To add to your point, it also depends on whether you have kids or other dependents, too. Very often there isn't any real choice in owning a car.
Yes, it's possible to go without, but it's so difficult, or requires such a different lifestyle that it's just not practical. The choices have already been made, and there is no going back. I was raised by a single mom, and there is no way she could have provided for us as well as she did without a car. And she went through some real difficulties to have a working car.
[edit: I should have added that this is in the US. It may be different in different places]
Yes, it's possible to go without, but it's so difficult, or requires such a different lifestyle that it's just not practical. The choices have already been made, and there is no going back. I was raised by a single mom, and there is no way she could have provided for us as well as she did without a car. And she went through some real difficulties to have a working car.
[edit: I should have added that this is in the US. It may be different in different places]