2020 has been a rough year for most of us, but Christmas is just around the corner and it's time to get into the holiday spirit. There's lots of things to do this time of year to brighten up and leave an almost fully quarantined 2020 behind, but I bet a cute, cheerful car would also put a big smile on your face.

I recently saw a nicely restored, brightly colored Volkswagen van and it got me thinking: what would be the 10 most cheerful vehicles that would get people into the holiday spirit? Well, this is my selection. Name your favorite in the comments section and let me know which car I should have included on this list.

Fiat 500

Just like the scent of cinnamon, there's something Christmassy about the sight of a Fiat 500. It's probably because it's one the cutest cars every built, which applies to both the original car and the modern iteration of the Italian city car. Of course, it's even better if the 500 is painted in the Brillante Red that Fiat used to offer in the U.S. Discontinued in 2019, the modern 500 has been on the road since 2007 as one of the most cheerful cars around. Sadly, its all-electric replacement looks a bit grumpy. The kind of car that the Grinch would drive.

Read our full review on the Fiat 500

Volkswagen Beetle

The Beetle is yet another icon that has been around in the old days and then resurfaced as a modern car. Unless you see it in black and white Nazi Germany memorabilia, the old Beetle is as cute as a... well... bug. I can definitely see Santa driving around at low speed (the old Beetle isn't that fast anyway) smiling and waving at people on Christmas Eve. But hey, the modern Beetle is just as cute if you're okay with the chunky body. The New Beetle was also discontinued in 2019, but you can still see plenty of them on the road in as many colors as a you can find in a bag of Skittles. Candy and a Beetle is everything you should want for Christmas.

Read our full review on the Volkswagen Beetle

Volkswagen Microbus

Well of course we can't include a Beetle on this list and leave the iconic Microbus aside. This thing is basically a Beetle with a van body and the first generation is just as cute with those bug eyes and the V-shaped front fascia. It's an overweight bug, but it's still a bug. And the Microbus is that much more fun with all the extra room inside. With a little bit of patience you can have a Christmas dinner in there or take all your friends out for a meal and a few drinks. There's even a camper version if you like spending Christmas outdoors in the snow. The slightly boxier second-generation van is just as cheerful and it's Santa's best choice for deliveries as far as cargo room goes.

Read our full review on the Volkswagen Microbus

Austin Healey Sprite

When it comes to automotive cuteness, nothing beats the Austin-Healey Sprite. This British roadster was designed with two bug-eyed headlamps mounted on the front hood and a smiling grille that stretches over almost the entire width of the front fascia. It's the perfect roadster to haul a Christmas tree and spread cheers and laughs in the neighborhood. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Donald Healey designed this car on Christmas Eve before he put it into production in 1958.

If you're not very familiar with this European cutie, it was derived from the mundane Austin A35 and Morris Minor 1000 and featured a tiny 0.9-liter four-cylinder under the hood. It was good for only 43 horsepower, but the Sprite was also very light at 1,477 pounds. Although the bug-eyed first-gen model wasn't sold in the U.S., the Sprite was raced in North America and won its class in the 1959 12 Hours of Sebring.

Mazda MX-5

The NC-generation Miata is yet another cheerful car that deserves a place on this list. It's also a lot more popular in the U.S., so you're bound to see one this Christmas. The third-gen MX-5 was built from 2005 to 2015 and powered by the usual small-displacement four-cylinder engines. The really smiling version came in 2008 when Mazda updated the front fascia. Christmas or not, this car will put a smile on your face because it's a lightweight, fun-to-drive little car.

Read our full review on the Mazda MX-5

Nissan Figaro

We're back to candy again with the Nissan Figaro. Don't worry if you haven't heard about this car before, it was produced for a very limited time and in very small numbers. Part of a four-car lineup that adapted "design and marketing strategies from other industries like personal electronics," the Figaro was produced in 1991 in just 20,073 units. It was based on the Nissan Micra and featured retro styling that hearkened back to the 1960s. Only 147 inches long and tipping the scales at just 1,800 pounds, the Figaro featured a turbocharged, 1.0-liter four-cylinder engine generating 75 horsepower. If it wouldn't be so rare, we'd be having decorated Figaros parked next to outdoor Christmas trees all over the U.S. It's that cute!

Daihatsu Opti

I don't know what goes around in Japan, but they seem like very cheerful and Christmassy people based on the cars they drive and design. Just like the Figaro, the Daihatsu Opti is a small kei car with a bug-eyed front end and a big smile to drive around. The Opti Classic model is particularly cheerful thanks to its triangular grille, a feature that Daihatsu retained for the second-generation model too. This tiny city car was built from 1992 to 2002 over two generations and fitted mostly with three-cylinder engines. It wasn't fast and it wasn't fancy, but it will put a smile on your face this Christmas.

Daihatsu Copen

Oh look, it's another Daihatsu. This is probably our first car list that includes more than one vehicle from this brand, but hey, it's Christmas and the Japanese know how to build cheerful looking cars. The Copen is a bit more famous than the Opti, mostly because it's still in production as a fun-to-drive roadster. It's one of those cool cars we can't buy in the U.S. The second-generation looks pretty sporty actually, but the first iteration of the car had a more Japan-specific kei car look. Not only it features round headlamps and a big smiling grille up front, but it boasts a matching rear end, where the grille is replaced by the license plate recess. Some would say that it's a shrunken Audi TT, but it's definitely the cutest of the two. I'm not sure Santa would fit into a Copen, but he'd definitely drive a bright red one.

Geely Panda

Granted, a panda isn't the first animal you think about when it comes to Christmas, but a car designed to look like a reindeer would be weird, wouldn't it? Panda bears are cute and Geely actually managed to transfer that look into a small hatchback that it produced from 2008 to 2016. Sure, that front grille isn't a smile as much as it is the shape of a surprised, open mouth, but we see that a lot during Christmas when kids open their presents. Put a bow on it and call it a day, your neighbors will have a good time walking by.

Honda e

The Honda e isn't exactly smiling and it's not an overly cheerful car either, but it's cute and it's proof that automakers can still build cars like that in 2020. Since it's all-electric, we're also adding it to the list as a symbol of better, more cheerful times to come with less air pollution and more conscious people. Christmas is the season of giving, so what's more cheerful than giving each other cleaner air to breathe?

Read our full review on the Honda e