YMMV / The Cars

• Adorkable: Ric practically invented the de facto "dork rock" look that took off in the '90s, due to this response to both his voice and his appearance. Especially on his less-cynical songs like "Victim of Love" and "Magic".
• Contested Sequel: While Heartbeat City marked a critical and commercial comeback for the band and spawned "Drive", one of the band's Signature Songs, many fans are divided on how the album chalks up to their earlier material, especially after their second, third, and fourth albums got Vindicated by History. Some fans view Heartbeat City as an entertaining change of pace that effectively updates the band's sound for a new era, while others consider it Sell-Out music that discards the weirdness that made them appealing in the first place.
• Epic Riff: Many, on either guitar or keyboards.
• First Installment Wins: The Cars is routinely considered the band's best album.
• Funny Moments: The Music Video for "Magic" is utterly hilarious. Ric Ocasek manages to wow an entire costume party by somehow walking on water, and when the partygoers try to copy him, they all fall into the pool.
• Heartwarming Moments: The tributes and cover versions that Ric Ocasek got from fellow musicians after his death in 2019.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In the video for "You Might Think," the band and model Susan Gallagher are seen in a movie theater watching Robot Monster in silhouette that looks an awful lot like Mystery Science Theater 3000.
• Ho Yay: "Ta Ta Wayo Wayo (1977 Demo)," which swaps the line "the girls are so pretty" for "the boys are so pretty" in the final verse.
• Multiple Demographic Appeal: The band had enough catchy hooks and melodies for fans of mainstream rock as well as plenty of weirdness for punk/new wave fans.
• Signature Song: "Just What I Needed" and "Drive" are the consensus choices, although the latter is something of a Black Sheep Hit.
• Tear Jerker:
  • For Live Aid, a TV crew from CBC showed a video of a hungry child in Africa trying to stand up, and they set it to "Drive". You may never listen to the song the same way again.
  • As of 2019, "Drive" has ended up becoming even more heartbreaking on account of Ric's passing.
• Tough Act to Follow: Critical and fan consensus is that their later albums couldn't hold a candle to their debut... though Heartbeat City did Win Back the Crowd, and their other albums were eventually Vindicated by History. However, the stress of trying to follow up Heartbeat City led to Ocasek's nervous breakdown. The lower sales, empty seats at concerts and critical lambasting of Door to Door broke up the band.
• Vindicated by History: The band's second, third, and fourth albums were generally considered lackluster attempts at trying to recapture the magic of their debut record when they were initially released. Today however, they're much better-regarded and are widely considered classics in American New Wave Music, especially after Benjamin Orr and Ric Ocasek's untimely deaths in 2000 and 2019, respectively.

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