When gas prices went up the popularity of SUVs went down somewhat. I think that it weeded out a lot of the people that just wanted them as status symbols. You still have rock stars driving Escalades but a lot of people found they could get by with something smaller. But a lot of people, including me, found paying for the gasoline less painful than the hassle of something smaller and so I kept driving mine, and in fact replaced it with another SUV when the old one rusted out. So they’re still popular, just less so than at their peak.
We have a Kia and would purchase another in a heartbeat. 
back at ya. Don’t knock the minivan, they are still popular. You have a large family, minivan or suv for you. Minivans are more comfortable, perform just as well (amazed my wife has not accumulated many tickets in hers), and can haul more internally than a typical suv.
Not to tell anyone what they do and don’t need, but places like Home Depot all have a van that you can rent for a very reasonable rate ($19.95 to take your stuff home and bring the van back here), and I can cart most of the stuff I get from hardware stores in my Corolla. When I need some sheets of plywood or something, I rent their van and I don’t have to haul all that extra vehicle around all the time for the couple of times a year I need it.
That’s a shame. It shares a lot with Volvo. A really sweet turbo engine and fun adaptive steering included.
I’ve driven the 2013 Escape-Kuga (extensively.) It puts the current Kuga to shame.
I use my SUV for more than hauling stuff from Home Depot, but out of curiosity what’s it like to rent a vehicle from them. Is it like renting a car at a typical agency where it takes a half hour to go through all the paperwork, tell them you don’t want insurance or a GPS or anything else and go over the car with a fine tooth comb to make sure there’s not a scratch they’ll ding you $30 for. Or do you tell the cashier you need a van and they ring it up and give you a key?
Ford Escape: My personal vehicle is a Jeep Grand Cherokee but I rented a Ford Escape twice on vacation and it’s a nice touring vehicle even it it’s a lot more car than the two of us needed. It has the space, comfort, and height of an SUV but it’s easy to drive and manuver, isn’t underpowered and gas mileage isn’t too horrible. Driving the Overseas Highway it was nice because it was high enough we could see over the Jersey barriers on the bridge. The first time we rented we got a “whatever you have left” deal and they gave us the Escape, the second time I specifically rented one because it turned out to be cheaper than renting a compact car!
at work we have four Escape Hybrids (three of them manager’s company cars and one office pool car) and I can pretty consistently turn 36-38 mpg in it.