History YMMV / CARs

** Many older fans see the franchise as something of a DorkAge for Creator/{{Pixar}} as a whole. In general, a lot of the disdain for the franchise stems from its perceived CreatorsFavorite status--after all, the sequel was greenlit on the press tour of the first movie and making it the second Pixar franchise to get a full trilogy after ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', and that's on top of Disney releasing a pair of theatrically-released spin-offs. All of this in spite of the consensus that the movies represent a low point for the company. That it's also a MerchandiseDriven (no pun intended) property does not do anything to alleviate the situation, with many accusing the sequels of being made only as a cash-grab. The common sentiment among these older fans is that the movies simply aren't worthy of the embellishment that Pixar has placed upon them, and that the company's efforts would be better reserved for creating new movies that are up to the company's usual quality or creating sequels to more beloved films like ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles''[[note]]which did ultimately happen, albeit much later than most fans were expecting[[/note]]. That being said, the series does have its fans, especially among younger viewers who look at ''Cars'' as a GatewaySeries for Pixar, and the third movie's trailer--with the DarkerAndEdgier tone and the stunning visual effects--has indicated that Pixar is taking the franchise as seriously as any other property they've put work into.

* NightmareFuel:
** A deleted scene in the first movie shows Lightning [=McQueen=] wandering through a car graveyard full of rusty and destroyed cars while trying to find Mack, with most of the car corpses either having plants growing through them or are impaled on some of the tree branches.
*** Another deleted scene had Lightning choose standard community service over doing a race in the first Radiator Springs Grand Prix, [[OpinionChangingDream only to have a dream]] that Doc put his engine (and consciousness) in Bessie while Mater's engine is put inside Lightning's body, with Mater [[GrandTheftMe running off to live Lightning's life once Mack shows up in the dream]] and Lightning is forced to pave the road. When he wakes up from the nightmare, he notices a steamroller corpse on the side and, rather understandably, changes his mind and ends the scene by deciding to do the race instead.
** Frank. He's a large, red, loud harvester with the looks and sounds of an angry bull. He also has blades on the end of his body. When he catches Lightning in his fields tipping tractors, he pops up in front of him and roars as loud ominous music plays. The scene is very tense.
*** He even shows up later in Lightning's nightmare where he outright ''kills'' Chick Hicks and reduces him to [[MachineBlood what is the car equivalent of]] LudicrousGibs. Even if this can be seen as karma for what Chick did in the opening, and even acknowleding that it's a dream sequence that doesn't actually reflect the movie's internal reality, we saw someone get maimed alive onscreen, ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids in a Pixar film!]]''

* MisaimedFandom: The Delinquent Road Hazards, who were responsible for Lightning falling out of his transport truck, were meant to be a gang of dislikable street punks, to the point that the animators modeled them after tastelessly modified "ricer" cars. Strangely enough, the fandom [[EnsembleDarkhorse completely fell in love with them]] and they even got their own (very popular) toys despite their [[AdvertisedExtra limited screen time]], making enough fan art and fanfiction centering on them to impress even the most hardened Internet warrior.

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Doc claims that he never got a chance to show off what was left of him. Considering that the third film used dialog that Paul Newman himself previously recorded during production as John Lassester was keen on him remaining the voice of Doc, he ultimately did get to show a little more of him.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdimnI4Xtc0&ab_channel=SherylCrow-Topic "Real Gone"]] by Sheryl Crow is a upbeat, catchy track that sums up the aesop of the movie.

** It's now something of a common internet joke to [[{{Pun}} take apart the internal workings]] of the franchise's central premise and examine it in painstaking detail, which usually causes it to either produce [[FridgeHorror horrifying results]] or to [[StealthPun fall apart]]. For example, Sarge is a 1941 Willys Model Jeep, a vehicle created for usage in WWII, which implies that there was a Cars WWII, which implies there was a [[CrossesTheLineTwice Cars Holocaust]], and so on.

* DemographicallyInappropriateHumour: [[Radar/{{Cars}} Enough for its own page.]]

** Lightning McQueen is very popular amongst female fans, if all the fanart he gets online is evidence enough.

* EstrogenBridage:

** "What the f--- is Chick Hicks doing at [insert some random, most likely unfortunate, historic event]?"[[labelnote:Explanation]]People took to, [[RuleofFunny for whatever reason]], photoshopping Chick Hicks into pictures of historic events, often combining it with BlackComedy (like the assasination of Julius Ceasar, a rally in Nazi Germany, [[TheLastofTheseisNotLikeOthers the 2006 Piston Cup tie-breaker race]])[[/labelnote]]

** Not Chuck is very famous for his lines "YOU NEED TIRES, YOU IDIOT!" and "AND MY NAME IS NOT CHUCK!" and that he doesn't have a real name, despite appearing very little and only at the beginning of the movie.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: The four tuner cars: DJ, Boost, Wingo and Snot Rod, who messed with Mack on the highway and inadvertently got [=McQueen=] lost in Radiator Springs are among the most [[OneSceneWonder memorable]] characters for their cool designs. As a result, they've returned in several of the games.

