So like thousands of other car buyers this year, Ms. Mahoney, 58, settled on a Buick Encore, one of a new type of small S.U.V.s. that offer the size of a compact car with the amenities of the larger sport utilities she used to drive, like the Chevy Blazer, and, most recently, her three-row Buick Enclave.
“This is definitely the smallest vehicle I’ve ever had, but it’s perfect,” said Ms. Mahoney, who lives in Gilbert, Ariz., outside Phoenix. “There’s just enough room to haul groceries around, and now instead of filling up the tank once a week, I’m at the gas station maybe every two weeks.”
Call it the year of the shrinking S.U.V.
Ms. Mahoney and consumers like her are flocking to pint-size S.U.V.s, fueling a boom in vehicles that handle like a car, get the mileage of a midsize sedan, and yet offer the flexible storage and high vantage point many drivers want. It has turned smaller sport utility vehicles into one of the hottest segments of the roaring auto industry.
With automakers poised to sell nearly 17 million vehicles this year in the United States, their best year since 2007, sales of the so-called crossovers — which are built on more comfortable car frames instead of rigid truck ones — are higher than ever. And while sales of the biggest seven-passenger, three-row people haulers remain strong, particularly for General Motors, it is the smaller S.U.V.s that are making a name for themselves.