I feel so old and SO naive

[CoventryCat86]

All of the above plus environmental (I guess that falls under philosophical). It's actually very nice not having something that requires so much expense and maintenance. We've found there are more appropriate ways to travel. While a car is very convenient and fits most needs, it's also super expensive, even if the car is paid off: insurance, gas, oil, other maintenance, repairs, etc. We've been car ownership-free for almost a year now. We do all our shopping by bike and trailer, travel by bike and occasionally bus, and have rented a car once. We carpool when needed and chip in for gas.

Well, living in a college town (where Oregon State University is located) you can probably get away with that but the other 99.999% of America, it's pretty much impossible to survive without a car.

I've never financed a car in my life, I do all of my own repairs, I don't waste money on collision & comprehensive insurance. I drive fancy cars like Jaguars and top of the line Olds 98s but I buy them when they're ten to fifteen years old for pennies on the dollar from their original selling price. My car expenses are negligible compared to all of life's other expenses like housing, electricity, taxes, health care, oil, propane, food, cable, internet, phones, etc., oh yeah I forgot CIGARS!

Taking all of the rest of life's expenses into consideration (even for a poor, starving college student) I'd hardly call a car "super expensive." If you do it correctly, it's dirt cheap.

Just admit it, you're choice to not own a car is pretty much an "environmental" statement (which is fine) and not really driven by the imagined "costs" you described.