Car Free 12 yrs.
I did about 12 years Car Free in 3 major Metro areas; SF, NYC, and Chicago. Couple of takeaways from my perspective.
1) Good cities have more infrastructure to support you. Bike sharing, carsharing, public transit, Lyft (not uber), taxis. These are inabundance in all three cities.
2) More dense pedestrian friendly areas with concentrations of high quality food, experiences and people.
3) Quality of life improvement was NOTICABLE. Walking to work or riding a bike will make your day better.
4) Plan accordingly. Rent or buy in a place that leverages the aforementioned infrastructure.
Worked great for me. I'm back to car commuting now and its basically a drag. Your results may vary.