Well, we bought a nine-passenger 1994 Chevy Caprice Wagon. Unfortunately, those wagons were no longer made after ‘97. Its predecessor, a 1991 Ford Aerostar served us well.
For the large family, vans and minivans are most efficient. Crossovers (e.g. the XUV GMC Acadia, Saturn Outlook, Buick Enclave) are certainly serviceable.
Back in the mid 80s, our family did OK with a Chevy Celebrity wagon with a 4 cyl engine. It wasn’t very sporty but carried the load and got good fuel economy.
For a vacation trip we had to load a carrier on the roof, but that wasn’t a big deal.
My daughter (now with her own family) pointed out that a station wagon based on the new Chevy Malibu would be a pretty nice ride.