Despite common issues with Deutsche Bahn, I generally had quite a good experience with them and delays happened rarely. The only one I can remember is over 1h delay because one wagon laot power and pasaangwrs had to be reseated which meant less space to seat (still found a seat).

I once took flixtrain and will take it no more. Slower, fucking loud as fuck especially near exit area, and quite uncomfortable seats. Cheap but fuck it, I'd rather overpay.

I do own a car and few times a year I drive to NRW to visit my parents. Time wise it is the same. And price wise if I go with my wife - it is slightly cheaper. I do use Waze which helps avoid major traffic jams. It still sometimes leads us in one but never more than 20min.

I commute the city by bycicle and Deutschlandticket. Local transportation companies work good 95% of the time. 4% of the time they don't but they usually have a good reason. 1% of the time tram/bus/train comes 3 minutes early and annoys the hell out of me.

I can't go by train back to Latvia. Either plane, bus or by car. Cheapest is by bus but once I drove 15h in a bus and I have promised to myself to never go by bus more than 8h. Next best thing is by car. Over 1000km is about 15h with all the stops but it is still cheaper than flying. Flying is fine, short and fast. But then I end up in Rīga and have to take train 6hay goes like 3 times a day. Or I have to rent a car and only rent for a week will be more expensiver than driving my own car to and back to home. Plane tickets are expensiver than fuel too. So plane and renting a car is extremely expensive.

I rarely use car. It usually stays parked for days or weeks. But i won't get rid of it. It is a useful tool to me and accomplishes things that planes, trains and trams can't. It is also fucking nuts how expensive it is just to own one but it brings too much worth on my life.