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I saw a Mazda RX-8 yesterday and a Kia Cadenza twice on the same street… pretty rare cars on the road.  
Honestly, the Kia Cadenza looks like a beautiful car with a beautiful name. I would guess the Kia brand sort of turned many people down. But most reviews seem to suggest that it’s a pretty good car.
 
I don’t like what they did with the grille for this year.  

 
Prefer the previous one.  

@kleptomage  
It’s a pretty minor appearance as one of Humongous’ fleet. I don’t think it does anything really significant, it just sticks in my mind for being a pastel pink car in a post-apocalyptic world.
 
 
@SeraphimDawn  
And speaking of post-apocalyptic worlds, here’s something from Fallout:  

Check out this 1954 DeSoto Adeventurer II concept.  
 

 
Doesn’t it look like a rocket ship to you?  
Man, people had imagination back then.

@Flying Pancake  
I need to watch The Road Warrior again because I don’t remember that DeSoto.

If Lincoln wishes to attract young buyers. They should really try to make their cars more sportier. But at the same time, retain some of their traditional “classiness”.

@SonGokuMonkey  
Crossovers are cancerous in the automotive industry.
 
Are consumer so braindead these days?

@SonGokuMonkey  
And even more depressing, the next “Eclipse” may be a generic crossover. Here’s hoping Nissan/Renault straightens them out and they can start building Evos again. The STi needs something to keep it on its toes.
 
 
@SeraphimDawn  
Hard to say, their look varied wildly from year to year. If I were to do one, I’d take an ’11-’14 Charger, stick the 1960 grille/bumper on it, delete the bottom part of the side scallops and emphasize the rest with decals or trim pieces, and add on some small, tasteful tailfins tied into the scallops.

What would DeSoto cars look like in today’s design language?

Mitsubishi says they’re gonna stop making their Lancer car this year. It’s a shame, it’s like one of their only good cars.
 
http://www.leftlanenews.com/mitsubishi-lancer-production-ending-this-year-93840.html

@BarryFromMars  
The big difference between Cadillac and Lincoln is that Cadillac makes these two:  

 

 

 
The only other pop culture DeSotos I can think of are this one, from The Road Warrior:  

 
And the ‘53 mentioned in Weird Al’s song, “The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota.” (There deliberately mispronounced as “DeSota” to make it rhyme.)
 
 
The Avanti is a really beautiful car, and one that still looks modern or futuristic even today. (And, modern car designers take note, this is how you style a car that doesn’t need an upper grille.) For a while there it was available on its own after Studebaker went under, but they quit making them in 2007. Maybe they’ll start up again someday; they’d be the perfect candidate for the new replicar law that went into effect recently.

@SeraphimDawn
 
I don’t get it. Both Cadillac and Lincoln seem to me as if they’re in the same line though I’ve not kept up with the latest of them.
 
@Flying Pancake
 
It does look like Lola had a 58 Four Door. Shoe’s looks more like a 59 as you mentioned. According to Wikipedia the 1958 and 1959 models are the rarest by production numbers (432 and 687 respectively) and the 1960 model is the most common with 11,597 manufactured. I wonder if the car’s been commonly used in other pop culture too?
 
Studebaker did make some memorable looking cars. There’s the Avanti model too (1963-1964) which has a considerably large rear window.
 

 

 
It’s not first generation Barracuda levels but again, I like a lot of glass in the rear for great visibility. The Suburban I drive has barn doors and impairs that but I live with it well enough.

@BarryFromMars  
Neat, that looks like an older one, maybe a ’58?  
 

 
And now that you mention it, there was another DeSoto in a comic. Shoe had this one:  
 
And they even specifically called it a ‘59 Firedome. It’s funny, as a kid I always assumed that it was some made up “not-Cadillac” (since every pink car with tailfins must be a Cadillac, right?)
 
@SeraphimDawn  
Yeah, and the same goes for AMC, Studebaker, DeLorean, Cord, Tucker, and a bunch more. There were some neat brands that have fallen by the wayside over time.

@Flying Pancake  
I can say the same for the Lincoln brand. It still has the “old people” aura it is having trouble shedding.  
Maybe it’s those grey tooth grilles.
 
@BarryFromMars
 
@Flying Pancake  
Too bad the DeSoto brand died before most of us were born. Before my mom was born in fact.

@Flying Pancake
 
That second one looks like the grille is an air conditioner or a radio. You know Sam and Max? A Desoto is their flagship car though they had two of them, most of the time they had the hardtop but in the TellTale series it’s a convertible (or maybe they just lost the roof, knowing them)
 
EDIT I see you linked a Sam and Max comic cover above.
 
There’s also a yellow one in the “Lola” by Todd Clark comic strips but I haven’t found an image of it online that I can directly link to the thread. Guess this will have to do if you’d like…
 
http://www.gocomics.com/lola/2017/01/22

@SeraphimDawn  
Why does Buick not sell well? Two words: old people. They’ve been saddled with the image of being “old person cars” for decades, and who wants to look like an old person? I don’t want to, you don’t want to, middle-class professionals don’t want to, heck, even actual people in that age bracket don’t want to. Buick hasn’t done enough yet to shed that image, but maybe the Insignia will help.
 
I’m not 100% on where DeSoto sat, but it’d be great (and super unlikely) to see them return. With a different badge, though. That one’s a terrible logo for a car company.
 
The last two years of DeSotos are some of my favorite cars of the era:  

 

 
They’re just so cartoonish and over the top looking, I can’t help but love them.
 
