The car issue is a real conundrum for me as well.
I spend about 2.5 hours driving to and from work every day. About 1 hour on the way to the office in the morning, and about 1.5 hours on the way home because traffic is worse in the evenings. Some days I hang around my office and watch Hulu on my computer for a few extra hours in the evening, just to wait for rush hour to be over, but that only saves me about 30 minutes. I have tried the public-transportation route - I would have to take so many buses and trains to get to and from work every day that it would actually be almost as expensive as driving, and take twice as long. Changing jobs isn't an option - I'm obligated to stay for at least a few more years. I'd also be pretty stupid to move, since I live rent-free in a great apartment my family owns. Apart from my gas, my bills are really extemely low, so I'm very lucky in that regard.
I also live in Chicago (and commute to the far suburbs), which you may or may not know is sort of a hellish place to drive. Summers are fine, but winters are awful, with large amounts of snow, slush, ice and salt, and potholes that threaten to swallow your car whole.
I currently drive a 2002 Chevy Cavalier, which I've had since 2003. It's paid off, and my insurance is affordable, but it is costing me around $160-$180 a month in gas. And that's without much recreational driving (like going out with friends - many of whom live even farther away than my office). It's a real bummer, and it's especially a bummer to shell out that money for a car I don't even like. The car is a real POS. The speakers never worked, the interior fans don't work, it has electrical problems, it's had its whole engine replaced in a super-cheap back-alley sort of fashion years ago when the thing just died. It's just a bad car, but I was young and stupid when I bought it.
It's possible that the car might make it a couple more years if I take care of it. It's also possible that it will simply give up in the middle of the expressway tomorrow. I'd like the car to last, especially because my entire family plans to relocate to the sun belt in a few years. But in preparing for the possibility that it might not I've had to consider what kind of car I'd get next. My mustache compels me to buy something efficient and small - like a Honda Fit or a Ford Fiesta - but every time my little car literally gets stuck in a snow bank in the middle of the road, or I have to spend two hours just shoveling myself out of my parking spot, I find myself cursing and shouting and vowing to buy a pickup truck with chains around its tires and a plow attachment on the front, even if it only gets 5mpg.