* WeirdAlEffect: The cars all have their eyes on their windshields rather than on their headlights like how they're traditionally portrayed in media. There's a very good chance people may not realize that this design choice is actually a reference to the 1952 Disney short ''[[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Susie The Little Blue Coupe]]''.

* DemographicallyInappropriateHumour: [[Radar/Cars Enough for its own page.]]

* DemographicallyInappropriateHumour:
** At the beginning of the movie, Mia and Tia [[SexyCoatFlashing flash]] [=McQueen=] with their headlights, which shocks the other cars and makes [=McQueen=] remark on how much he likes his job. There's also a FunnyBackgroundEvent where some of the journalists take appreciative pictures of Mia and Tia's rear ends.
** A deleted scene has Mia and Tia as waitresses at a seedy truck stop Mack stops at on the drive to California. It was marked as a "top-down" truck-stop, with all-convertible waitresses.
** Mater overhearing Lightning's gushing over Doc Hudson:
--->'''Lightning [=McQueen=]:''' He's won ''three'' Piston Cups!\\
'''Mater:''' ''[SpitTake]'' He did '''what''' in his cup?!
** Let's not forget Sally's "pinstripe tattoo" tramp stamp that Lightning notices.
** This little exchange:
--->'''Lightning:''' Well, you see, race cars don't ''need'' headlights, because the race track is always ''lit''.
--->'''Rust-Eze Spokesman:''' So's [[TheStoner my brother]], but he still needs headlights!
** Mater would give his two left lugnuts to work with Bessie.
** Mater joking that "she just wants me for my body" is even ''in the trailer''.
** When [=McQueen=] bursts into Doc's office, he finds Sheriff in a compromising position on the hydraulic lift, as Doc examines his underbelly. He even has an examination pipe up his exhaust pipe; Lightning walked in on the car equivalent of a ''rectal exam''.
--->'''Sheriff:''' Gettin' a good peek, city boy?
** One of the race fans is holding a sign that says "Honk If Your Horn Works".
** Guido's version of FlippingTheBird to the forklifts of Hicks' pit crew is to lift up one of his fork lifts.
** "Is it true he's going to pose for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playgirl Cargirl]]?"
** When Sarge and Fillmore are watching the traffic light blinking outside Flo's, Sarge says to Fillmore, "The Sixties weren't very good to you, eh son?"

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Part of why the films have always been divisive is that some audience members simply can't get into the concept of a world populated exclusively by cars.

*** He even shows up later in Lightning's nightmare where he outright ''kills'' Chick Hicks and reduces him to [[MachineBlood what is the car equivalent of]] LudicrousGibs. Even if this can be seen as karma for what Chick did in the opening, we saw someone get maimed alive onscreen, ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids in a Pixar film!]]''

** He arguably crosses the event horizon way earlier at the start of the movie when he caused a massive pileup, injuring as many as '''40''' other cars (some of the injuries could've possibly proven ''fatal'' for some of the cars had their crews not fixed them up), just to keep [=McQueen=] in as much of a disadvantage as possible. Fortunately for [=McQueen=], he was able to not only make it out unscathed, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain but also got him in first place for quite a while because he went in his pitstop when news breaks of [=McQueen=] making it through the pileup]].

** It's now something of a common internet joke to [[{{Pun}} take apart the internal workings]] of the franchise's [[BellisariosMaxim central premise]] and examine it in painstaking detail, which usually causes it to either produce [[FridgeHorror horrifying results]] or to [[StealthPun fall apart]]. For example, Sarge is a 1941 Willys Model Jeep, a vehicle created for usage in WWII, which implies that there was a Cars WWII, which implies [[SerialEscalation there was a]] [[CrossesTheLineTwice Cars Holocaust]], and so on.

** After Lightning discovers [[spoiler: Doc's past as a famous race car before a [[CareerEndingInjury crash]],]] he's amazed and tells him about how they are [[NotSoDifferent Not So Different]], to which Doc immediately denies. In ''Cars 3'', Lightning [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3DouVH8E44 gets into a devastating crash]] similar to [[spoiler: Doc's]].

** Rascal Flatss's cover of Tom Cochran's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh-ZUrc-aLI&ab_channel=RascalFlatts-Topic "Life is a Highway"]]. It may not be as good as the original but is still a fun beat.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic'':