My son thinks it’s the Pontiac Aztec and for long time I thought it was the car that looked like a bug-- a Gremlin, I think it was called. But now there’s a new kid on the block and he is hideous. He is called the Scion.
An LJ friend of mine nailed it perfectly-- If you get it in white, it looks like a washing machine on wheels.
Is there a car that can beat this monstrosity in an ugly contest?
There are a few different models of Scion, but you are no doubt thinking of the Scion XB. To me, they look like the feet of the giant Japanese robot Voltron. Very plain, boxy-looking. Strangely enough, they are marketing them heavily to people in their 20s, and they’re catching on in the hip-hop “scene.”
They are truly hideous. I think they look like they’d roll over easily.
I was at the Detroit Auto Show last year, and I must agree that the Scion xB (which is the model that you’re thinking of) is absolutely the least attractive vehicle I’ve ever seen. I mean, jeez, don’t Japanese design students learn how to draw curves anymore?
The Scion xB bears quite a resemblance to the Nissan Cube, a popular car in Japan (though unavailable here), and the Honda Element bears a resemblance as well. Car manufacturers are monkey see, monkey do. The HHR is Chevy’s version of the PT Cruiser, which in turn inspired the Mini and the Mustang by proving retro works.
As far as cars hit with the ugly stick, this has been done to death and I’m sure that someone’s going to pull out that one weird looking European car with the double decker nose, but the Citroen 2CV is, for my money, the ugliest of the ugly.
Now I’m thinking a Scion would look pretty cool with refrigerator magnets on it. Maybe a shopping list, coupons, pictures of the kids…
The XB looks like one of those Post Office delivery vans.
I think the Hummer H2 holds the crown: it’s just so fake, and that compounds the inherent ugly.
All of the above are ugly, but the Scion, Element, and Hummer are just kind of a boxy, unfinished, we-can’t-be-bothered-to-take-the-time-to-design-this ugly.
The Aztek, to me, takes the cake because it’s a carefully crafted ugliness.
I’m probably going to offend a handful of my favorite dopers here who’ve owned one and apologies in advance if that happens but is the Scion actually uglier than a Dodge K-car? I was always wary about passing one too quickly lest I cause some body part fall off.
I rather like the xB. I think it’s hideous, but in such a way that it becomes rather neat. I wouldn’t want to own one, mind you, but I smile when I see them on the road.
I tend to agree with both these statements. The Tupperware Aztek is one of my least favorite cars of all time.
God, I HATE those cars. They look like they belong in a freakin’ cartoon. A badly-drawn one.
We love our Scion. People stop us all the time to ask us about it. It was cheap (I understand they’ve raised the prices a bit now that they’ve become more popular), gets great gas mileage and is comfortable for me (5’2"), my husband (6’3") and our two kids in car seats. It took a while to get used to its appearance, but apparently we’re not the only ones who like it. I counted 4 Scions within a 4-block radiius of our house the other day.
Nah, the carefully handcrafted ugliness award has been passed over to the Subaru Tribeca.
So glad they’re STILL making ugly cars.
I guy I work with has one. We threatened to make two giant pieces of bread out of foam rubber. We want to glue them on the roof to complete the toaster look.
The comment that I read on cartalk.com about the Scion xB was that it looks like a Soviet ice-cream truck. 
THe first time I saw a Scion, my wife and I were just coming out of a movie theater and walking through the parking lot. We had to stop and stare at it, marveling in awe that any car company would have the bravery to build such a breathtakingly ugly car, and that anyone else would actually willingly buy and drive such a vehicle.
In Soviet Russia, ice cream truck you!
The Scion XB and AMC Gremlin are both worthy contenders, but the Aztec takes the prize. The Scion and the Gremlin sort of dare you to like them. They’re butt-ass ugly, and they’re proud of it, dammit.
The Aztec is just a mistake. It’s simply a colossal error in judgement on the part of some marketing exec. or some other higher-up so misguided he takes the pulse of America by grabbing her left knee, thinking he copped a cheap feel.
Oddly, I must admit it bears something of a resemblance to my Prius, which, while not a terribly attractive car, somehow avoids the Aztec’s repellant hideousness. Must have something to do with proportions.