Was it the Aztek that had really rabid fans? It was one of those boxy ones.

Never could figure out if they actually had really good reasons for it or were just trying to justify having bought an Aztek.

You're probably thinking of the Element. There were a lot of reasons it ended up with a rabid fan-base: Honda reliability, available manual transmission, available all-wheel drive. It was overall a really practical vehicle for those who wanted something with a good amount of interior space who didn't care about frills or luxury. Amusingly the Element was targeted at then-millennial young buyers looking for "adventure," but ended up being more popular amongst older people looking for a practical daily driver.

The Aztek had some similar positive properties, but was from one of the particularly bad eras of GM malaise and was highly unreliable. It's had a tiny bit of a cult resurgence recently, but it was never popular in the way the Element was.

I think you're right, it was the Element. People dismissed it as an Aztek but it had some features.

They all pale next to the true King of Vehicles - the Minivan.

If you look at an Aztek today it doesn't stand out as unusual at all.

It feels like the Aztek was ahead of its time and many mid-size SUVs have since caught up with its aesthetic.

The Aztek would have been a cult car if it wasn’t GM. It had the hoseable cabin, the center console was a removable cooler, etc.

But it had all of the stupid GMisms. Every expense was spared. It turned out to be like the malnourished love child of a Nissan Xterra and a Ford Windstar.

I recall a famous child molester was caught due to having an Aztek and the search pool being so small.