I miss small station wagons. Not SUVs posing as them either…ala Subaru Outback. All of the benefits of a car for efficiency (size, ride height, fuel efficiency) plus the added storage of the rear which generally is more than CUVs. My VW golf wagon has more storage than a CRV for instance. It will be a while before I part with that car!

I'm currently drafting a post for this community that touches on this.

What other options are there for consumers? "Luxury" sedans that need a monthly subscription for heated seats and pickup trucks. There's really no "economy" class of cars in the US market, anymore and CUVs hit just enough checkboxes for the average buyer to put up with the ugly styling.

I agree and I don't know why they're popular. Though, this is an opinion I have for most modern cars. I love the body styles from the 50's, 60's and somewhat from the 70's.

Hum... Ok... It's Crossover Utilitarian Vehicle, at first I thought the C stood for "compact" and was wondering what new abomination the US bred that managed to be newspeak-like named "compact".

So, it's a normal car adapted to look like an SUV... I mean, in what world this could ever lead to anything good?

Strictly based on looks ignores a lot of other aspects of the car. I always appreciated small cars, but a recent injury made climbing in and out of my little car excruciating. A friend gave me a ride in a CUV, and I didn't even clench my jaw getting into it. I'm now entertaining the idea of getting one myself.

As a big and tall guy, I’ve been uncomfortable in most cars my entire life, especially as cars conformed more and more to the average person. The additional headroom of CUV form factor is a huge improvement in comfort. I always preferred cars but my Subaru Forester (CUV) was a revelation that cars could be comfortable and easy to use. Now, if only we could do something with leg room.

For those yelling minivan - nope. They are a visual monstrosity but practical as all hell. However at least the one we had, had horrible leg room. It had more of that upright seating like you see in a truck, that was just uncomfortable plus the only way to fix it is to raise the seat but there wasn’t sufficient headroom for that

When I was a kid, my Dad was able to order station wagons with the seat rails mounted back a little for leg room, but that capability is long gone.

Although I have to say my new Tesla has got it right. I have sufficient headroom and leg room for the first time since my Dad’s station wagon half a century ago. My biggest hesitation for Tesla was how difficult they are to get in but the model Y (the “CUV”) makes a huge difference over the Model 3 and even the S.

OP hasn't seen the Crosstrek.