I had a 2015 Nissan Frontier a with a tow capacity of about 6500 lbs. Bought a hitch receiver and towing wiring...and never installed it. Never towed a damned thing with that truck, even though I had it in my brain that surely I would at some point.
Well some people do. I did for about 3 years, 4+ times a week (work and hobbies) but those are all gone now so looking to trade it in.
Not defending the absurd legislation that makes these keep getting bigger but there are a legit few people who actually regularly make full use of everything a full size offers.
I like the motto of optimizing for the things I do more frequently, not for the edge cases. It's up to you to decide where that line is. But maybe if the need for something larger is rare enough, you can find another option like renting something. I know renting is a pain, but if it's rare you don't have to do it all that much.
I live in a blue collar neighborhood. Big trucks owned by tradesmen/women everywhere. They absolutely use them frequently for what they’re capable of. Some of them have a second cars for groceries etc. but I’m glad there are not two cars for every truck because parking would be a bitch, and wouldn’t save much gas. If they were to rent for the “rare trip,” it would be the grocery store. No one is gonna rent for a grocery store trip when they can just happily drive their truck. The store is closer than the rental agency.
My dad's VW Touareg could tow like 7700 lbs, which is more than a lot of trucks and easily enough to pull plenty of boats and campers. Even a compact SUV that can tow 3500 lbs can pull some boats and campers as long as people don't buy giant oversized versions of those, too.
Have you ever towed anything? Towing a trailer of that size and weight with a car like that, even if legal, is sketchy as fuck. Especially on hills or mountains. Where I am from its legal to take that picture, it’s not legal to get on the road. For good reason. A capable truck is much safer for that purpose, for everyone.
Doing that in the states would be illegal. Our payload and towing capacity are calculated differently which vastly drops the ammount you are legally allowed to carry. For example a jeep wrangler in Europe has a towing capacity of 5000Lb (2300Kg) but the same exact jeep in the states can only tow 3500Lb (1600kg)
Speeds are a per state basis however a good chunk of them do in fact have separate speed limits for vehicles with trailers. For example, California limits vehicles with three or more axles to 55 MPH (88kph).