Cars can and do vary… as well as the owners… 
I had a Mini 1275GT for three or four years… did the job, got me there and back safely and swiftly, day after day…
It had to go when I suffered a knee injury (not car related) and could no longer manage the clutch pedal…
an automatic car solved my problem.
Mine too, but much later, from Berlingo to Partner. (Not much romance in those 2 names either 
)
mind you, my knee mended eventually and I went back to using the gears on our Peugeot 406… trusty workhorse betwixt France and UK…
With opening bonnet and doors I see.
Puzzled by that remark John, but you do remind me of the revolutionary Triumph Herald which had the best ever access to the engine. The whole front end, lights and all, tilted all the way forward. I was a Daily Herald reader at the time and, as you might expect, they made a very big thing about it. 
OH tried to teach me to drive in his beloved Triumph Herald… that very first lesson ended with me in tears and him carefully checking his (dratted) car to see if I’d done any damage…
I suppose if I had, in fact, damaged the wretched thing… we might never have gone on a second date… and the future (for both of us) would have turned out very differently…
For a short time, many moons ago, we had a Ford Granada company car inherited from a former sales rep. We christened it The Slug. Slug by name, sluggish by nature.
Not in my experience, a white Granada Mk 2 with a brown vinyl roof and auto box was one of my all time favourites. My young son would stand on the coffre (can’t think of the English word ) between the front seats with head to waist out of the hatch lording it down the high street like the qu…err king. 
Elfin safety? What’s that? 
I liked the Sweeney Ford Granada, my friend’s husband had a bright red one, looked the bees knees unlike the next version as driven by George Cowley in the Professionals.
No va = doesn’t go
It is the marketing people, but not because they’re having a laugh, but trademarks. The easiest way to get a trademark past the finish line is for it to be a word that doesn’t exist. Sure they can make up a load of gubbins that it’s inspired by the Greek god Qashqaius and Quash in japanese means “exceptional value” or some old nonsense as they try and do at times with these made up names, but in a world where intellectual property rules the day they often feel they need to own every aspect of their product and making sure no one anywhere on earth can stick the name Qashqai on another car product, t shirt, coffee mug, hoodie, hot dog, widget, house, or anything else, is seen as a vital part of protecting and increasing brand value. It’s sad as we end up with this weird alphabet salad, rather some of the truly iconic names mentioned but it’s how things are these days.
I did enjoy Citroen reviving the Ami name for their little electric though, like the iconic Beetle by VW, I think friend perfectly describes that little “car”, a very smart marketing move.
Pilamarketingbollocks. But there’s an Iranian tribe called the Qashghai or Qashqai whose textiles are v popular and called Qashqai or Qashqai though. (Pronounced cash gâ ee)
Oh, I see.
Sadly 
Personally, I’ve always called it the Cash Cow. 
Fire up the Quattro?
My first car, a Mini. Loved it!
I’m with David on the mini, hated them, I much preferred the Hillman imp, my favourite at the time was the Sunbeam Rapier H120.
Mine too, 998cc cooper.
At a car show a few years ago… I spent a while, arguing with a Frenchman (in friendly fashion).
He was insisting that the car in front of us was NOT a Sunbeam Rapier… seems he’d had one in his youth…
His French was fast and furious… mine was slower but just as insistent
and I suddenly realised he was seeing in his mind the “fastback” H120 and in front of us was the Sunbeam Rapier Series V…
