It’s hard to go around today without seeing or hearing someone say “May the Fourth be with you” to greet another person. Really, the moment I woke up and checked my social media feeds, I was inundated with posts reminding me that today, May 4, is Star Wars Day. Yes, Star Wars has its own day, although this celebration has evolved from just a one-day celebration to a two-day-er with tomorrow, May 5, being referred to as “Revenge of the Fifth.” Cute puns notwithstanding, I’m celebrating with my fellow Star Wars fans, and what better way to do it than by engaging in a fantasy race between the rides-of-choice of two of the franchise’s leading protagonists: Luke Skywalker and Rey Ken..oh, wait.

I am of course talking about Luke’s X-34 Landspeeder and Rey’s speeder, two diametrically different iterations of the same ride with vastly different origins and purposes. I’m not going to spend this time to go on a historical deep dive of the two speeders. What I will do is line up one opposite the other, compare things like origin, design, power, and cool factor, and then pick which of the two speeders I prefer. Technically, there’s no answer here because I don’t mind driving either one of them. I just ended up liking one over the other.

Continue after the jump to read the full story.

Origin

Luke’s X-34 Speeder was built by a company called Sorosuub, which, according to Wookiepedia, is a corporation that “specialized in mineral processing, but contained divisions and subdivisions which handled everything from energy mining to food packaging.” In other words, it’s a lot like Fuji Industries, the same company that owns Subaru and also has tentacles in other businesses. As far as how Luke got possession of his speeder, there are conflicting origin stories about it with some saying it was a hand-me-down from his Uncle Owen and other saying that he bought it for 2,400 credits.

By contrast, Rey’s speeder was built entirely by Rey herself. That in itself deserves unlimited brownie points, but the way she described how she put everything together makes her speeder all the more impressive.

"I built it myself, from parts I found in the Graveyard and in junk piles in Nima, along with a few things I got in trade from the Teedos. Everything was stuff I scavenged or that other people had thrown away." -Rey in The Force Awakens

Lord knows where all those places are, but for all the effort she put in finding those scraps and piecing them all together, Rey easily takes this round.

Winner: Rey

Design

It’s hard to judge this one cause it’s really subject to your personal taste and preference. On my end, I prefer the design of Luke’s land speeder over Rey’s because it resembles a real-life car compared to what Rey managed to cook up. Luke’s speeder even has a two-seat capacity with a pair of small, flat areas behind the passenger compartment that can be used to for stow as many as two droids. I’m a big fan of Rey’s speeder, too, but I harken it more to a Jakkunian hover motorcycle and as much of a fan of bikes as I am, I prefer being seated comfortably inside a cockpit, which I can do inside the land speeder.

Winner: Luke

Power

According to Star Wars Wikia – yes, I know that source credibility has gone way down at this point – Luke’s speeder is powered by three jet-turbine engines that can hit 60 mph in 4.1 seconds before peaking at a top speed of 155 mph with a max altitude of three feet thrown in for good measure. It also has repulsorlift under the front hood, which is largely responsible for the speeder’s hovering capabilities.

Rey’s speeder, on the other hand, only has a pair of turbojet engines, which presumably means that it has less power than Luke’s. It’s also apparently a hybrid of some sort, although the reasons behind why are unknown. What we do know is that her speeder is “ridiculously overpowered” when it’s not carrying any scraps from any of her scavenging field trips. The presence of a repulsorlift also allows her speeder to take to the skies, effectively turning it into an airspeeder that she uses on the side to hone her piloting skills.

Given that Rey’s speeder can lift off the ground much higher than three feet, we’ll give this round to Rey with curiously raised eyebrows.

Winner: Rey

Who Wins In A Drag Race?

Hard to tell at this point, but given what we know about both speeders’ capabilities, I’ll put my Tattoinian coins on Luke edging out Rey in a drag race. Three jet turbine engines do sound better than two, right?

Winner: Luke

Which speeder would I want to be seen in?

I can’t speak for everybody here on TopSpeed, but since Luke’s landspeeder was built by Tatooine’s equivalent of Subaru, I’ll take that one over Rey’s speeder. Much respect though to the last Jedi (whoops?); she’s a heck of a scavenger, designer, mechanic, and builder in her own right. That'll certainly impress the "built not bought" crowd, right?