And gas is heavily taxed and more than twice as expensive as the US. Spain has many good toll roads, maybe the best network in Europe, but last mile driving in the urban areas is a major pain.

It's not an either/or question. But I'd rather live in a US single family homes neighborhood than a noisy, dense, multistory apartment. Look to Australia for a balance between US style of living and mostly good rail transit. No HSR, but that's because of low overall population and very long distances between urban areas.

Australia didn't weaken/hollow out/destroy their cities via 60's riots and massive crime waves that resulting in multiethnic flight to suburbs (Thanks, Dems!) So their transit network wasn't neglected, underfunded, crime addled, or suffered a generation gap in demand and growth. Less pressures and incentives for jobs to follow workers out of the center of cities. They still had suburban office parks growths, but better planned with sensible land use regulations and better integrated into an expanding transit system.

Less concern with transit bring crime, though sometimes a factor. But less overall crime and cultural disorder. Some of the loony left US trends also get pushed by their loony left, but nowhere near the nonsensical and highly destructive Defund the Police/Saintification of the criminal class/Open the prisons self-destruction inflicted on the US (Thanks, Dems!) Marxists are nuts everywhere, but at the end of the day the Australian electorate has been more moderate and reasonable. In no small part because over there the left realizes that it has to effectively govern and administer city services. Australia is not perfect, but it is certainly more balanced. Which prevents the reflexive rise of a right nut opportunistic Trump type.