Also, Sam & Max:  

@Background Pony #00E1
 
That was one odd story.
 
@SeraphimDawn
 
Huh. I wonder about Desoto too. I did see a 1960 Adventurer up close once and it, like many cars of the later 1950s I’m sure, looked like it was ready to go into orbit. The one I saw was in a champagne or goldish color but here’s a red one:
 

 

 
Can’t say it has angry headlights.

@Flying Pancake  
Dodge and Chrysler seriously revere their classic aesthetic design language do they?  
There are time when their cars seem to almost never ditch any design in aesthetic for years. Their 300 look is already over a decade old.
 
Buick cars also seem reasonably priced. Makes me wonder why they aren’t as popular on the road here despite the incentives they are offering to new drivers. It is a pinnacle of what mid-lux brands should be like. Being pretty much the only one… perhaps aside from VW.  
Why did Mercury have to commit brand suicide?
 
I hear DeSoto used to serve a similar role for Chrysler between 1928 and 1960.  
 
Any way they can bring this brand back?
 
Perhaps Chrysler can serve as FCA’s mid-lux brand if it is to survive as a brand down the road.

@SeraphimDawn  
Well, depending on how you define “mid-sized” and “sport,” there’s the WRX/STi, the Fusion Sport, the ATS-V, the Stinger GT, a couple Mercedes-AMGs, maybe the Regal, the Q50, the TLX, the GS, the XF, the S60 Polestar, and that Alfa that I can neither spell nor pronounce.
 
 
@SeraphimDawn  
I see a good number of those too, but the second generation is loads better:  
 
They got an additional 30hp out of the 5.7 compared to the first generation, and just generally improved it all around. Plus, it kind of reminds me of a 1960 Chrysler:  

 
Also, fun fact: see the wheels on this one? That’s an easy way to spot an AWD Charger. They have to have a different offset than the RWD version, so the wheels are unique to it. The steel wheels used on the Pursuit AWD are also kind of odd, they’re sort of flatter looking than normal ones.
 
 
That is a surprisingly appealing Buick. They’ve been sort of lumpy and nondescript recently, but that new grille and headlights really works. Now, about that turbo manual AWD wagon….

@SeraphimDawn
 
The Tale of the Dale
 
This was like a Kickstarter scam before Kickstarter was even a thing! Before the internet. And by a person who happened to be trans.

@Flying Pancake  
I see a bit of those old Chargers you speak of.  

 
Next to Chevy Impala and Chrysler 300, they’re the most common large sedans on the road.  
Chrysler 300s are really popular here.
 

 
 
@Flying Pancake  
Speaking of Buick. I dig their makeover for this year. Especially what they did with the grille by making it more slender and putting that thin horizontal bar in the middle. Much better looking than their previous year that made it look like it has a swollen nose.  
 
This generation of Lacrosse are rare. I don’t see them much on the road. If I do, I most likely mistake them for the midsize Regal(Which I think needs a makeover as well). Most Buick owners drive Encore and Envision crossovers, with a few Regals and Veranos.
 
The only Lacrosse I find on the road are old ones from the 2000s. Named “Allure” in Canada. Fun Fact: The LaCrosse was originally sold as Buick Allure in Canada, as “crosse” is a vulgar word that can mean either “rip off” or “masturbation”, depending on the context in Quebec French slang. source  
 
If they were going for the “elegant” appearance, they failed. It looks like something made for tasteless third world dictators.
 
And the LeSabre in the early 2000s.  

 
I miss the Roadmasters.  
 
Do see them a few times on the road.

Is there such thing as a midsize AWD sports sedan anymore?  
I know the BMW 5 series, and the Audi A6, but other than those. They’re pretty much all gone.
 
There used to be a Mazdaspeed 6.

@kleptomage  
Yep, and so does the GTI (VW claims it’s the real engine sound piped through a speaker, but even if it is I’d still call that fake.) They call it the “Soundaktor,” and based on search results, VW enthusiasts usually unplug it. No idea why VW did that, they’d get the same effect with no one complaining if they just did the Toyobaru thing and put a pipe through the firewall. Then they could put a valve on it if they wanted a quieter drive mode.
 
I’ve never actually used a parking brake for anything other than parking either, but I figure if you’re building a car for enthusiasts, you ought to use the type that you can have some fun with.

@Flying Pancake  
The Golf R has fake engine noise? That would be a deal breaker if I couldn’t disable it. I could not stand knowing the sound is fake every time I step on the gas. The Ford Fusion Sport does that crap too and it’s just as much a turnoff in that car. It’s totally unnecessary. All they have to do is have less sound dampening around the engine so you can hear it.
 
I’ve actually never needed to use a parking brake so I don’t care if it’s electronic or mechanical or in the center console or behind the steering wheel.

@kleptomage  
Oh, right, I’d forgotten about the Buick. Here’s hoping it turns out well. And yeah, the Golf R’s more than a little spendy. It’s too bad they don’t sell a stripped down “enthusiast-spec” version; ditch any luxury features (especially that stupid fake engine sound), just sell a basic car with the high power engine and AWD. And a mechanical parking brake, while we’re at it.

@Flying Pancake  
Not much chance of finding one of those Chargers around my area and if I did find one it would be a former police car that’s been beat to hell. I’d prefer to get a new car but lightly used is ok.
 
The Golf R is nice even if its style is somewhat bland. The biggest problem with the Golf R is that it’s about $10,000 more than a GTI.
 
Depending on how the Stinger GT is priced it may be my next car. I’m also waiting to see how Buick sells the Opel Insignia wagon in the US.