OK, so that happy city dwellers who know with absolute certainty that there is nothing, nothing at all, worth seeing anywhere other than in their city
Who has said that? Many city-dwellers on this thread have travelled widely, and credit the fact that knowing how to navigate public transport systems gives you the confidence and skills to be able to travel off the beaten track. I've travelled across central and eastern Europe and many parts of the Middle East and Asia, getting around by bus and train. Driving doesn't give you those skills, and someone who'd always been car-dependent would likely struggle.
Imagine having a car on your drive which only your partner can drive, they have gone to work on the train, you need to get somewhere but you have to wait until they come home from work
Like where? There's a tube and train station right across the road, numerous bus stops and the buses here run 24/7. Seven supermarkets within walking distance including one on the ground floor of my apartment building. Three GP surgeries, two cinemas, two hospitals, and umpteen restaurants and cafes all within easy walking distance. There's literally nowhere I'd need to get to urgently that I can't access by walking or public transport. Genuinely, name one single hypothetical situation where I'd need to drive.
you have friends or family who don’t live in the magical city? Do you just never visit them, unless they kindly live near a railway/bus station?
No, I don't know a single person who lives rurally. I have plenty of friends who don't live in London but no one who lives somewhere so remote you can't get there by train/bus. I'd assume anyone living in a very remote area with zero public transport has a car, and if they have a car then obviously I don't need one to be able to visit them, do I?
What happens if they get ill and you need to get there in the middle of the night?
If someone gets ill in the middle of the night they should call an ambulance, their out of hours GP line, or someone who lives locally. Why would someone living rurally phone someone in London (many hours drive away) for urgent help?
None of us know what lies ahead, and so the best thing we can do when we’re young is open as many doors as possible, to keep our options open.
Most of us have a pretty good idea of what our futures will look like based on our current life/education/career choices. Do you really imagine that your life in 20 years time will be enormously different to the life you live now? I'm pretty sure that focusing on my education, my career, and building up my property and investment portfolios has given me far more "options" for my future than driving would. Besides if someone's life changes and they need to learn to drive, they can just learn. It's hardly a skill only teenagers can master!