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my VW New beetle is almost too big for me as I'm quite small but if a Mini seems confined, you might want to try one for the short trips. You will need the Jeep or similar anywhere for all the stuff you mention. My VW gets about 30 city here in FL where there is plenty fof traffic and stop and go. It is a stick however but the a/c is always running becasue fo the sun.
1. It's BIG. Both North and South Kohala, plus Hamakua Coast, almost any consumer item requires a 'round trip between 44 and 64 miles long. Some things and events will be even further. You can easily put over 25K miles/year on your car. Be cautious of leasing. Even if you live on a "ranch" development up or down from the south western flank of Kohala mountain itself. There is now, one grocery store in Waikoloa which is reasonable and as fully stocked as a Hawaii market can be. (When whatever you are looking for wasn't on the barge, it will be next week.) Two of three large resort developments have added markets. Prices high and geared to vacationing condo dwellers, but helpful. We do now have stores like Walmart, Kmart, Lowes, and even Target. (The entire community celebrated!). They are not close to home unless you live in Kona. People who live between Hilo and into Ka'u up to South Kona have even longer distances to travel. So if you are looking at those attractive prices for lots in Puna, Pahoa, Ocean View, etc etc, factor that in.
2. It's BIG and gas is often more expensive than you expect, tho sometimes on a par with urban areas of California. Since gas prices started falling, gas at Costco is over a dollar less than gas near by. Costco. Chevron is still over 4 dollars/gallon for regular.
3. Paved parking lots in shopping malls are jammed, the spaces are very narrow and short, and most parking is designed to be perpendicular to traffic flow, not at an angle. Some new cars have features to assist with perpendicular parking, so that might be a gizmo to pay extra for. You don't need a GPS mapping package that tells you turn left or right. First, it will be wrong as our maps and our roads are two different things. Secondly, you are on an island, albeit a BIG one. Use your iphone/Android device when in a pinch. If asking for direction, be sure person really knows area. Directions will start with a phrase like "you know where the old Firestone billboard used to be? Turn left there."
4. Parking for many things is in open, grassy/rocky fields.
5. A large portion of the population drives crew-cab pickups, with bed over 6' bed, four wheel drive, huge tires, and engineered to haul heavy equipment around a job site. Or a ranch. They take every inch and more of a parking stall and stick out into the part where traffic is supposed to drive.
6. Rock walls are popular due to abundance of rock. Your own driveway may be a permanent reminder of this as you scrape your car on it repeatedly. :-) Or even hang your car up on a low protruding rock.
7. Roads are often old and were not engineered by, you know, engineers. Turns are poorly banked. There are a lot of turns because at one time asphalt was cheaper than moving rock. (Now lack asphalt can add further delay to road projects, which take on average about 32 years to build. They aren't under construction most of that time, they are waiting for funding, or materials. There are rutted dirt roads and gravel roads. These are all drivable in an ordinary car.
8. We have flash floods which can catch you unawares and some of them in certain areas are major. Either don't drive if the NWS has issued warnings or have a car that can handle a middle sized one. Big ones take out houses, trees, etc. Usually it is in the same spot, but localized rainfall in short period of time can set off a flood in an area that has grown over, carrying dirt, debris, tree limbs etc.
9. If you happen to be headed to live on Oahu or, definitely to be a commuter into Honolulu for a job, know that as of January 19, 2015, there have been 6 traffic fatalities on Oahu and the month is not over The H1 and H2 seem to be closed for either road work or an accident what seems like daily. You can find and start following the webcams of the "freeway" traffic and check it out before you make a down payment on a house. Know that the big Island we had "only" 11 traffic fatalities in 2014, compared to 25 in 2013. Of the 11 in 2014, 3 involved drugs and an other 4 involved drugs and alcohol.
You don't have to be under the influence to find yourself flying through the air and landed upside down a hundred feet from the road in a field of lava. Driving down hill it's very easy to go too fast for poorly designed roads. In the three I recall vividly on the small highway (it's just a road) up and down our mountain, these involved one car, though an oncoming vehicle might have been over the line and the upside-down driver tried to swerve. Conditions were dry.
10. This goes under the long distance aspect of driving. Everything is either up hill or down hill from where you are. And if down hill, presumably you are coming back, up hill. This kills gas milage. A car with "engine braking" will moderate the effect of overheated brakes and excessive speed. Remembering to take it OUT of engine braking mode is easier than remembering to put in into the mode!
