No, a car is a liability in most cases, unless you have a dire reason to visit rural areas on a regular basis.

Or if you live in a rural area, but I suppose you covered that with "if your city has good public transportation/bike paths." (I live in a rural area, but physically couldn't drive if I could afford it. gotdistractedbythe doesn't seem to have mentioned eir location, but judging by the way the beach was mentioned, I'm imagining one of the coastal cities that generally have decent public transportation, so I don't expect ey will need to worry about cars. However, said areas also tend to have some of the higher end costs for renting living space, as I understand it.)