In the event of an emergency, your car is available on demand.

Maybe? It depends if your car is in the shop for repairs, or has a dead battery (especially if driven infrequently), etc. For most people, the carrying-cost of a car is probably a few thousand dollars a year (insurance, maintenance, parking, depreciation, etc). If you're driving frequently and parking costs are sane, it's definitely going to work out to own a cheap car, but if you genuinely use a car infrequently and rentals are readily available, it's worth running the numbers carefully.

Just get a Toyota and keep up with annual servicing. Too many people get "exciting" or "fun" cars as their daily drivers that are not reliable. It's entirely on the owner. What's the point of owning a car if you are not going to drive it? A light electric golf cart isn't much cheaper either.

I just got my annual registration bill from the DMV. $768. In most cases, it's probably cheaper, but that's another significant line item in the mere ownership of a car.

As someone in the US who doesn't own a car, I can rent a car in the event of an emergency. Emergencies are rare, and spending $200 (including gas) for a one-off rental is still way cheaper than the TCO of owning a car.