The point I'm making is different - cars give you range and thus leverage in situations where you would otherwise be forced to buy/rent real estate close to the

The point I'm making is different - cars give you range and thus leverage in situations where you would otherwise be forced to buy/rent real estate close to the place you work/shop at and have to compete over it with those who buy it purely for investment purposes. Sure, this is suboptimal and those who opt to live further away and drive everywhere lose time and money but often they're not even eligible for a mortgage within city limits, so they don't have much of a choice anyway.