I bought my Skoda Superb in 2012. Before I bought the car, I actually has the same question to myself: "do I really need this expensive stuff? " But after I got the car, I raised another question to me: "why don't I buy the car earlier?"
The mindset change is because the car really changes the way I spend my leisure time. Nowadays, it is very common for me to departure the home at 9am, take lunch at some nearby cities by noon, do some sightseeing after the lunch, return to Shanghai after that, and take dinner at home with my parents. But I won't imagine the same thing if I don't have the car.
BTW, there is one important pre-condition for car to become useful to people like me. That is: a high quality road network. If the high quality road network doesn't exist, the trip over weekend will be painful too.
For example, I can drive on roads like below picture from Shanghai to Hangzhou, to Hefei, to Wuhan, and eventually arrive at the China-Vietnam border line.
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