Yes, we can't park DH's SUV at the garage at the Prudential center, which is where we park when we drive to theatre; always take my car if it's our turn to drive. We just call ahead, if we're not sure of a garage's height, but it is an issue.
Irulan, I got an Audi A4 wagon. I wanted an A3, which is smaller, in fact just about the smallest wagon made, but when I drove the 2, I really didn't like the way it drove, compared to the A4. I did like the way it looked, though. They are re-doing both of these models for 2013 and we got a huge price reduction, as well as a discount because my DH's company does business with them. I also got a very good trade in for my 9 year old BMW.
She Fly, I didn't mean to stereotype you! Another part of not wanting a mini van is that I don't want something bigger. In fact, the A4 is longer than I wanted. I have a very difficult time parallel parking and I do occasionally have to do this when visiting clients. I pray every time before I go to certain places that I won't have to. This is the price I pay for learning to drive and living in the sunbelt where you never have to do this. I did have a Mazda mini van (the worst car I've ever had) and a 4-Runner for quite a few years before the BMW, and I am done with cars of that size. My kids learned to drive on the 4-Runner, which was good, and it took DS to races with all of his gear, but it got terrible gas mileage.