Brickspace Dictionary: Five-Wide

Five-Wide (n.) (Five Wide)

A five-wide (also 5-wide) is a type of minifig-scale vehicle. The Lego Group (TLG) produce cars that are four studs in width, and trucks that are six studs in width. Five-wide is an alternative to building with an even number of studs' width, but should only be used when it is needed, as it is not always necessary.

Builders choose to use a different width, five studs wide, for several reason. Firstly, it is more to scale than either 4-wide or 6-wide. Four-wide is considered too short because there is not enough space for two minifig-scale seats, and some more complex details are harder to achieve with only four studs' width to play with. Six-wide is thought of as too wide for a normal car, and is preferred for vans and trucks.

Five-wide also provides the builder with a challenge, whereas 4-wide may be considered 'too easy' to build in. Because of the odd number of studs, five-wide presents many problems when it comes to adding details to the car. It can help some features - such as a central ridge down the car's bonnet - but with other features, it is hard to find space to offset the studs. The innards of most five-wides are a mess of offset plates and complicated half-stud measurements.

"Is that car five-wide? Cool!"

"I built this car [in] five-wide, it was really hard"

Photo credit: Legohaulic 'Ford Model A Pickup' 


Need more 5-wides? Check out the Flickr Gallery!