We buy vehicles to do things…
We buy vehicles to do things that we rarely do. We buy a minivan because the kids sometimes have friends over. We buy the big SUV because on holiday we want the space (and towing a trailer is so last century). We buy the big 4x4 because we MAY want to go off road... some day, or because we tow a boat occasionally. And then, we take that supersized car, and we spend 95% of the time driving it short distances, and we pay the higher fuel consumption for that behemoth because we convinced ourselves that this is what we need.
Choosing a gas vehicle because you occasionally do long trips, is on that same spectrum. Perhaps unavoidable, but if we are honest with ourselves: We are literally driving around inefficient, expensive, dirty vehicles all year, because of those few times a year that we cannot possible be expected to rent a vehicle, take a different kind of transport, or wait a little while having a meal!