Totally get that mate! I've never been a fan of the "SUV" otherwise know as the "Sports Utility Vehicle". Nothing Sporty about any SUV, they're just oversized, cumbersome hulks that have the driving appeal of a driving a milkfloat around in a tumble drier. No feedback through the steering, interiors with less room than like you say an externally smaller saloon car. The only place they have more room inside is headspace, which is uneccessarily large. Wasted space above your head which serves no purpose nor serves any use. All it does is make them overly tall with a high centre of gravity which makes them more unstable handling wise. Interior is small, but exterior is bloated in every direction, meaning they take up more space on the road, are a tight fit in regular parking spaces, are a lot heavier than they need to be. Styling wise, they all look the bloody same with the exceptions of probably two (nissan Juke and Toyota CRH, which both look like each other!)
I've driven the KIA Sportage (again, what the hell is sporty about something with the styling cues of a house brick??) and never driven anything so numb. The likes of Renault, Citroen and Peugeot offerings are againhorrible to look at and horrible to drive. The Audi/VW/BMW offerings look bland and are too expensive, the Porsche, Ferrari and other "prestige" (again, what is prestige about a brick?) versions are stupidly expensive.
The one thing they all have in common is they are cluttering our roads, are asthetically mundane, uneconomical (therefor not environmentally friendly) and drive like the preverbial house brick.
I've never lusted after a Mondeo nor wanted to own one, but i'd sure as hell have one over any SUV any day of the week! RIP Mondeo, son of the Sierra, Grandson of the Cortina....you will be sorely missed!