The article was from a city-dweller. Go outside of a city and see how car-free you can be in any country. I seem to recall multiple articles about women and children being sexually assaulted in Germany by “Asian” immigrants, even at public swimming pools. Also, human slavers are everywhere; it’s a terrible risk to take to not be cautious.
A car is freedom, a car is the ability to roam and explore. A car lets you pick the music, listen to talk the government would rather you didn’t. A car lets you drive somewhere remote and watch the sunrise, sunset, meteor shower or the Aurora. A car lets you get busy with your girlfriend, go see distant friends on a whim, rush to a bedside of a sick or dying person. A car lets you bring cool things home.
Who the hell would actually BRAG about being car free? That sounds infantile to me. Even Germans realize their car on an autobahn is one of the few places they are actually free.