Strong correlation effects, which are often associated to the approach to a Mott insulating state, in some cases may be observed even far from half-filling. This typically happens whenever the inter-site Coulomb repulsion induces a tendency towards charge ordering, an effect that confines the electrons, and in turn favors local moment formation, i.e. Mott localization. A distinct intermediate regime then emerges as a precursor of such a Wigner-Mott transition, which is characterized by both charge and spin correlations, displaying large mass enhancements and strong renormalizations of other Fermi liquid parameters. Here we present a careful study of a quarter filled extended Hubbard model - a simple example where such physics can be studied in detail, and discuss its relevance for the understanding of the phenomenology of low-density two dimensional electron gases.