[rconti]

Like other kinds of anxiety, it may not be fully rational :)

But one reason I own a nice car is to effortlessly drive across the state and to distant states with the comfort, power, etc of a modern car. "Just rent a car for those longer journeys" becomes less compelling when it's more than a handful of times a year.

For my commute, I could just keep driving the same 15 year old car forever -- though the butt warmers and bluetooth and so on of newer cars is a "nice to have".