There was a time when I spent more on Petrol than I did on food for myself. Yes, rent was more expensive, but putting that aside, adding up the on-road costs like insurance and registration, and I was well and truly spending more on my car than I was on myself. That's without taking my taxes going to roads or my rent being higher because cars are monopolising more space. Society relies on cars today to the extent that we are faced with cars having life destroying potential in this planet and most of us look the other way most of the time. We need cars and we let them walk all over us.

Transport is not an obsession, it's a basic necessity. It's a huge deal regardless of what mode. But I think your point with cars is that there are alternatives that don't cause as much harm. I can think of a few other similar examples.

Housing - Suburban housing. It's worse than cars in many of the ways you outlined. Typically cars and suburbs come as a double punch.

Food - Meat. At least as damaging to the environment as cars, causes huge amounts of suffering, and it's also pointless because there are great alternatives.

Cooking - Gas stoves. Fairly minor, but there's no good reason they should still exist. Same story with gas heaters instead of heat pumps.