[xyzelement]

I used to think that way (small car is best) until I had a family. yes in theory you can fit a small family in a sedan but in reality - not being able to fit a suitcase + stroller + kids bike (or whatever) into the trunk at the same time, or having your wife strain her back bending down to strap the toddler into their seat - gets old quickly!

So in practice what happens if that if you have a family and can easily afford an SUV, you get the SUV to alleviate these painpoints,

[hoherd]

If you have a family, a minivan makes so much more sense than an SUV. Minivans have more interior space, more cargo room, auto rear doors that are impossible to bang on the adjacent car, cost less, get better fuel economy, and more.

I live off a dirt road, and if my minivan breaks, I'm not going to buy an SUV, I'm going to buy another minivan, but I will buy an AWD model instead of FWD like my current model.

[pavel_lishin]

I tried so hard to convinced my wife to get a minivan, but alas, we ended up with a Subaru Crosstrek or something like that.

[kalleboo]

We can still lament the death of the the station wagon and minivan, which had a better optimization of size to practicality.

I'm lucky to live somewhere where we still get tiny, cheap, practical cars https://kalleboo.com/linked/suzuki_spacia.jpg

[loloquwowndueo]

Sedan or hatchback are enough for my family - it’s what we use when we need to, I’ve never used an suv or minivan unless I need to haul cargo.

[xyzelement]

Of course, plenty of people do. But you may also have a neighbor who thinks that you having a car at all is excessive because they take public transport and walk and never needed a car.

My point is that any degree of "thing" can be enough if you accept its implications. So for example when you go on your family vacation, you make choices about what to take and what to leave. If your two year old daughter asks last minute if she can bring her scooter (and helmet), the answer might be "sorry honey no room" whereas with a larger car you could say "sure, toss it in." Or the grownup version of that, I tossed in my inflatable paddle-board, paddle, lifejackets and pump as a last minute decision for our last vacation "just in case" we want to get on the water before the kayak rental place opens up (ended up using it.) Again, the paddle-board or scooter are totally non essential - if I had a smaller car I wouldn't even consider bringing them at all and that would be totally fine, but it's nice that I can.

BTW, we got our SUV when our 1st kid was born, it was a larger car than I thought we needed but was still kinda helpful. By now we have 3 kids and the fact that "how are we gonna fit them and their stuff" isn't one of the many things we have to deal with as parents is very nice.

Again, if I couldn't afford it or was very anti-big-car, I'd find a way to make do with a smaller vehicle but it's nice to make the other choice and that's why many many many people do.