Wow! So many good arguments. I’m late to the discussion so I’ll quickly add my 2 cents (maybe 4 cents):
1. Dharmagirl: I think the “I do it for my kids” argument has little to do with carrying capacity as safety. There are 40,000 road fatalities in the US, and people believe that a big car will offer some protection. In fact the “Millionaire Mind” bestseller by professors Danko and Stanley found that the (smart, self made) millionaires they studied were far more likely to drive large cars than other people.
2. I think that large SUVs look terribly ugly. They are morbidly OBESE cars, take up too much room, disproportionately pollute the air, and are in general the symptom of a sick society obsessed with consumerism and supersize-ism
