The only reason people rip them apart verbally in the first place is because they get a bad name from the people that drive them.
You occasionally see chav's drive them like d*cks around town with thier loud exhausts giving it all that' or they have been radically modified to look like a tractor, hence why people slash them.
If however they were driven with respect and a more older scene of drivers, like 205 GTI's or something im sure they would get a much better name. After all, the Nova does go back along time to be fair, so it's bound to show its age a bit ragged around and treated like crap.
It's not a car for everyone, but it's always fun just to see and experiment with these things regardless of make and model.