YES!!!
Check this out… One of Kubota’s forays into the automotive world. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3045052
“I suspect the Aztec was a joke by the design team that management took seriously.”
Figuring out who actually approved the design of the Aztec is like asking a room full of children…
“Who broke the vase?”.
In both cases, the answer is…Ida Know…
If we can simply find this Ida person, at least we will be able to take her to task for all of her wrongful acts.
;-))
The Azetk was designed from the inside out. Dimensions were set for cargo and people, outside dimensions were set, and then a skin was put on it that allowed the other criteria to be met.
The Aztec was functional but really looked like a design by focus group. The Cladding on the early examples didn’t help matters much. Very much a niche market vehicle that GM used their minivan as the basis for.
“I suspect the Aztec was a joke by the design team that management took seriously.”
It looks very similar to its cousin, the Buick Rendezvous, which wasn’t quite as ugly. From the rear, there are very few differences . . . never mind the tent
I agree that the Aztek was ugly. But I don’t believe it was conceived as a joke
If you put an Aztek and Rendezvous side by side, you kind of understand that the Aztek was actually the ugly sister/brother.
Here’s a better analogy . . . fraternal twins. One is butt ugly, the other is perhaps average looking
jtsanders: The Buick Dealership I worked for in the mid 1970s sold Opels and SAABs. Strike 3 was probably the Buick Skyhawk (Chevrolet Monza)!
My vote for most butt ugly US vehicles: Number one Aztec. First runner up PT cruiser. In 2003 I attended a military school in Reno, NV. Two students were from NY. Their rental car was an Aztec. They were paying less than the crappiest subcompact available because no one would even rent an Aztec!
I personally would give #2 and #3 to the Pacer and the Gremlin.
My dad had a Gremlin. I loved and respected my dad (who passed many years ago) but man, he had terrible taste with that choice.
I always liked the look of the gremlin, at least it looked like it s name. kinda like the Thing.
one of my neighbors, way back when, actually traded in his gremlin for a pacer.
I do miss the days when you could tell what a car was just by looking at it, these days most of them look pretty similar to me.
you could even determine what many of them were by their tail lights at night.
and the police cars by their headlights. there was a time that a lot of the police cars around here would have one headlight out of adjustment to try to disguise them
The Aztek was just trying too hard to be different. All the divisions had access to the GM minivan platform, and it would have been hard for Pontiac to sell something that looked too much like a Chevy or Buick. With the Aztek they decided to throw out the third row of seats and that let them bring the roof down at an angle. Alas, they did it without much grace. Check out the BMW X6 for a more stylish design with similar ambitions. It’s also been panned by the automotive press, though I suspect they wish BMW would stop messing around and get back to sports coupes and sedans.
My brother had a Gremlin and I thought it was not all that ugly; you had to get used to seeing a compact with the end chopped off.
The handling was something else; it was nose heavy and awkward, with very little traction.
Because it used proven components, it was relatively reliable, and he sold it after 10 years to a student for $250.
“they wish BMW would stop messing around and get back to sports coupes and sedans.”
Well said!
In my opinion, the old 635csi from the 80s was a sleek and beautiful coupe. It has timeless good looks . . . I’m talking only about the exterior, mind you . . . and appears to going fast, even when it’s standing still in a parking lot
BMW has fallen very far indeed
Apparently, they aren’t even aware of it
Pontiac had a minivan at the time the Aztek was built, the Montana. The Aztek was marketed as a SUV.
The Montana was not worth bragging about
But it looked average, whereas the Aztek fell off the ugly tree, and hit several branches on the way down
Of the Montana/Venture/Silhouette triplets, I much prefer the Silhouette. Much more comfortable. Even after 11 years and 150,000 miles.
The Aztek was built on a minivan platform that was not exactly well loved by most reviewers, the Bmw X6 is a more stylish but less practical X5 for more money.
They never figured out what to call the Aztek, and it didn’t matter much since it had been declared a monstrosity by almost every publication on the planet right after its introduction. It was built using the same minivan platform as the Montana, and its overall proportions give that away. It only seemed to exist because minivan sales were slow and GM decided to try something different that could be built alongside their minivans. Different it is. I thought that generation of GM minivans (not counting the Aztek) weren’t bad looking, just a bit bland. I’d have taken any of them for looks over the competing Dodge/Chrysler models or the homely Windstar. The first-gen Odyssey was the best looking minivan to me. Not a winner mechanically, but pretty and super comfortable.