Sometimes people want (or need) to reach places faster and easier, while hauling more stuff. And, yes, there are other options – bikes, motorbikes, horses, etc – that could also reach places faster and haul more stuff … but in many cases, the off-road car can still get there faster than those and/or haul more stuff.

I do agree that most of the time, off-road cars are dumb. But in the rare niche situation that you actually need one, it’s really great at what it does. (And while it’s ridiculous that so many people who don’t need them buy them anyway and thus get less efficient, less practical cars than they really need … it’s still good that the off-road cars exist for the few who actually do need them.)

There’s also a disability aspect to consider. Yes, your legs can reach all sorts of places … but there are other people whose legs are, unfortunately, not so capable. For those people, an off-road car can give them access to more places where they’d otherwise never be able to go.

And then there’s snow. For people living in places with lots of snow, but also too rural to have reliable snow plowing, a vehicle with some decent off-road capability might be the only transportation they can feasibly use for significant portions of the year.