I managed without a car until I was 29, as I could almost always borrow one from my parents when needed. In reality, I didn’t even need a car back then, but I wanted one for social reasons. I wasn’t keen on traveling by public transport much, so I ended up staying home too often.
I value being car-free, and it’s a terrible money pit. My dream would be for my current car to be my last, but we’ll see, as it’s hard to give up once you get used to a car. Even in a normal year, I only drive 10,000 km or even less if I’ve been an active bike commuter. With COVID-19, the kilometers have plummeted to less than half of that.
My car choices have been irrational in that I bought both new, and I only kept the first one for 6 years, even though I only drove 60,000 km. I bought both with cash because I dislike debt. In reality, despite my foolishness, my investments have performed well enough that it would have been more beneficial to have debt for both the car and the apartment. I even paid off my mortgage in three years at the expense of my investment portfolio. This is partly why I’m still poor, as I haven’t known how to utilize debt and have wasted money on new cars.
The first car, including tires and everything, cost €26,000, and my current one cost €31,000. The total cost of ownership for the first one came to somewhat less than €400/month (my recollection is €372/month, but it might have been €392…). This includes depreciation, insurance, maintenance, taxes, petrol, etc. Having paid with cash, there were no financing costs, but if the alternative return is considered to be portfolio growth, it would have been more profitable to pay several percentage points of interest on the car.
For my current car, due to the higher purchase price, I calculate €500/year more in depreciation, but if I keep it longer, it might not necessarily be much more expensive than the previous one.
The dream would be to achieve financial independence in 8 years, when my current car is 10 years old, and the pessimistic scenario is that I will only achieve it in 13 years, around my 50th birthday. At that point, commuting would cease, and I might be able to give up the car. Of course, I probably need to see how life settles if I leave work and how that affects driving distances. It also affects how much the portfolio has grown by then and what kind of living standard it enables. (The idea is to give up the car to reduce expenses, but if the portfolio is large enough, there might be no need for it.)
Somehow, I should still be able to get to a ski trail even in retirement, so perhaps a car or moving near a trail will be necessary then too.
Edit: Originally, I ended up with a new car partly because I wasn’t very seriously pursuing financial independence. I have always known that with a frugal nature, it would eventually happen. Of course, back then as a young man, there was the possibility that a woman and children would enter my life and change how money was spent. The second car involved an uncharacteristic car fever for me, and trading it in didn’t make any sense, but perhaps I now feel the car I have is more my own and reflects me better.
The parts cost about 200 €, the installation took about 2 hours done by myself as an amateur, and with these, it will last another 10 years 
Not a bad investment.
