My co-founder is married with two kids. We were in winter 2007. Neither of us is young and fresh out of college (I was 32, he was 33, at the time). When we were accepted, I had a house in Austin, a 350Z, a long-time girlfriend, and a dog. The house was sold in record time (to the first person who looked at it, the day before the open house), the Z was sold, the girlfriend got a job at Google, and the dog rode right beside me in the moving truck. My co-founder already lived in Santa Clara, so it wasn't quite as much of an upheaval for him.
It seemed like it at the time. But I knew getting garage space would be almost impossible, and given how much I worried over my car whenever it was outside, I knew it'd be stupid to bring it out here if I didn't really need a car.
Mountain View is a pretty walkable and bike-able little town, more than I expected, even. I rarely miss having a car, and I certainly don't miss the hassles that come with having a car: Insurance, registration, etc. And, let me tell you...insurance on a two-seater sports car, for a male driver, under 35, with a handful of speeding tickets, is not a trivial consideration. I paid nearly as much to drive my car as I did to live in my house in Austin, and since living in a house here in the valley costs twice as much as in Austin, it all evens out pretty...umm...evenly.
I enjoy biking and walking quite a lot, and they're certainly healthier activities than driving for myself and the world, so I think it's a really good trade. I think it'd be an even better trade in SF, but it'll probably be another year before I head up that way. I like the lack of distraction in Mountain View while getting the company off the ground.
I'm thinking if I were going to spend $70k on a car, I might as well go all the way around the bend and get a Tesla at $109k. Though the Skyline is a beauty, and much faster than the Tesla. And, I drive so little that it probably isn't going to make a big difference one way or the other to the environment (factoring in environmental impact of battery production, etc., I guess...I dunno).
I think California is getting to me, because I'm also thinking the Altima hybrid looks pretty swish.
my z just lost its poor engine ;-( The dealer says the oil looked like mercury. driving it out to the valley must have put too much stress on it or something. the current estimated repair bill is $12k. i sure hope i can get the extended warrenty to kick in.
