@GinDaddy
"Why has the SUV become the car of choice for almost everyone buying a “family” car?"
Depends what you mean as SUV covers quite a range of vehicles. Most are quite comfortable, feel safe and are safe. DH's beloved and battered 4x4 doesn't have too many safety features but remeber that crash tests are against immovable objects. Would you rather be in a large and higher-up car or a small 2-door in a head-on crash? When you factor in a plethora of air bags etc, there's a clear winner.
We have a Range Rover which we love. It has got us out from tricky situations where not many other vehicles could have (wading depth) and DH collected his mother a couple of years ago in snow - not life and death of course but she'd have been alone on Christmas Day.
It's our second but the first replaced a more practical 5 Series estate partly because similarly luxurious vehicles tend to be awful in anything more than drizzle. Yes, a FWD estate with reasonable tyres will do ok in mud of slippery grass but a torquey RWD car (5 Series, E or S Class) with wide and low profile tyres and you're fucked. Admittedly, this is fairly minor but we got rid of the BMW after it couldn't be held in a straight line in icy conditions at slow walking speed. DH is an excellent driver before that's questioned. He's trained to drive cars with blue lights and sirens etc.
Both our children race dinghies competitively so we needed something that can tow easily and sometimes in slippery fields. We wanted something with good sized luggage space and comfortable for long drives. DH and I both love gadgets and cars.
I'm not sure if it's about fitting in or simply having raving recommendations from people with the same cars or seeing them around and them being in your mind when you're considering your next vehicle.
Of course there are lots of others we could have gone for. We considered an A8 Estate (Quattro), Discovery and a few more but a lot the reasoning for the Range Rover came down to, why not. It's more comfortable than the seats in our lounge and, well, we can and, at the risk of going all Clarksoney, that's what cars are. You fall in love with the right one and it isn't about price. We also have a Hilux Surf. I wouldn't want to drive it from Exeter to the Lakes on a Friday after work but for trips to the beach or bikes on the roof, it's incredible.
Choosing a car is emotive for most people but of course some decisions are easier to defend. I've never met anyone in real life who's done so, but if anyone thought I was a twat because of my car choice, I really would assume they were jealous.