom train tracks
- Explore Island of Sodor
- Kid-friendly controls
- Develops spatial awareness
- Inclusive play experience
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Thomas & Friends: Let’s Roll invites kids to drive their favorite engines and build their own tracks, fueling big imaginations and tons of hands-on fun. Perfect for preschoolers ages 2-6 and thoughtfully made for all kids to enjoy! • Drive around the Island of Sodor to enjoy lots of exciting journeys! • You can pick a different engine for each journey, including Thomas, Bruno, Percy, and more. Even very young children can enjoy a rewarding driving experience with our kid-friendly driving controls. • The TRACK BUILDER feature lets you build a train track and drive a toy train on it! • You can enhance your track with lots of fun and interesting scenery options. • Watch your trains chug along the track and the landscape you created! • This app helps kids develop spatial awareness, fine motor skills, and self-expression. FUN FOR EVERYONE Designed for ALL kids, (especially little neurodivergent engineers) this app brings expert input from autistic writer Jody O'Neill to create a playful, inclusive experience. Kids set their own pace, are offered clear choices, and can safely explore alongside Bruno the Brake Car, a neurodivergent friend from Sodor. Designed for repeated play sessions, this app will offer joy and comfort to kids, over and over again! JOURNEYS The Old Mine, Whiff’s Recycling Plant, Norramby Beach, McColl’s Farm, and Winter Wonderland CHARACTERS Thomas, Bruno, Gordon, Percy, Nia, Diesel and Kana FEATURES - Safe and age-appropriate - Designed responsibly to let your child enjoy screen time while developing healthy digital habits at a young age - Play pre-downloaded content offline without Wi-Fi or internet - Regular updates with new content - Apple Family Sharing for easy subscription sharing with other family members - No third-party advertising - No in-app purchases for subscribers SUPPORT For any questions or assistance, please reach out to us at support@storytoys.com. ABOUT STORYTOYS Our mission is to bring the world's most popular characters, worlds, and stories to life for children. We make apps for kids that engage them in well-rounded activities designed to help them learn, play, and grow. Parents can enjoy peace of mind knowing their kids are learning and having fun at the same time. PRIVACY & TERMS StoryToys takes children's privacy seriously and ensures that its apps comply with privacy laws, including the Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If you would like to learn more about the information we collect and how we use it, please visit our privacy policy at https://storytoys.com/privacy. Read our terms of use here: https://storytoys.com/terms/ SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS This app contains sample content that is free to play. However, LOTS MORE fun and entertaining games and activities are available if you purchase a monthly or yearly subscription. While you are subscribed you can play with EVERYTHING. We regularly add new stuff, so subscribed users will enjoy ever-expanding play opportunities. • Subscriptions are billed monthly or annually according to the rate of the selected subscription plan. • You can change your mind at any point. Cancelling can be done through your iTunes settings. • Your subscription will auto-renew at the cost of the chosen package unless you cancel it 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period. Subscription fees are charged to your iTunes account. • After purchase, you can manage your subscription and turn off auto-renewal by going to your Account Settings. • When you purchase a subscription, you forfeit any unused portion of a free trial period. • You can use your subscription on any device registered with the same Apple ID that you subscribed from. © 2026 Gullane (Thomas) Limited. The Thomas name and character and the Thomas & Friends™ logo are trademarks of Gullane (Thomas) Limited and its affiliates and are registered in many jurisdictions throughout the world.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Thomas & Friends™ at Free against Create a Car's $2.99. Thomas & Friends™ also leads on ratings volume (10K vs 102) and update cadence (monthly vs every 4 months). Create a Car's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 8) and review sentiment (88% vs 72%). On rating, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Thomas & Friends™ is free to download; Create a Car costs $2.99 up front. Thomas & Friends™ sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Create a Car asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.0 for Create a Car against 4.2 for Thomas & Friends™. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Thomas & Friends™ has 10K ratings behind it against 102, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 88% of Create a Car's written reviews are positive against 72% of Thomas & Friends™'s.
Create a Car ships an update every 4 months, Thomas & Friends™ monthly. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.
| Parameter | Create a Car | Thomas & Friends™ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.0 (102 ratings) | 4.2 (10K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 88.0% of reviews — better | 71.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 102 | 10K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Freemium — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.1 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 19 MB | 462 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Curiosity Media | StoryToys Limited |
Customer experience
Create a Car
Thomas & Friends™
User reviews
Create a Car
From 102 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Fun and creative
- 🚀 Keeps kids entertained for hours
- 💡 Great for developing imagination
- 👍 Easy to use interface
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes
- 🔌 Limited number of parts/vehicles
- 💡 Lack of ability to change car colors
- 💡 Desire to drive the created cars
Thomas & Friends™
From 10K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Fun and engaging game
- 🎨 Faithful to the All Engines Go theme
- 👨🎨 Unique playable character (Bruno)
- 🎉 Potential for great future updates
Room to improve
- 💰 Excessive in-app purchases and subscription model
- 🐛 Bugs and glitches (loading issues, missing sounds, corrupted textures)
- 🚫 Limited content (only one playable character and map at launch)
Bugs and requests
Create a Car
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes on certain devices
- Text boxes too small
- Incompatible with newer iOS versions
Requested features
4 requests- More car bodies and parts to choose from
- Ability to change car colors
- Option to drive the created cars
- Integration with social media to share creations
Thomas & Friends™
Reported bugs
3 issues- Respawning issues at McColl's Farm
- Inability to complete the loop in Crystal Cave
- Character catchphrases turning back on after restart
Requested features
5 requests- Add more playable engines (James, Emily, Edward, etc.)
- Introduce new locations (Knapford, Vicarstown, etc.)
- Implement interactive journey scenarios (railroad crossings, traffic jams, etc.)
- Fix issues with cargo physics and character whistles/horns
- Improve performance and stability
In-app purchases
Create a Car
No in-app purchases
Thomas & Friends™
- UNLOCK EVERYTHING$4.991 Month
- UNLOCK EVERYTHING-7 day trial7 Days trial$6.991 Month
- UNLOCK EVERYTHING$6.991 Month
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- UNLOCK EVERYTHING - BEST VALUE$6.991 Month
- 7day trial & UNLOCK EVERYTHING7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- UNLOCK EVERYTHING - BEST VALUE2 variants$29.991 Year
- UNLOCK EVERYTHING - BEST VALUE$39.991 Year
Questions
Is Create a Car free?
Is Thomas & Friends™ free?
Which has better reviews, Create a Car or Thomas & Friends™?
Do Create a Car or Thomas & Friends™ have ads?
Which is updated more often, Create a Car or Thomas & Friends™?
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