[2][3] The song modulates stylistically between a sweeping piano-and-orchestra ballad similar to McCartney's "The Long and Winding Road" and upbeat rock sections before ending in a raucous and passionate finale.

"[9] Mason compares the effect of the various song sections to the medley from the Beatles Abbey Road and to some of the Beach Boys' post-Pet Sounds work.

[15] Beatles producer George Martin scored the song's orchestral overdubs,[16] and McCartney conducted members of the New York Philharmonic in a mid-January 1971 session.

[25] Praising Ram for its lush orchestration and "playful verve", author Peter Doggett opines that the album's culmination in the mini-suite "The Back Seat of My Car" is "a triumph of pop arrangement".

Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band of all the Beatles' solo albums, but adds that "The Back Seat of My Car" is closer to "Two of Us" than "A Day in the Life".

[27] John Lennon felt that this song, among others on the album, was directed critically towards him; in particular, he perceived the protagonists who sing "We believe that we can't be wrong" to be himself and Yoko Ono.

[9] In a contemporary review for Ram, Jon Landau of Rolling Stone described "The Back Seat of My Car" as one of only two good songs he enjoyed on the album, the other being "Eat at Home".

"[31] DeRiso also states that "As McCartney bolts from '50s-era rock to cocktail-lounge crooning to swooning violins, and back again—all inside of this one final tune, mind you—there is a sense of limitless possibility.