I agree. There is a different mindset in Europe regarding public transportation, particularly trains.

One or two adults doing City-Hopping in Europe is very often better by train than car, and unless you're going across the continent (and sometimes even then) better than by plane. If you add children and a dog (like our young Huskysaurus "Aegon"), the calculation changes a lot. "Freedom" doesn't seem so "free" when the logistics get complicated.

We can catch a train to Brno just down the street from our flat that gets us there faster and for about the same price, with no traffic risk, than driving. But you can't bring a dog. Our old dog was the chill-master general and we could leave him on cleaning days for several hours at home. Not so with our new shelter dog who has clearly had some trauma in his previous homes. "Freedom" is also relative to perspective.

What has also changed, as I was pointing out in my original comment, is that in the last 30 years the number of cars on the road has massively increased. At the same time, many European major cities (like Vienna) are making conscious efforts to reduce car-friendliness and push people towards public transportation.

All in all, in Europe a car is definitely less attractive than it was 30 years ago, which I see as both good and sad (not "bad"). Sad maybe only from my nostalgic nature of thinking about the world that was and will probably never be again.