Does a wagon count as a small car? Because I fucking love my wagon. It's always convenient to carry a bunch of shit and I have a roof rack for bigger loads. 6 speed automatic gets 30mpg on the highway.
But yeah. Even our station wagons and hatchbacks are closer to "small SUVs" these days. Some of that is marketing and some is just reality.
I drove sedans for over a decade and increasingly grew uncomfortable with tires and axles literally at my eye level. These days I drive a Subaru Crosstrek which is a "crossover SUV" but is actually, literally, a hatchback imprezza on a lift kit (which is more like a normal suspension because the imprezza is a lowrider for some reason). I feel considerably higher up than my old Camry and now I just have bumpers at my window level.
But when I see people in those tiny efficiency vehicles or small sedans? Those mother fuckers aren't going to survive a collision with the ever increasing number of giant dick compensating pickup trucks on the road. I don't care how good your airbags are. When you are up against a monster truck, you are getting crushed.
I still refuse to buy a "real" SUV. But there is zero chance I go below the "crossover SUV"/"raised hatchback" ever again in this country. Rented a car on business a few weeks back and... traffic was a lot more anxiety inducing than it usually is.