To those of you who live outside of the US and Canada, cars such as the i10, i20, Megane, 208, Leon, c1, Punto, Gol, UP!, c4 cactus, Panda, Mito, etc etc all must seem like mundane, dreary vehicles. FWD, underpowered outside of maybe a “hot” version, funky styling for the sake of itself, and miniscule dimensions does not seem like the kind of car that should peak one’s curioity.

These small modern cars lack purity of experience you can receive driving their predecessors from 30-40 years ago, or the comedic and alien feeling of stepping into a Japanese Kei car (or chrysler K car). So then, why do I, and many others from the land of large look at modern small cars from across the pond with a welcomed curiosity and in some cases lust for these forbidden normal fruits?

Maybe it’s nostalgia for family trips over seas, being around a Renault Oroch or VW Gol. These tiny little turds as rentals take a serious amount of abuse (Oroch does nice handbrake turns), or maybe it’s the simplicity and lack of weight that captures my attention. It’s easy to have fun when there isn’t any weight to drag around and so little power that you need to consciously make an effort to be dumb.

The first gen C4 cactus has always been a “guilty” pleasure of mine. It weighs nothing, it makes nothing, and it’s styling only makes sense to the French team who drew it at Citroen. However there’s something about that pill shaped, angry pig, clad in bubble wrap that speaks to me in a way that makes me sad it’s not 25 years old ready to eat into my still to manifest disposable income.

And it’s not like we haven’t had small cars in the states before. The Fiesta, Fit, Veloster, and Spark where all sold stateside. And they’ve all either left the states or will by the end of the year. There is not only a lack of small in the states, but a lack of cute and weird that you see outside the country, although the Korean brands have been trying their hardest to fix that in the styling dept.

Consider this an alternative kei car fascination. Everyone fawns over how silly and cute the Autozam or a Beat is, consider this is enjoyment in a similar vain. There’s something interesting about the small tin can cars, but it could even go as far as wanting something we can not have, FOMO as one might say. They’re cute, smaller than our American pigs and can be beat to hell without giving a shit.

So what’s this really all about? These ramblings and complaints don’t really have much impact on the car market. It’s all just a stupid fascination on funky and tiny forbidden fruit.