When I was in Germany (78-90), they told us West Germany was about the size of Montana with a population of something like 80 million people. All of the European countries are little bigger than medium-sized states. Even driving in the German countryside, you find people living in little villages with kilometers of open farmland between. The reason is simple - most people don't own much in the way of land.

European countries do have good rail systems, and good mass transit within cities. It wouldn't be at all difficult to live without a car there. By way of contrast, Colorado Springs covers about 186 square miles with a population of about 350,000 people. There is no centralized business district, so there's really no economically viable means of mass transit. Colorado Springs is by no means an isolated example, especially in the West. Cities are pretty spread out around here. Even by Cessna, it takes quite a while to get anywhere.