I was nodding along until I read that they deflate XC90s. To me, that is a completely reasonable car if you have 3 children. I know people who buy Range Rovers just to drive to work, but not XC90s.
With the 406 we did yearly trips to Southern Europe (from Denmark) with 5 people and gear for 2 weeks of vacation. IME people REALLY overestimate how much space they actually need. Hell, a colleague of mine has two kids in strollers. They're leasing a V60. She thinks the car is way too big, and she's looking forward to get a smaller car when their contract runs out.
The plural of anecdote isn't data, but I firmly believe people use the space to justify
I have 2 kids and when we go for a trip the my Citroen c4 is full. Would I have one more kid it’s no way we can fit into this car, despite it has 5 seats.
Should we stop thinking about road trips and consider only plane/train/bus? Or should we consider only van/caravan?
I support the argument that unnecessary consumption should be penalised somehow, but I do not support blanket type rules that may discriminate absolutely reasonable people, like those with more than 2 kids.
Big cars in a city have negative consequences for others. This is not only about enviromentalism, but increasing walkability, liveability and bike-ability in dense city environments. In my last city (Tübingen), you have to buy a "parking pass" as a resident to park in the neighbourhood. They recently greatly increased the price for an SUV, which I think is a good idea.
VW sharan length is 4854mm and width is 1904mm
Therefore the difference in sizes is probably less than your palm. These cars are equally reasonable, it’s just a matter of personal preferences I think.
Any mid-sized or larger station wagon. From experience, even riding along in a recent Skoda Superb is quite fun. There is also an enormous amount of space in the trunk, which most SUVs don't have.
And outside of the ability to have a third row of seats the xc90s compared to the v90 are just more expensive with less trunk space and less fuel efficient ...
Booster seat laws alone necessitate larger vehicles.
I have two kids and regularly pack our Honda CRV beyond the point that is possible with our Civic. The stroller alone is big, way bigger than the umbrella one from when I was a kid. The Civic seats with my two large booster seats which I'm legally required to use until the kids are like 8-10, can only fit 4 people despite two people being very small, and the CRV allows my to put my seat the way I like in most situations rather than having less leg room (6'3").
The civic gets about 10% better economy than the CRV and I don't think I'd