Over the course of my trip in the UK, I traveled short-distance last-minute dozens of times, and trains were practically as cheap as coach about half the time,

Over the course of my trip in the UK, I traveled short-distance last-minute dozens of times, and trains were practically as cheap as coach about half the time, so long as you picked the correct departure time. This simply is not the case at all in mainland Europe. Dunno anything about car hiring, but the coach prices were certainly cheaper than the price of gas.