Our new Santa Fe pulls our camper like a Kenworth, it plows through 3-foot snow drifts like a Sherman tank, and it burns about as much gas on the highway as our old 4-cylinder Altima did. It is also cheap to insure, and after one year of hard use it has yet to generate a single complaint or warranty claim.

How do you argue with that?

A not-so-stripped, 19mpg (real-world) 8 passenger Sienna similar to the one in our garage is $24k. Dual power sliders make loading/discharging the little kids. Bench seat fits 3 kids in the 2nd row, LATCHed if need be. Ours is usually configured as such with the entire cargo bay ready to pile kids stuff into. A smaller minivan is a doable squeeze but then our Mazda5 has little cargo room with 5 on board.

And what happened to minivans sized in between? Dead in the US market, except for the SWB Kia Sedona which is just as thirsty as the LWB varaint.

Many people like the utility of hatchbacks, station wagons and minivans but their ego vetoes them as being “weak” so they purchase a Canyoneo. Cheap gas, strong residuals and incessant marketing all fueled the fire.

Interestingly Toyota just bought back the Camry Wagon (Venza) to the US after after a long hiatus.

@ psarhjinian : Word. Same here. If anything, the one good thing about the current crisis is that we’re seeing people redefine “need” in a more objective way. I don’t have a problem with people “wanting” stuff they don’t “need”, as long as they’re honest about it. That’ll last a few years until the next bubble…

With the money saved, you can rent a truck for the twice a year you actually need one.

The original wagon substitute, the minivan, was deemed too motherly. The next wagon substitute was basically a pickup frame with a boxy wagon body on top. When gas went past $3/gal, these family haulers were suddenly murdering polar bears.

The new flavor is the “crossover” basically jacked-up wagon that tries to look like a truck. There have been lowered versions, like the Flex and Pacifica, but if gas skyrockets too much, eventually people will probably go to the good-old fashioned station wagon, stigmas be damned.

Personally, I can’t wait for that to happen. I’m tired of all the people in Jeeps, Xterras, and any manner of “crossover” pretending they need this monstrosity for their “active lifestyle” of idling in city traffic or have to have the AWD because they live up a hill and it rains sometimes.

No reason to buy one new when you can get one thats 2 years old for 10 grand.

So has just about anything else in this segment. I feel bad for the Venza, launched right into the maw of the recession. Or the Murano, which is dusted by the Rogue in every conceivable way. And then there’s the Kia Borrego, which beats the Flex for the Worst Launch Timing Ever award.

I don’t think Ford is alone in this.

When I think of “cute-ute”, a car based vehicle the size of the RAV-4 or CR-V is what comes to mind.

Agreed. I’d hazard that the RAV barely qualifies as cute. I certainly don’t think about things like the Flex or Traverse.

And then with their newfound sense they go ahead and purchase a vehicle with the same weight, dimensions, ground clearance and aerodynamics but none of the offroad capability.

Well, yes, but at least they get decent ride and handling now. Driving an Explorer and Taurus X (or Highlander and 4Runner) back-to-back makes the crossover’s advantages very apparent.

The problem is over-buying. People bought based on what they might do, versus what they usually do. Rather like buying a huge house to sleep the whole family at Christmas, even though you’re empty-nesters. It’s funny, after years of having people snap at me for daring to tell them what they “need”, that this is coming to the fore. People really need to start thinking about the word “need” and realize that the word they want is “want”.

I don’t see any difference here in Chicago. I still see plenty of SUV’s with new plate tags (more than cars, actually).

My wife the other day said for her new car (hers is a compact car), she wants an new SUV in 2009. I told her I might consider a minivan (we don’t have kids).

In her country, SUV’s are VERY expensive & quite prestigious. Almost nobody can afford them. I think that carries over to her living here. Even if everyone has one, she can show her parents when they come visit.

…which they weren’t using anyways, but now probably rides and handles a hell of a lot better. Priorities, please.

When I think of “cute-ute”, a car based vehicle the size of the RAV-4 or CR-V is what comes to mind.

Many, if not most, of the former SUV buyers were doing the fashionable/trendy thing. Glad to see that one wind down. Now if only the plastic surgeons would go back to helping fire victims ….

And then with their newfound sense they go ahead and purchase a vehicle with the same weight, dimensions, ground clearance and aerodynamics but none of the offroad capability.