QOTD: The Not-cool Cool Car?

Something appeared on social media yesterday that inspired a healthy bit of conversation among the denizens of the TTAC chatroom/lounge.

On the subject of cars that are not actually “cool,” one participant in the chat — we’ll call him “Adam T” (wait, that’s too obvious; maybe “A. Tonge” is better) — posited that a certain rear-drive sports sedan does not deserve the label of “cool.”

Perhaps you agree.

The original post, which prompted a stifled burst of laughter from yours truly, can be found here. Now, Kia deserves an awful lot of credit for keeping passenger cars alive in a market that shuns them like a coughing passenger on a crowded flight.

So many cars in that lineup, and one of them is a tempting rear-drive liftback sedan that can be had with a potent twin-turbo V6. All-wheel drive is available at the buyer’s request. Interesting, no? On the surface, such a car could be called cool.

Our very anonymous chatroom member disagreed, however.

Claiming that the Kia Stinger is not a bad car, this shadowy voice added, “It’s cool until a cool car pulls up.”

True, the Kia Stinger can’t be had with a manual transmission, and, falling under a Korean economy car badge, it certainly doesn’t pack a sporting pedigree. It’s known to be soft in corners, displaying too much body lean for a car of its stated purpose. Yet few reviewers will claim it’s not a solid attempt at a sports sedan, even if it falls just short of the mark.

Painted black, in GT guise, the Stinger cuts a pleasing profile. That said, it looks better before certain German, Italian, Japanese, and maybe even British sport-luxury sedans appear on scene.

You might agree with this take, you might not. But there’s certainly cars out there that, for whatever reason, are not cool, despite supposedly being just that — at least in your mind. What are they?

[Images: © 2018 Chris Tonn/TTAC, Kia Motors]