On one hand owning a car, there is the opportunity to be totally free, to have a high degree of flexibility. When I was a freshman I used to go to the College by tube. More than often classes were postponed late in the evening, when subway was closed. In these cases I had to sleep to some friends of mine because I have no way to come back home. During the summer of the first year I saved money to buy a used car. So the next year I was even more proficient in my study thanks to the fact that I could come back home when classes were in delay or if I wanted to study longer in the university library.
On another hand It allow to the owner to make great road trips. During the College me and my friends made a great road trip across Europe, having the opportunity to visit a lot of countries for a very low price, because we shared all the expenses and sometimes we slept in the car.
However owning a car has also disadvantages. First of all the purchase itself of the vehicle is one of the biggest expenses that generally speaking a family or a young guy has to face. Besides there are a lot of cost that are tightly linked to the ownership itself as the insurance. In my country it's mandatory to have the insurance against accident if you own a car, even if you never use it. The cost of the insurance itself could be bigger than the vehicle value. In addition there are all costs related to the utilization of it as gasoline, regular and extraordinary maintenance. Finally the utilization of the car has a cost that the entire community has to bear: the pollution.
In conclusion owning a car have advantages and disadvantages, I think that advantages overcame disadvantages but, especially if you are a young guy, expenses could be really high. Personally I solved this problem sharing the car with my neighbor, we work in the same