In both of the pics in TFA, the camera is on the ground, so we're looking up at the vehicle. That's kind of an old trick for making any mostly-horizontal object look better. The truly awful angle from which to view an Aztek [really, has no one complained about the spelling of this name?] is from the back.

They actually look worse in person. The first time I saw one of these on the road, my jaw dropped - I just couldn't believe that something this unlovable made it into production. I distinctly remember thinking "GM has gone seriously off the rails". And this is coming from someone that owns a KTM 990A and a Honda Element!

It is quite a bit different than the aesthetics of vehicles that were out at the time. It fits a lot better with current aesthetics with the rise of the crossover than it did a decade ago.

It was ugly, but not ugly enough to be cute. See: Volkswagen Thing[0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_181

Interesting: it looks like a more successful rival to the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_Moke Mini Moke.