Your statement suggests to me that geography and age plays a big role in this.

No doubt. Fundamentally I think it comes down to two / three things:

• Nostalgia / Memories / personal attachment

That may apply to Fords which played an important part in family life but weren't particularly inspired by themselves. I.e. my first Fiesta, where the Stereo was worth more than the rest of the car and that I have "romantic" stories of breaking down with. Or my cousins Escort XR3i that was used for street racing. Or the 300.000 mile Mondeo I bought when I moved to England, that just wouldn't die.

Those european Fords though, as boring as they may have been on paper, were honestly great fun to drive too. With good handling and driver engagement they were a rather different animal than for example american Fords I had as rental cars.

• Unreliability, combined with redeeming qualities

Basically, a love/hate relationship. Your car has a ton of issues or perhaps even breaks down regularly, but the way it makes you feel makes you put up with it and you still love it. That was true for my Fiesta, that was true for my Alfa 33, and to a slightly lesser extent for my Alfa 156.

That was not true for my VW Polo, my Nissan X-Trail or even my Mustang GT. They too had issues, but those were just annoying. Those cars didn't have redeeming qualities that made you feel special and love them regardless.

But it was true for the LFA, as Clarkson wrote in this column:

We got the LFA, which remains the finest car I've ever driven. Yes, it was riddled with faults and given a price tag that was higher than George Michael, but, my God, to drive, it was sublime.

Just listen to Clarkson (and May) talk about Alfa here https://youtu.be/T830NISwKds?si=siwXtBzIFi0Z_atK&t=48

"In order to be Petrosexual, you must at some point have owned an Alfa Romeo"

and here, where he re-emphasizes that the GTV6 is the car he most regrets selling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25oiw2l-wkE

I completely relate to that and frankly I even think the same - the car I most regret selling is my Alfa. Believe it or not, when I owned it, I once had a pedestrian stop after I park, asking if he could give the car a kiss on the bonnet. He told me he once had one and misses it. He did, and I thought it was funny and a bit weird at the time - I didn't get it back then, but I totally get it now and in hindsight.

And because most Japanese Cars are supposed to be extraordinarily realiable, they're kind of disqualified by default.

Of course there are some hugely exciting Japanese cars out there - but admittedly I simply don't have any first hand experience with Japanese cars that may have soul. I believe the EVOs have, I adore those and the EVO VI was my dream car for a very long time (it somewhat still is). But I never got to drive one. On a smaller scale, I adored the Honda S2000 or perhaps something like the Daihatsu Copen. And on the high end, of course the LFA. But unless I introduce issues trying to modify them, I wouldn't expect them to be riddled with faults. I would think they just work, and that's practical - but a bit boring. That may be true for the vast majority of cars nowadays,

Finally, between nostalgia and modern reliability I too agree that I struggle to see soul in a Golf VII GTI and even doubt about that feeling in a Giulia Q4. The last VW with soul to me was the Scirocco of the 80s, Golf 2 GTI... maybe Golf 3 (GTI/VR6) and Corrado. For Alfa anything post 156 became it bit 'more normal' too. Ultimately I struggle to identify soul in any, reasonably affordable car being sold new today.