Great post! I have been living car free for 14 years now (or since I moved into my first own flat). My point of view was really changed by this lifestyle regarding a lot of things.
In the suburb I grew up it was so "normal" to use a car for every little trip outside your house. To an extend that there are no sidewalks to walk anywhere - nobody does this anyway! All small grocery shops there died in the early eighties, and new shopping-malls are next to big streets with little possibility to go there by foot or by bike. Even if you wanted to go for a walk, it was safer to drive somewhere where you could actually walk safe.

I never questioned this as a child. I think my parents still don't see my point when I criticize that those suburbs are built for cars and not for people.
Now that I have lived in the city and car-free for so long, I really notice how much more fun and how much easier and more convenient it is if you can walk or go by bike. I was amazed that the "big city" is actually more pedestrian and bike friendly than those suburbs.
I get really mad if I see those places where you can not by any means go without a car. Towns where you could hardly leave your house without a car. Or those huge, huge parking spaces with no place to walk and not even a little space to lock up you bike. What are they thinking?

It's true that you can save a lot of money going by bike. Also, you can save a lot of time - while others sit somewhere in the traffic jam.

There are also downsides. Some things are hardly doable without a car. It can be difficult to transport large things. With public transport, small distances can become very very time consuming - I am not seeing my family as much as I would like because the 30-min trip to my parents takes me about 2 1/2 hours by train and bus. Train tickets for longer distances are really expensive. I haven't been skiing or hiking a lot lately, because I always have to find someone who is willing to accompany me who owns a car.
I think a lot of those things could be overcome, if there would be a larger lobby for people without cars - but as of today it's still very unusual not to own a car.