Interesting thread I must say. I enjoyed reading it.

As for cars, I love cars and have enjoyed driving for almost 20 years. But my cars are nowhere near status symbols. Mine is 20 years old with 342K miles, and my wife's is 18 years old with 267K miles. I personally like my car, like how it looks and drives (aside from the crap paint condition), and for the most part it's pretty reliable.

I have been trying to cycle around town for utility and transportation as much as I can, but it's not always easy in the spread-out suburbs. Last night I needed something from the nearest store which is nearly 1.5 miles away. I was in the middle of cooking dinner and needed it quick. To ride the bike there would have required me to put on different clothes, shoes, (it was dark and rainy), get the bike down and get it ready. But I drove my car because I could just jump in and go, and get back much quicker to return to dinner preparations.

Given different conditions, and if I had enough room to store bikes where they're always ready to go, I might use the bike even more. But as it is, sometimes it's simply a better option to take the car, even though I don't necessarily want to.