It depends what you mean by "without a car". I live on the edge of a medium sized city in the UK and could manage without a car for getting the kids to school, shopping and I'm still working at home. In practice, I might need to go to work sometimes and my hobbies require a car so I have one.

When saying the UK isn't a place for grownups ( and it certainly isn't run by grownups at the moment ). I'd place it somewhere between American and Northern Europe in terms of the sensible rating! I like American too, but agree with some of the shortcomings mentioned above.