there are many reasons to not own a car but if you can afford it then having a car is always better than not having a car. i bought my first car in my mid-30s.

there are many reasons to not own a car but if you can afford it then having a car is always better than not having a car. i bought my first car in my mid-30s. if you'd have asked me a year earlier i'd have assured you that i don't need a car and don't intend to own one ever. if i needed one i'd just rent it. but taking an hour long trip to the airport or somewhere else for the rental station got old after a while. especially the stress of having to be back at a certain time. planning traffic issues into the schedule. because overrunning the rented duration can come with disproportional cost. then came corona, the lockdowns, restricted public transportation and i started to crave for easy access to nature while at the same time living in the city. and i don't mean crowded parks. actual forests where you are alone. away from cars. you might say i got a car because i hate cars and i still do. but a car provides me with a freedom that now seems so obvious that people who claim they don't want a car seem almost brainwashed. especially because nobody says that having car means you have to use it all the time. i'd still prefer to go to work either by public transportation or by bike or even by foot. my car is standing somewhere about 5 days a week. but those 2 days i need the car or my options are limited. as a matter of fact i bought a car because i prefer the bicycle. at first i was taking the train for more remote bike tours. but taking the train with a bike in germany is torture. it wastes a lot of time. confronts you with problems like no place left, what ticket do i need, where do i get it, train not even coming and so on. now - i just hook up the bike and off i go. this you-don't-need-a-car thing really feels like some manipulative agenda with the intention to reeducate the simple people towards believing it and also accepting it - because no car is going to be the future for most of us - that's already been decided ("you'll own nothing and be happy"). i'm still looking forward to this future as well as i anticipate it with horror because i fear it's not going to be so great having your movement restricted. and of course those who decide those policies will continue owning and using cars. i'd totally ban cars from the city and certainly favor a tempolimit of 130 on the autobahn but it will need solutions that still allow people to flee from the city if they feel like it or spontaneously visit relatives whose villages can't be reached by public transportation.