@donw @scott Well, yeah, that's USian culture all right…
My friends thought I was crazy when I visited Dallas a few years back and *didn't* rent a car. I got by just fine on public transport, but it felt a bit weird to be of the very few pale-skinned people around.
Visiting European cities I don't even *consider* renting a car anywhere. And I have never owned one, either (I *do* have access to cars through a car-cooperative, and do drive cars, approximately a dozen times a year).