It's a loading screen - would you really get that much out of a picture of a car instead of a plumbob logo? For travel within the neighbourhood, bicycles might make sense. I have the Spa Day pack, so all my Sims get high enough in wellness to teleport around the neighbourhood. I don't really want to watch my Sims get from one place to another - I'm more interested in what they're going to do when they get there.
(It was sort of fun to see my Sims get whisked off to work by helicopter in Sims 2. But I'm just not all that interested in seeing a car materialise to get my Sims to work and then disappear.)
