Cities are centuries older than cars though. Cars are the new thing. And yet it's true that cars are an obvious QoL improvement for anyone in a rural area, and no reasonable person is suggesting that people in rural areas shouldn't drive cars.

The real issue is that Americans (among others) have decided they want all the convenience and amenities of living in a city (sewer, water, energy, convenient access to most goods and services, etc.), but they want to pretend they live in a rural area, with no density whatsoever. This has resulted in the suburban sprawl that is financially ruinous and requires cars to be able to go anywhere and do anything, which creates traffic, which we solve by building bigger roads and pushing things farther apart, creating more traffic.

Thus, the answer really is that if you want city amenities, you need to live in a city. It doesn't have to be as dense as New York. Not Just Bikes just posted a great video about the smallish town of Bergen in Norway that is not a super dense urban hellscape, it is medium density with human-centric development.

Nobody is suggesting people in rural areas to live without a car.

Fuck cars is about eliminating car dependency in cities. Actually, forget eliminating car dependency. I'd be happy if we could stop this silly car size arms race and ban these huge pickup trucks and SUVs in cities

I became much richer when i moved into the city and sold my car.

Cars are a drain on your money, time, and mental health

Here's a convenient list of affordable cities in the US.

https://youtu.be/IKxR06isoLU