The 2000s brought quite a few designs in terms of vehicles. Some have been better than others. But one that has undisputedly fared the worst is the Pontiac Aztek. This quasi crossover did not strike any chords with potential buyers in the 2000s. This could partially be due to the fact that this was a time where the automotive market was largely dominated by sedans and more boxy SUVs. The Aztek did not have what it takes to make waves in the market.

Pontiac

Although some significant visual tweaks would have definitely benefited the Aztek, a vehicle such as this would do better in today’s automotive market than a decade or two ago. Crossovers are much more popular now and potential buyers are much more accepting of outlandish crossovers. In today’s age some of these unorthodox vehicles are even some of the best sellers.

Things like this show that a vehicle like the Pontiac Aztek could stand a fighting chance today. Despite all the previous criticism, this is why the Aztek could have a different fate today.

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It Has A Knack For The Outdoors

Via Pinterest

The Aztek was always positioned as an outdoor adventure vehicle. This is shown by certain features offered on it. A special tent was available specifically for the Aztek that attaches to the back so that camping can be a little more accommodating compared to the alternative of a normal tent. Other features such as the center console that also doubled as a removable cooler.

The Aztek does more than offer a few features and call it an outdoor vehicle. Available all wheel drive and a V6 give it the capability and power to back up its adventurous persona. It has plenty of plastic body cladding to give it more of an off road feel. Although this was not necessarily in style at the time, that is not the case today. Entire brands like Subaru base their whole lineup off of an excess of plastic body cladding and slightly more ground clearance. But things like that sell today as we can see from the great success from Subaru lately.

It Gives The Necessary Space And Features That People Want

2001-2005 Pontiac Aztek
Via: Twitter

It is actually mind blowing that this early 2000s Pontiac offered some of the things that it did. Amazingly enough, the Aztek had available heads up display long before the rest of the industry. Other technology that was impressive at the time was offering a DVD player a few years into its production run. Although features like these are more common today, they are still desirable and the Aztek was well ahead of the curve in offering popular features like this.

The Aztek also gave plenty of space for passengers and cargo. We see this get prioritized in today’s market by the sheer amount of crossovers that are offered compared to how many smaller vehicles like sedans are still being offered.

This Pontiac gave a commendable 93.5 cubic feet of cargo space which can be attributed to it being built on GM’s minivan platform. Unfortunately this platform didn’t do the Aztek any favors other than maximizing cargo space. But this number still outshone other competitors at the time like the Honda Passport which only offered a max of 81 cubit feet of space.

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Controversial Design Cues Recycled Today

Pontiac Aztek
Via: Wikimedia Commons

For the Aztek using so many disliked design aspects at the time, a considerable amount of them are found in other modern vehicles today. This doesn’t mean that it was executed well on the Aztek but some notable design cues have found its way to many other popular models today.

The lower rear glass panel resembles the same one found on the back of recent generations of the Toyota Prius. The sloping rear window took longer to catch on but is now synonymous with sporty and couple like SUVs. A drastically sloping roofline can be found on new vehicles like the BMW X6, Porsche Cayenne Coupe and even the Lamborghini Urus.

The Aztek was also a trailblazer in the split headlight design. This has only started to be very common in the past few years but is now in full effect. You can see this type of style used in anything from a Hyundai Palisade to the next generation of the BMW 7 Series.

Overall the Aztek shows that the sum of potentially good features and aspects does not always make a good result. It was the Frankenstein of the auto industry because it had to check too many boxes and please everyone. Unfortunately this made the Aztek a casualty because of automaker bureaucracy. In no way was the Aztek beautiful or even a success. But the least we can do is acknowledge that it had the components to satisfy the wants of car buyers today.