They're very popular in places like Colorado; they were the only 4wd passenger cars for a long time, and the first choice for folks who had to deal with a lot of snowy roads but didn't need a big truck.
I had a Subaru for a few months many years ago. It had something cool I'd never seen before and haven't seen since; they called it hill-hold. It was a kind of limited-slip clutch, so if you were facing uphill at a red light, you wouldn't roll back with the car in gear and the clutch disengaged. So you didn't have to do the heel-toe trick or pop the clutch to avoid rolling back into the idiot who was tailgating. Every car with a manual transmission should have that.
I don't discount the "lifestyle brand" elements of a car purchase; I like the way my car looks. But how it works is a more important consideration.
It's an old idea, actually. A few cars and trucks from the 50's and 60's had them...Studebaker, maybe? Sounds like an extra Studebaker would have offered...
Even though I've read a manual explaining how it worked, I can't recall much, except the name, 'hill hold' is identical. The name does ring the memory bell clearly.