[herbstein]

Personally, my family owned a Peugeot 406 Estate when I was a kid/teenager. According to Wikipedia the that is L 4576 mm, W 1760 mm, and H 1396 mm. For comparison, the XC90 is L 4953 mm, W 2008 mm, and H 1776 mm. The 406 has 526 l of trunk space, while the XC90 has 680 l.

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