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RAV 4 is not a big car.

It's bigger than most cars you'd find in most of the world. Where's your threshold for "big"?

Most cars in the US are bigger than most cars you'd find in most of the world.

Exactly, and this is related to the question "What is it with the trend for huge cars?", as this trend has largely been an American one.

It's only 5 cm wider and longer than a Honda Civic. It's higher, of course, since it's a "compact crossover", but not as high as Suzuki Jimny, for example.

I mean, in this context I don't think when the word "big" was used it was referring to the surface area from a bird's eye view.

There's many different ways you could think of something as being "big", but in this context I believe either volume, mass or even drag coefficient is what is most relevant to the thread.

Fiat 500L: Cx ~ 0.36, weight ~ 1300 kg

RAV4: Cx ~ 0.32, weight ~ 1700 kg

Ford F-150: Cx ~ 0.56, weight: 1900-2500 kg

It's a small car for Americans, and a medium-sized car for Europeans.

It's now the size of a 1st and 2nd generation 4Runner.

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