I like cars for their "evo" ness. How a car looks is only part of it. Handling, feel, comfort, enjoyment, speed are other things a look at too off the top of my head.
I'm the same driver now as i was when i had the scooby, if anything alittle more experienced. I wouldn't say my attitude to driving has changed much since owning one two years ago.
These cars are built by enthusiasts with technical knowhow. Just because they don't have a CAD designer who knows what looks good doesn't mean its a bad car. I agree that they do have a bad image but thats mainly because of how well they perform and how easily people can modify them to to compete with much more expensive exotica.
Just look at th Fiat Panda 100bhp. It aint exactly a looker but it tops the supermini list in EVO magazine.