People get attached to their vehicles. Despite being essentially inanimate mechanical objects, vehicles often hold a place within the heart of those who travel in them, and can become almost like characters in their own right. Think of all the cool cars and ships and other nifty vehicles in heroic fiction, from James Bond's Aston Martin to the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard, to the starship Enterprise.

You can use this for dramatic effect. When PCs get attached to a vehicle, you can grab them emotionally by having something threaten or even destroy the vehicle, without actually putting them in danger themselves (although the two can be linked if the danger hits while the heroes are in the vehicle). Think of the emotional impact when Kirk was forced to destroy the Enterprise in The Search for Spock. Threaten a beloved vehicle, and you can achieve much the same impact in a game.

Transcript

Lando: Phew, safe at last.
Chewbacca: Afraid not, my dear friend. We are in a position diametrically opposed to said safety.
Leia: I love youse guys.
Chewbacca: There are Imperial ships all over this planet. We won't last five minutes, and the hyperdrive needs an hour to charge.
Lando: I had plenty of good ships! Why did you insist on this hunk o' junk?
Leia: It's the party ship! Paaarty!
Chewbacca: For good and sufficient reasons.
R2-D2: Such as?
Chewbacca: This is the ship of the party.
{the ship flies away from the landing platform}
Leia: Wooooooo!