I'm asking a bit of a weird question. Of course, power means a lot more than toughness for most players, which makes the Crew mechanic a bit weird since it's asking for something that everyone already wants. But, it does prevent some swingy situations from occurring.

However, I find that if Crew required toughness instead of power, it would make a lot more sense. Racecar drivers aren't going to be fragile weaklings that die every time they make a turn faster than 100 km/h, nor would they be able to kill someone with their bare hands. They would most likely have higher toughness than power in MtG.

I don't know, I wasn't playing much when they introduced vehicles, but it would have been cool to give toughness something useful to do other than soak up a Pyroclasm.

I'm guessing its there to make the effects of a Vehicle more consistent and predictable. If a Vehicle has 5 power and crew 3, that means it has the potential of adding 2 more damage to your attack. If it was based on toughness, it would instead be anything from 0 to 5.

It's a very abstract, gameplay-driven mechanic, so a flavor-based argument doesn't have much weight.

encouraging high toughness is an archetype makes the archetype naturally slower, which isn't what crew wants to be, I think.

I think the vehicle gimmick is too consistent for its own good. It feels like a choice between running Trumpet Blast and Fleetwheel Cruiser, in which you'd normally pick the group buff instead.

If it cared about toughness instead, then obviously the cost of the vehicle would go down being that it forces players to use something gimmicky and with obvious Timmy style, but gives an even greater reward for those that do follow the card's plan: play creatures that you'd normally never play in order to get a fatty into the field to cause damage.

It would be weird though to have Donald Trump's Wall to suddenly drive an Irontread Crusher to get to 7/11, but that same wall can drive a Renegade Freighter.

it would make walls / ancient crabs too good.

It is also about the play philosophy they are promoting these last few sets. Limited is all about board presence and attacking, which means creatures have more power than toughness, or square stats. Remeber how odd the Dune Beetle seemed when we saw the first AKH previews? SO this makes for sets where it's easier to get high power than high toughness.

And I agree very much with what Adeyke said. It makes it more predictable in terms of power level.