re: How did we ever get along without them?
We got along without them because large normal cars (like station wagons) were still legal before the original CAFE rules. The two different standards for cars and light trucks (which included minivans, pickups, and SUVs) created a market for the latter when people wanted a bigger car and there weren't any bigger cars any more.
CAFE did not force consumers from large cars to small cars. It forced consumers from large cars to light trucks. People bought the vehicles they wanted to buy, and you're looking at the results.
The first one of this series of short pieces, the piece written by Paul Godek, quantifies some of this. Unfortunately, his original paper costs money to read.