"or you will spend all your time in Manhattan/etc."........ Hoboken is nice but whatever. You get tired of it about as fast as your get tired of downtown or Newport. Light Rail/etc is nice but does not take you to the most happening places, and it's weekend schedule and maintenance delays suck almost as bad as PATH. My life in JC improved 10x once I got a car as NJ has so much to offer that is outside the range of mass transit.