We’re a suburban family of 4 with a Honda Civic and a Mini. For day to day stuff, it’s fine. However, we drive 1000+ mile round trips to visit various grandparents about 4x per year, and during those trips it would be really nice to have a bigger vehicle. If we want to bring the dog with us, we have to rent something more spacious.
I don’t know a single parent without a minivan, an SUV, or both.
Always drove small sport sedans, coupes, and convertibles before kids. Bought a CUV (compact utility vehicle) just before the baby was born. Try fitting a rear facing infant seat in the back of a small car. It doesn’t work well if the person in the front passenger seat is more than 5’2".
Most new parents that we know drive full size sedans, CUVs, or SUVs. Not too many minivans.
We did it with two sedans for a very long time. But it meant that we sometimes had to take two cars. And my parents had a seats seven SUV (in fact, the Pilot that is now ours) to borrow.
The other thing you young singles should know. By the time the kids grow up and you think “yea! I can get a sportscar again!” your knees and back really like climbing up into a car and getting down from a car - you test drive the sports car and then go for the small version of an SUV.
If you keep yourself in good shape, don’t have your kids too old - you might get a few gap years in something that sits low to the ground 
Enjoy that sports car while you can.
I drove a Toyota Camry before I had kids, and still have one. I might consider a minivan if I had a bigger family but the Camry is plenty big enough.
As an older parent (I’m 47, with a toddler and a newborn), my back suffers from all of the demands placed upon it. I have found that it is much easier to lift a kid into a child seat in an SUV than in a sedan, because I don’t have to stoop over. And a coupe is out of the question.
No. We have a very small 4 door sedan and a small SUV. The SUV was inherited after both/all our kids were already living.
I do know a few people who insist that anyone with a single kid requires either a van or a large SUV or 2 SUVs. I think they are nuts. However, the fact that these specific people can’t even afford homes but insist 2 car payments on luxury vehicles are required to be parents probably colors my opinion on the issue.
For some reason my daughter wants a minivan, because the neighbors have one. I couldn’t see me or my wife ever driving one or wanting to own one for any reason.
Preference? Hell, no. My preference is “the smallest I can get away with” and always will be.
At the moment, that turns out to be a whacking great station-wagon. Hate the lumbering hippopotamus, but you can’t fit three kids plus friends into a mini.
Not a preference change, but several needs/ease of travel based changes. My wife and I have always had 2 cars - before kids it was a sportscar and a 2 door coupe; after kid 1 we went to a mid sized, 4-door sedan and a 2 door coupe; after kid 2 we went to two mid size sedans; after kid 3 it was a mid sized sedan and a minivan. Now that all my kids are adults my wife drives a small SUV and I’m back in a sportscar.
Circle of life, as it were.
I’ve always had a mid-sized sedan both a single parent and now married with two kids total. There’s rare times when a larger vehicle may have been handy but the twice a year it would have made a difference isn’t worth going to a minivan or SUV. (edit: I realize you meant “any parent” not “an unmarried parent”, just giving my own family expansion timeline)
Back in the day, we managed just fine with me and my sister in the back seat of a Ford Thunderbird or a Chevy Nova depending on who was driving.
Well, if I knew you, you would be the 1st. 
We had no intention of getting a SUV but we inherited one. I’m buying a hatchback.
Lessee, pre-kids Mazda Rx-7 (hated it, but that’s because it spun out very easily on the roads I was driving), Toyota Supra, which I traded up for a Toyota Supra Turbo.
Post-kids: Og help me, mini-van (Odyssey or Sienna, depending). A few years back I kicked one of the vans loose and got a 330xi. Eventually replaced with an x3. Yes, BMWs almost make up for a true sports car. Almost. Someday I will return to my happiness.
We did get a minivan when Moon Unit (kid #2) was on the way. I’d ridden in one several times the year before and loved the height: I’m tall, and getting into a lower-to-the-ground car is an annoyance in the best of circumstances.
It was especially helpful with the kids, as bending to get them buckled into their car seats was easier with the added height.
And, of course, we did wind up ferrying other kids pretty regularly once the kids started Scouts.
When the minivan was on its last legs, we didn’t need the length as much, but I had been spoiled by the height, so we wound up getting a small SUV.
I swore I’d never get a SUV, but as a parent of one toddler I’m seriously considering a SUV for our next car.
The problem isn’t the kid as much as the car seat, stroller, diaper bag, et cetera. Not only are these things a pain in compact spaces, they don’t leave much space when going to Sam’s Club & such.
Here’s the approach I took. We’ve only got one kid, so 95% of the time the usual small-ish hatchbacks works just fine. However, I’ve pretty much my entire driving life owned a seldom-driven beater pickup truck of some sort. What I ended up doing is selling my old Toyota standard cab (with a very small center seat) that had been doing that job and bought a big quad-cab Dodge truck. So now it does the random hauling and outdoors-y duty my old Toyota did, but if we have to cram a couple of extra kids in for whatever reason it also does mini-van duty too.
Three words. Jogging. Fucking. Stroller.
Two kids. Wife’s car went from 2-door (Cutlass) to 4-door (Olds 88). As time went on, the wife’s vehicle became a minivan for the federally mandated soccer mom duties. After kid-hauling duties declined, she got a compact car and really likes it (Camry).
I continued to drive pickup trucks, since we use them for trailers and hauling. Bought my first in 1975 (International one-ton). These have morphed over the years through F250’s F350’s C/K3500’s Diesels/Gas Super and Crew cabs. I’m now driving a 1500 Ram Quad-Cab, which is the smallest truck I’ve ever owned.
Short version: Her preferences changed, mine never did (although I admit the little half-ton kinda grew on me).
I eventually went from a 2-door car to a 4-door sedan to make it easier to load the kid in the back seat. Otherwise no specific requirements, a car seat and diaper bag were about all I needed with an infant/toddler.
We stuck with sedan’s for most of the kids childhood but once they hit their teenage years and the legs started growing longer than mine we had to move to a minivan for the space.
I would definitely say requirements changed rather than preference though 