Cars - For Car Enthusiasts

Going to work is the difference between 15-20 minutes or 1 hour or longer with multiple bus changes.

Live in a place with shitty public transport and things being spread apart and unsafe drivers makes even bikes or motorcycles something I would not risk.

Aside from that benefit is in emergencies you can just leave right away without having to wait for someone to arrive at your destination, which I've had to do when I was taking care of a family member.

When you live in a place with crappy public transport no car means a loss of independence.

OP: Asks "genuine" question about benefits

Lemming: Gives genuine answer

OP: NO, YOU'RE WRONG. THE CORRECT ANSWER IS "THERE ARE NO BENEFITS"

Freedom.

I can live in a city and work in the country. Otherwise I would be SOL.

Then there is the fun of motorcycles, scooters, and my classic just for a cruise for fun.

I have 1 SUV, 1 truck, 1 classic, 2 scooters, 1 adventure bike. They are so much fun and useful.

Im not getting to work without one, thats for sure.

I can go anywhere at anytime without relying on the poor public transit in my city. Sometimes I just like driving around with no destination because it helps relax me and clear my head.

Get where you need to go without having to wait on public transport or an uber. Leave when you want. Pick your route. If you decide to detour in the middle of your trip, you can if you own a car, for public transport you gotta wait for the next closest stop on the preselected route. Joy that comes from driving.

The benefits to a car are self-evident. Ability to go anywhere you like on the schedule you like without need for excessive advance planning.

I'm absolutely a "fuckcars" advocate, but pretending there's NO benefits to owning one is insane. The problem isn't the cars themselves - it's that the REQUIREMENT of cars for basic life is AWFUL and as much as possible a car should be a special occasion, recreational use vehicle that you might use say, a few times a year for road trips, or maybe on weekends for personal exploration. The commute culture is how we get ridiculous traffic, excessive road construction, and most of the other unpleasant aspects of cars we hate in society.

But if say, 90% of the current drivers didn't have to do ANY daily driving and could walk or take public transportation instead, only using a car, say, once a week or less exclusively at their leisure rather than as a requirement? Car ownership would be MUCH more pleasant.

To put it more simply, a world where you MUST use a car all the time to go everywhere is incredibly inconvenient.

But by the same token, a world where you CAN'T use a car EVER to go ANYWHERE is ALSO incredibly inconvenient (Yes, I know plenty of people who will disagree with this, but usually even a cursory asking of places they've gone and things they've seen will reveal they're either cheating on the purity of their vision and getting rides somewhere, or there's a bunch of places they'd LIKE to go that they've just given up on, or desperately hope will SOMEDAY become viable destinations).

The best answer lies somewhere in-between - a car as an occasionally used recreational vehicle that complements a basic foundational lifestyle of walking, bikes, and a mix of public transportation.

I like going places where other people don’t go, and thus almost by definition will not be connected by public transport.

If I didn't have my pickup bed, I would have had to pay thousands of dollars to transport all I have in there. That doesn't include the priceless memories it's taken us to by just being able to randomly drive down a country road on a road trip. So many little know spots found just because I was able to explore new directions thousands of miles from my house thanks to my truck.

I love hiking. I've hiked many more miles because I was able to first kinda explore with my truck. I can go on. They might not be the best for the planet, but I've gotten to experience way more of it with one.

Being able to just go anywhere you want. If I wanted to, I could hop in my car right now and be in the Rockies by Monday, doing an epic roadtrip. I can haul groceries and model train supplies without worry. I can pick up family members, I can go eat in the next town over, I can do all sorts of things.

Also, I have air conditioning. Even if I lived in a walkable city, Id still use my car because fuck 100+ degree heat and other bad weather.

There are lots of reasons why the necessity of owning cars (particularly in the US) is unfortunate- bad for poor people, bad for quality of life, and bad for the environment.

~~that being said, asking questions is bad faith (ie asking just so you can tell them you think cars suck, and that living in the US sucks) is shitty behavior. Either go take your bullshit somewhere else, or actually try to foster reasonable discussion between folks of differing perspectives. You have the power to bring people together, foster community, and inform the perspectives of others. Don't waste that power on condescending to others for dumb shit like whether they live in a country where cars are vital to most folk's lives just so you can feel good about yourself as though you've accomplished anything other than mired an important topic of discussion in more toxicity than it already was.~~

~~The world has enough people being antagonist shitheads, there's no reason you have to be one of them~~

I conveyed my point in a way that was probably a lot more harsh than appropriate, and I'd like to recognize that OP acknowledged and apologized having engaged in a way that wasn't entirely in good faith without meaning to

Not dying riding a bicycle or walking down the highway at 430am to get to work everyday. I live in a small very rural area we literally don't have public transport or bike lanes. Hopefully there will be alternatives one day but I'm not holding my breath.

In the city where I live? Coverage from rain or cold weather, plus some privacy...and not much else really. Traffic jams scare me away from seriously considering a car for daily commute if I'm being honest.

OP is disingenuous and doesn’t care for any discussion or your answer. It’s just an opportunity for a nobody to belittle and dismiss on car owners.

What a disingenuous post. OP is just looking to troll. There's no reason to help them do that.

I’m sure you know the MANY cons already.

But in this Texas suburb, it gets me from the store, to family, and potentially to my job if I get one that’s hybrid or in-office entirely. Travel radius is usually about 20 miles, tops.

We’re north of 100 degrees during the day so walking the concrete jungle is oppressive, biking will get me to a CVS, Home Depot, some things I don’t need to visit often and stroads don’t help.

Public transit is non-existent, taxi service would add up stupid fast, both would add stupid amounts of time, yee haw.

I like it for what i can throw in there. Would love to have a more walkable place so less idiot drivers being forced to drive but we gotta pick our battles.

Go farther places, faster and in comfort.

Literally a requirement in most of the western United States, especially California. Everything is spread out too much. If you live in a small town without access to certain things, you need a car to go to a town that does because you may not even be able to use delivery services or taxis, or have a bus stop. And you're not realistically gonna walk 30 miles there and another 30 back home.