[fennecfoxy]

My family got a Toyota Granvia. It fit 2 parents, 4 kids, 2 dogs, any strollers backpacks etc that we needed just fine.

Hell, my whole family went around the South Island on holiday in it for a whole month and it was just fine.

Cultural differences I guess. If you're an American you _need_ an SUV, I get it.

[rpdillon]

I guess I'm confused. The Granvia is about 5700 lbs and gets about 20 mpg. The Forrester is about 3600 lbs and gets 28 mpg. Why choose the Granvia?

[fennecfoxy]

NZ has different vehicles available to other countries. This was about 15 years ago or so. And a family of 6 plus several dogs and luggage capability.

I'm sure they could have maybe picked a smaller vehicle as well but economics also come into it - it was a secondhand Japanese import (NZ gets a lot of those, in fact when I was a kid we found yen coins still hidden underneath the seats) so it was gotten on the cheap as well.