Also, due to increased thickness of doors and frames for safety, car interior space has shrunk over the last decades. So you need a bigger car if you want the same amount of interior space for your head/feet/arms/groceries.

And also (if relevant to you), regulations for children's car seats have appeared and increased so that, if you need to carry three kids, you pretty much need an SUV (or minivan) to do it.

Good point. In my crossover my knees are pretty much always rammed into dash and I'm only 6'2". Pretty sure there's no airbags there too.

Streets and garages don't get bigger though, so larger cars are increasingly uncomfortable to drive. I've wanted a Model X for a long time, but it's so much wider than the Model S that it'd take significantly more effort to park in my garage and to maneuver through Vienna's narrow and busy streets.

One good reason to drive SUVs in cities are the bad roads, sometimes worsened by speed bumps by the way.

They should try a 2CV for a short while, then their small car would be just fine... (Fun car but the lack of power can get you in dangerous situations, like when people don't expect you slowing down severely going uphill. Noisy too.)