I was car free for some years, but recently bought a new car. My daughter is now old enough to go to school, and though I usually take her on foot or by bicycle, from age 6 she will have to attend school at a campus across the city. She'll take the bus, but as a PTA member, I need to be able to make routine visits to the school at different hours, and train access is not so good.
I've always loved driving, but in Japan it is expensive and troublesome, my parking space alone costs more than most Americans spend on their car payments, and I was lucky to be able to find it. Gas is expensive, tolls are outrageous, and parking around the city is scarce when I want to go shopping. But we have a couple vacation homes in the mountains and on the beach (I married a rich girl), and the only way to get to them is by car.