found from a link from metafilter

[symbioidlj]

This is about a BMW designer, and how some people don't like his work. But I found this little nugget inside the article, which I think, generally sums it up about SUV owners, really:

"It translated well in image form, but its massing was too large. This massing suggests a superiority of the car over the owner. It is the same problem with many SUVs. The driver in a SUV is diminished, and there is an implied vulnerability about the driver--that somehow they NEED protection from the outside world. It is problematic to put the driver in a position where he or she does not feel at one with a car but dominated by it."

Comments

[thaumaturge.livejournal.com]

Well, the driver IS vulnerable. At highway speeds, the driver's nothing but a scrap of flesh that can be destroyed quite easily. Steel and concrete aren't too friendly to the body on impact.

But a vehicle CAN be too big, and that's what they mean. It's an interesting problem... I can see how some people might feel inimidated being behind the wheel in something so massive. Though I don't think the idea of vulnerability is really important. I think it's more about responsiveness, the mechanisms by which one does feel 'at one' with a car.