Agreed about a lot of SUV drivers. We do have an Explorer, the 19 year old didn’t learn to drive in that vehicle (that was our Taurus and the Tauri that the drivers’ schools seem to favor), but he was anxious to use it. First lesson to him about that was - you have better traction, but you have no better stopping power (momentum is mv and there ain’t no friction or traction variable in that, and “m” is bigger so you better watch your v).
Why do families like ours have SUVs? A number of reasons. They do combine space and AWD/4WD. Only some minivans do that, none worth sniffing at (Grand Caravan yeech back when we bought the truck). Big back for loads, you can practically camp in the vehicle and we have. Those who tow (we planned to, but didn’t get that travel trailer) need them. Consider that for those with one vehicle, as our family was until very recently, that vehicle needs to be capable of all the possible needs.
Now, famillies’ desires for SUVs are less with all the crossovers now available.
There is the SUV macho thing going on, too, where people want to be seen in their SUV’s. It’s like how in Texas, where I grew up, every teenaged boy just had to get a PU. But it’s not the whole story, and, y’know, sometimes everyone but Daddy is thinking minivan, but Daddy won’t go that direction. So SUV it is.