I agree that flying is more fun and less stress, but I still think that many of you are missing the point. If you HAVE to be somewhere ON TIME then the unfortunate fact is that private flight is not reliable enough. As for time, well, if you count the time to drive to the airfield, plan and check the a/c, fly, get taxi to final destination then flying will nearly ALWAYS TAKE LONGER!
No I think you are confusing the concept of private flight and private flight in the clapped out club rental and the lower end syndicate stuff.
If you go further up the chain, still private flight you can a much more reliable launch rate. I fly my 172 for the flights where a virtually guaranteed launch is not required and I am happy be to be stuck somewhere for a few days even with an IR. I have to be somewhere I take the Malibu, short of fog I am guaranteed a launch. At 220KTAS the journey is short. An example home (runway is 300yrds from my door) I can fly from home to Paris in 50mins and a cab ride of 20mins delivers me to the door in under 90mins. If I fly to Edinburgh for a meeting the times are the same. Brussels, Amsterdam all likewise.
GA has great utility and you need to look at the bigger GA picture not just the low end spam cans that can be limited.