Downsizing can be about as much fun as leaving your shoes on the side of the road to lighten your load.

It sure makes life’s jagged little rocks a lot sharper, Hopalong.

Besides, we’re a nation of extravagants who used to love 10,000-square-foot homes, 2-foot-high hair and dual four-barrel carburetors.

No more, I guess. The gray-bloods in Washington say we need to consume less energy, eat fewer calories, live in smaller houses and drive cars that get 50 miles per gallon — and they have fostered a wheezing, uneven economy to ensure that we walk those hard new lines.

Whoopee. Pass me that tin plate of cold beans, please.

But, hey, here’s the good news: Your palm-size package this Christmas just might contain keys to one of the growing number of much-improved subcompact cars, like the 2012 Kia Rio.

And that really is significant. Not long ago, most subcompacts seemed to be stamped from old soup cans and powered by Third World tractor motors. (Remember the Chevrolet Aveo and the Toyota Echo?)

Now, though, dramatically higher federal fuel-economy requirements are scrambling the old automotive order.

Some of the development dollars previously spent on full- and midsize sedans are trickling down to compacts and subcompacts — quite possibly the mainstream cars of the near future.

I’m pretty sure you’re modern enough to get used to small nights out and little surprises. I’m not so certain about me.

It’s not beautiful, but at least the Rio no longer looks like an industrial device designed in Yugoslavia for ice rinks. I would describe it as appealing.

Big, swept-back headlamps complemented a short, sloping hood on my red Rio EX. As with all Kias now, the Rio grins kind of crookedly through its so-called tiger-nose grille.

Although small, the car rides on a relatively long wheelbase with short overhangs front and rear, providing room for big doors and good interior space.

Its slab sides are relieved some by an interesting character line that curves beneath the door handles before nose-diving rakishly for the rocker panel behind the front wheel.

Unfortunately, the four-door hatchback I had was a midlevel Rio with 185/65 tires on small 15-inch alloy wheels. If you opt for the 17-inch wheel package, the car looks vastly better — though no matter which options you select, you still get the pleasure of driving a hatch whose name sounds like a Brazilian stripper. Can Honda or Toyota claim that?

My Rio had a tan cloth interior that felt nicely finished. With its large, sloping windshield, the Rio is saddled with a big, flat dashboard that thankfully is saved by decent plastic.

Moreover, as the dash wraps down into the instrument-panel area, it becomes tan plastic that matches the pleated seats, stitched in white.

As you would expect in a car with a window sticker of $18,345, the Rio offers plenty of hard black-plastic surfaces inside — such as the center stack and console.

But the black plastic door panels, for example, feature tan plastic inserts, and the back seat provides enough space for two real adults.

The point is the Rio feels like good value, and Kia backs that with a 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty.

Even better, it’s a pretty nice scooter.

Like its cousin, the Hyundai Accent, the Rio gets a direct-injected 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine with 138 horsepower.

It spins the front wheels through a slick six-speed automatic. At about 2,400 pounds, the Rio is light enough to feel lively with this powertrain stuffed under its truncated hood.

Though a little soft down low, the Rio acquits itself nicely above 2,500 rpm, pulling happily to its 6,500 red line.

It’s still kind of slow, running to 60 in a very average 8.9 seconds, according to Motor Trend. But the motor is smooth and fairly refined, and the six-speed automatic clicks off tight shifts that give the Rio the feel of a bigger, quicker, more expensive vehicle.

If you trust Big Oil as much as I do — and what’s not to like about profiteering multinational corporations? — you have to figure that the low gas prices today are just a respite.

With the Rio’s rating of 30 miles per gallon city and 40 on the highway, you can spend less time worrying about volatile gas prices and more on saving polar bears or something.

Toss the Rio into corners, and its runt Kumho tires will squeal like kids at recess. But it turns in pretty crisply, and its body motions are well-controlled for an econobox — thanks partly to standard stability control.

The ride, while firm and a bit springy over bumps, is smoother than my Mustang.

You won’t find much to like about the Rio’s steering, however — an irritation I’ve found in other Kias as well.

Light and overly boosted at low speeds, the steering gets weirdly thicker at speed, losing a lot of its road feel. While quick, it rarely seems natural.

Perhaps now that Kia has largely conquered styling, it can attack the mysteries of variable-ratio steering boxes.

Still, the Kia Rio joins other highly credible subcompacts such as the Chevy Cruze, Ford Fiesta, Honda Fit and Hyundai Accent.

But you really have to wonder: How high must gas prices go before our nation of pickup-truck drivers and SUVers agrees to slide down this far — no matter how soft the landing?

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2012 KIA RIO FIVE-DOOR EX

—Type of vehicle: Front-wheel-drive, five-passenger, four-door subcompact (four doors and a hatchback)

—Base price, excluding destination charge: $13,400

—Price as tested: $18,345

—Fuel economy: 30 miles per gallon city, 40 highway

—Weight: 2,410 pounds

—Engine: 1.6-liter four-cylinder with 138 horsepower and 123 pound-feet of torque

—Transmission: Six-speed automatic

—Performance: 0 to 60 mph in 8.9 seconds

—Safety rating: Unrated

SOURCES: Kia Motors America; Edmunds.com; Motor Trend