Smell is tightly coupled with emotion and memory. I think that leads to things that smell bad being registered positively because of what that smell is associat

Smell is tightly coupled with emotion and memory. I think that leads to things that smell bad being registered positively because of what that smell is associated with. A "new car smell" is a very big, emotional moment for people in the US; especially within the lower/middle-class, where new car purchases are uncommon and infrequent. You see this with food quite often, where those who grew up with certain foods/meals have a positive reaction to the scent of those foods while those who haven't can be very put-off by them.