That was my first - "guess". I'm a big guy, and I am used to trucks and SUV's that are roomy. My dad's car is quite comfortable.
Moreover, the kids fit easily in the second row, and the back area is always down to carry stuff.
Actually, usually it's trash bags, since I don't do pick up at the house. My best friend used to drive an Explorer and he used one
of those things you attach to the back to carry trash and stuff.
I drove a 2008 escape for about 5 years - loved that thing until unfortunately the transmission died on me and since I had over 200K miles on it, it wasn't worth replacing. It was the perfect sporty little SUV. Fit all my friends plus our weekend getaway bags but also helped me move from CT to MD. To me it was specious enough (I'm 5'0"). I'm not a fan of the newer Escapes, but I've been inside them and I think only the gadgets and the body style have really changed. It still "felt" the same while driving. It didn't have any special packaging so it was fairly basic but it got me around and was pretty decent on gas (think it was avg 23-25 mpg?) and was even awesome in the CT winters. The newer ones are probably even better but they just look like large cars to me, wasn't a fan.
Just two months ago I traded in my GMC Terrain for a 2014 Explorer. I ####ing love this thing. We originally planned on waiting to get one for another 2 years or so but I had to dump my terrain asap so it happened lol. I would've gone for an Edge or some Jeep but honestly we needed the optional 3rd row seating for future children and my guy is of similar build to you Sam - super tall and large guy 6'4" 275-290lbs. He did NOT fit in my terrain

and I could never see him fitting in much *comfortably* smaller. So we needed the next car to be fit for the whole family even though I drive it around town solo 85% if the time. His Diesel F-350 was too much for the little family trips lol He got to drive a 2016 one last year for about a month, from PAXR to Jacksonville and that's what turned us on to them. He loved it and used to own a GMC Acadia and preferred the Explorer ten-fold.
I could go on and on about my 2014 Explorer Limited. It has everything I ever wanted and then some stuff I haven't even had time to play with. It definitely drives more like a truck but since I prefer SUVs and trucks and only drove small SUVs previously bc of little budgets, I'm not bothered by this at all. I love that I have a hugeee trunk area for god-knows-what and instead of a 2nd and 3rd row bench, I have captains chairs so it actually only sits 6 but that's all I need. His kids are older so we all prefer the chairs vs. bench anyways. I average about 18-20 mpg.