>>714099847
>Genuinely what is the appeal of cars?
Apart from the things you mentioned? Ownership, prestige. The fact that you own something very useful translates into both societal and sexual attractiveness.
How expensive your useful apparatus is, translates into societal prestige.
Prestige and attractiveness is coveted out of tribalistic need to be accepted and primal urges to propagate. Fast car = better also provokes primitive utilitarian thoughts because the car can take you from A to B quicker is optimal in a wide variety of situations.

While many objects can become part of this, more complex things like land or houses are shoved aside in the subconscious for something simpler. A box that can get you to places, both literally and not. Also bigger vehicles like planes are so out of reach for most people that it never entered the equation, and if you have a plane you're likely to have a car.
Cars thus became a symbol of wealth, every rich man or woman in hollywood movies are shown with multiple extravagant cars.

I guess that's the long and short of it.
t. robotics and gametheory researcher in a big city who uses public transportation instead of cars