It is very difficult to convince anyone to like a vehicle they've decided to hate... people make an emotional decision about whether they like a car - and then grasp at random bullshit facts/stats like wheelbase to try to justify their feelings.

It's not even worth having a discussion about with him.... find something else to talk about - like guns or football

ETA - one of these days maybe there will be some occasion where you take him somewhere in your X... I guarantee he'll be like "damn... this is a pretty nice little car after all"