I will not be buying these sets since I am not interested in the Disney Cars movies. Mini-figures are the most expensive part of any set. Some of these sets are expensive considering the fact that they do not have mini-figures. I realize the increased cost is because of the Disney/Pixar license but the prices for some of the sets still seem rather high to me.

I think they're cute as hell but there's not much there for a good build I think. The tractor trailer looks good but I think these would do much better for the younger builder (5-8).
Duplo is better suited for lines like Cars and Toy Story.

"Spy Jet Escape" and "Big Bentley Bust Out" are not available just yet... I was hoping to get the jet.
Are they set to release now or later?
And will the Cars be catalogged as minifigs? I think they should, since they are the main characters.

Plus the Cars have enough new molds and prints to be the equal of any anthropomorphic minifig.

Heck, if an SW Gonk Droid or a Mouse Droid counts as a minifig, then.......

I will be getting a few of these sets if nothing more then for the new parts and old parts in new colors that will be in these sets.

As AFOL, my opinion is: "Awful! Just awful! And expensive!" But of course I will buy some of these to offer in my country... kids will want them for sure because of the new movie.

I will buy two of the Flo's V-8 Cafe and four of the Big Bentley Bust Out. Out of these I will make my town clock tower and a large 1950's Gas Station. I don't know what to think of the vehicles from CARS... mabye I will sell them, or make a 4 wide CITY car fleet. But ethier way, the sets themselves look very good. Though I wonder if there will be a second wave of CARS...

We won't be buying any. My child LOVES minifigs so he won't be interested in these.

I'll probally get "Tokyo pit stop","World grand prix racing rivarly" and "Mater's spy zone".Hopefully there cheap.

I'll be getting a few sets just to get a good amount of the characters. They'll help bring some more color variation into my collection. I remember first building some of the Toy Story sets and being taken back at just how bright the colors were compared to my mostly gray Star Wars sets.

Plus, even though I'm not a huge Cars fan, the character cross-over play potential with these sets is great. Imagine the adventures of a Mater-JarJar team up. Oh boy . . .

@Murdoch17, Those are some REALLY good ideas. I usually wouldn't think of buying multiples for MOCs...even though it is probably a popular practice.

Anyone interesting LEGO 8677 Ultimate Build Mater / LEGO 8678 Ultimate Build Francesco? check the brickset forum!

I will be purchasing a few, primarily for my 5 year old to build. We will probably incorporate them into our City. As far as minifigures, couldn't think of any they could even make.

I will most likely not be buying them, mostly because of other themes that I'm more interested in. I do think that the sets look OK, and the parts are wonderful!

These look to have decent piece-to-price ratios; nothing egregious like with some of the SW sets, and actually pretty in line with current non-licensed themes as well. And as others have noted, there are some nice, brightly-colored pieces in these sets that could be good for MOCs.

Intriguing, but I'd have to say that not having kids, it would take a pretty huge sale for me to consider allocating any of the LEGO budget towards "Cars" sets. There are just too many other sets on the 2011 wish-list.

The Lego Cars sets are interesting to say the least. I enjoyed the movie and all and these sets look alright, but there is one major issue I have with these. 1. THE PRICE! Way too overpriced for these. I wish they would release the Summer 2011 Lego Star Wars sets already. I'm super excited for them.

@LegoKitfisto: The pieces of the small cars themselves ARE printed. :P

@Alemas: Oh wow! I didn't know that! Thanks for pointing that out! That changes my perspective of these sets greatly. : )

Little known fact is that 8423: World Grand Prix Racing Rivalry is a Target exclusive.

I'm not suprised more AFOLs arent buying these especially since the 3 different new rims for six wide cars, or for four wide cars, 110% i will be purchasing these not all but for sure the "maters spy zone" 2 6.99 lightning mcqueens, and 2 6.99 maters, 1 toykyo pit stop, and possibly world grand prix rivarly racing, or escape at sea. I am beyond EXCITED for the three new rims, first off the classic VW rims, then lightning mcqueens rims(preferably in lt. stone) and then what i feel are new BMWs rims, or anytype of highclass luxury sedan rims (the ones on lightning in world grand prix racing rivalry.

But, i DO understand that many AFOLs prefer minifigures and yes that is missing from this series, but IMO i feel that the AWESOME new rims make up for them :)

BTW: for anyone wanting new hi-res pictures of ALL of the cars sets, "SMASHING BRICKS.com" has them, and they are amazing. cant wait oh....about 1week left to get these awesome guys!!!!

I'm not sure this is the right place to say this, but DK released a Lego Harry Potter encyclopedia similar to the Star Wars. It contains an exclusive Harry Potter minifig.
@Huw, this new fig would be a great excuse to update the HP minifig gallery.

I generally don't like licensed themes, and this is no exception. I definitely will get none.

You know, I stand corrected...there are alot of parts and elements I'd love for Moc's and Mod's.
Going through the pics again, I can see what many others have mentioned, new styled parts and colors. BUT, I can't justify the retail price. This is strickly a end of year/after Xmas sale purchase.

Maybe the 3 Ultimate Builds, but the other I'm not interested in... I'll stay with the UCS Star Wars sets!

I'm not really a fan of the Disney Cars franchise, and the lack of minifigs means putting the cars into a town/city set-up wouldn't really work. So maybe I'll get one just for the sake of having it, but I'll probably pass on most of them.

Cars is one of my favouritie movies of all time. I have 2 daughters and a son on the way so these are an instant buy for me. I'll be buying the Ultimate Build characters for myself. I hope this licence doesn't die out in a year.

shokwave2: http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/517/sell-lego-8677-8678-ultimate-build-mater-francesco/ ? sets in my hand! not preorder!

Benjamin.hu: I'll be buying it from my local store tomorrow and it will be cheaper then what you will sell it for!

I think these sets are awesome...a bit pricy, though

The only one I want to get is the jet.

Spy Jet escape.. I just want the Jet out of it...lol

I was in the TRU today and they have the mater in the store 8201. The funny thing is that when I scan to check the price it came up as $71.49. Obviously an error but I think they were just starting to put them out. So if you want to get your hands on some of these sets, check out your local TRUs

@Legowomen...why the rant on people parting out for Moc's and Mod's. You do know that's what a lot of AFoL's do in the hobby? We like to moc, mod and have fun. We also part out, Moc and Mod with our kids too.
Not everyone is lookin' to score $$ on Lego. I'm into the hobby to open the kits and build.

Lack of mini figs means nothing to me. Mini figs have their unique personas; but so do each of the Cars characters. I mean they are character themselves.

Not being a playset fan, I'd probably just get the Ultimate Build Mater. I just wish that there were more dark brown. By the way, is that a new sand green used in this series?

Took a pit stop at Big W today and came home with Flo's V8 Cafe!

We built the little mater set, and the one great thing about these are that there are no stickers. And mater turned out really well. I was a little concern with these because of the way toys story turned out. Toy story sets didnt stay together very well. I only got one of the cars set, but I am very happy with it.

I saw a set of these today at Target here in Iowa. They also had Queen Anne's Revenge.

@ voypro, I agree :)

These sets are also available on Target's site for preorder!

I saw a display set up at Target yesterday, but no sets were out for sale yet. After seeing them up close in person I have to admit I have changed my mind and will pick up a few sets.

I agree - the lack of minifigures relegate these sets to a very low position on my list, but the new little cars themselves are pretty well-designed, especially Lightning McQueen! It might take a lot for me to buy one, like sharky said.

I'm not sure whether this is the right place to mention it, but the LEGO Cars microsite is now fully operational!

@ C. Edmonson - Thanks so much!