Nissan adopting the CVT and moving away from their “sports car” styling and drivetrains. Nissans used to be seen as fun, sporty, and reliable. But now they have a reputation as brand that sells mostly to rental car lots and will finance just about anybody.

I feel like the Aztek mockery didn’t start until after Pontiac died. The Aztek’s design was quirky when it was new, but it really aged poorly around the 10 year mark.

Technically, the Fusion replaced the Taurus. The Five Hundred essentially replaced the Crown Victoria’s spot in Ford’s full-size lineup (although they still sold the Taurus and Crown Vic to fleets for a few years).

I don’t know why the Cascada was included in this article, considering it was just a rebadged Opel. All GM Had to do was slap on a new badge. If they spent millions engineering a brand-new 2-door convertible for the US market, THEN I could call it a “mistake”.

Acura started going downhill during their “Beak” era. Besides the ridiculous grille, their vehicles all became “Infiniti-ized”, just bloated, blander, more expensive Hondas.

I think the interior looks apt to what would be considered an acceptable luxury interior for a 2015 vehicle. But no later.

Plus, there’s a couple of little pieces of fit and finish that scream “Nissan Rogue” to me - like the cheap-looking armrests on the doors.

I saw a picture of a user on Election Twitter (a subset of mostly college-aged election nerds) who dressed up as Steve Kornacki, along with his signature tie with the number 269-269 printed on it, dubbed an “Electoral College ‘Tie’”

That’s comparing apples to oranges. There was proof of foreign interference in 2016 (and even in 2020). Most of the accusations of widespread fraud this time (such as millions of dead people casting ballots) are so far unsubstantiated, and the courts agree.

It would never sell. Most people in the market for trucks like this would buy a used one anyway.

I believe that the people in those commercials really were that easily-fooled. I drove for Uber a couple of years ago using my GMC Terrain, and you’d be surprised how many people were blown away by how luxurious and “new” my then-6 year old vehicle was.

I recall around 2008-09 when KIA first introduced the short-lived Borrego, they had a magazine ad where they showed pictures of the SUV with the Lexus, Mercedes, Land Rover, and Acura logos photoshopped on to show off how easily-mistaken it was for a big-name Luxury SUV.

This generation of Fusion did look very upscale and European when it first hit the roads around 2012. But it’s been selling unchanged for the past 8 years, so it’s just blended into traffic since then.