Definitely not as terse but far more general, flexible and powerful. With car and cdr you're restricted to working on cons cells while lenses are generic.

Some examples (from Haskell):

    >>> ((((5,4,3,2,1),6),7),8,9) & view (_1 . _1 . _2)
    6
    >>> ((((5,4,3,2,1),6),7),8,9) & (_1 . _1 . _2) .~ 4
    ((((5,4,3,2,1),4),7),8,9)
    >>> let foo = ((((5,4,3,2,1),6),7),8,9)
    >>> foo & view (_1 . _1 . _2)
    6
    >>> let six = _1 . _1 . _2
    >>> foo & view six
    6
    >>> foo & six .~ 4
    ((((5,4,3,2,1),4),7),8,9)
    >>> foo & six .~ "abc"
    ((((5,4,3,2,1),"abc"),7),8,9)