11. Hawaii is a no-fault auto insurance state, but many drivers are uninsured anyway. While there are minimum coverage requirements, they may well be underinsured. BE SURE TO ADD underinsured/uninsured as a SUPPLEMENTAL on your auto insurance policy. This will help defray expenses beyond what the other person's policy or lack thereof may cause you. In civil cases, damages are awarded proportionate to fault. So if you contributed to a bad situation, like you were speeding when the other vehicle came over the double yellow at you, it might reduce your award. No Fault does not mean the other company never covers your damages.
12. There is no "smog check" so fumes will not cause you to fail an annual "safety inspection" which involves showing your registration and proof of insurance, tests of headlamps on high and low beam, tests of turn signals all around, test of back up lights and of break lights. No big deal for most of us. It is difficult to remember to to renew your safety sticker, which comes on a different schedule than your auto registration renewal. You will receive no reminder as with registration renewal. You will be pulled over for lack of a sticker and get a fix-it ticket. Even if you are polite, smile, and blame your husband because it's IS "his job." and it is sunny and you're pulled over, kindly, into a shady spot. No biggie, you just feel stupid.
I'm not suggesting you buy a Tundra or GMC truck in self defense! You have to drive it, and that can be work. I'm suggesting when looking at a car, consider that there will be lots of those around competing for space, or sticking it's hood out where you can't see if you can make a left turn.
EXPECT YOUR CAR TO BE DINGED, RUN INTO, SCRAPED, POCKMARKED BY GRAVEL, HIT BY A VEHICLE WITH BUMPERS HALF WAY UP YOUR CAR DOOR. Don't imagine you will have a beautiful car, if that is the goal, without body work on a regular basis.
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YOU WANT THE BEST GAS MILAGE YOU CAN GET. Definitely consider every hybrid out on the market.
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YOU WANT TO BE ABLE HAUL MORE STUFF THAN YOU DO NOW. Consider a hatch back.
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YOU NEED A CAR THAT WILL PROTECT YOU IN AN ACCIDENT.
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YOU NEED A HIGHLY MANEUVERABLE CAR WITH A SMALL TURNING RADIUS .
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YOU NEED A CAR THAT WILL STICK TO THE ROAD DESPITE POOR ROAD DESIGN, HIGH SPEED AND UNEXPECTED BEHAVIORS OF OTHER DRIVERS. You want your car on the ground, not in the air.
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KNOW THAT YOUR CAR WILL BECOME A BEATER IN APPEARANCE IF IT AND YOU SURVIVE A NATURAL LIFETIME.
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Engine braking is a great feature to have to keep you from going 85 mph down hill on a winding road.
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As to a convertible, your vision of cruising around country roads and soaking up sunshine and aloha are just that. You will be hot, sunburned, and your hair will blow. It will rain. Some places it is always raining. I had to follow four tourists in a chevy convertible of some sort up the mountain today. It's a rarely found 55 mph stretch. (When we have them, we want to go 55.)
Because of it's winding and up and down nature, there are no passing zones. They were going 37 mph just relaxed and happy with 13 cars behind them. Please realize everyone is not on your vacation.
Jeep Wrangler I would not do. They have no doubt improved since I last drove them, but it is not nimble, it is not going to stick to the road, and it is not a safe car to be in in a collision. Get a bigger, "trail ready" jeep model. Better yet, bring over a used Land Rover and when you tire of it, you can sell at top dollar as they are becoming very rare. And remember, someone owns the property you are driving on, if off road, and, assuming you are not face to face with a donkey, a mouflon sheep, a goat or a cow, you may find yourself face to face with an upset owner. LISTEN TO YOUR RADIO. HEED WEATHER WARNINGS. DO NOT FORD STREAMS DURING OR AFTER FLASH FLOODS. Bad way to die. If you washed on down to the ocean, your body may not ever be found.
True, but Neeterlou spent a lot of work on that reply. Does make a lot of sense for just about anyone who wants to get a car on the island, though, so perhaps someone else will benefit by it.
Already bought the truck I am taking to Kauai. A few things went into my decision.
1. I Needed a truck to haul stuff but I did not want or need a full size truck.
2. I wanted a 4X4 to get all the access I could to those remote hard to reach areas.
3. I wanted something that is easily maintained or at least there are plenty of other people with knowledge to help me maintain it if it is something I cannot do.
4. wanted something that is easy to get parts for in the middle of the pacific ocean.
In the end I purchased a new regular cab 4 cylinder manual transmission 4X4 toyota Tacoma and could be not be happier.
If you go to Kauai and see how many Tacoma's are on the island you will understand that I will never run our of parts
A Tacoma is a good choice, there's lots of them around. We generally pick cars to match what there are a lot of, too. We do a lot of hauling of stuff, but occasionally multiple people, too, so we ended up with two cars. One is a full sized van and the other is a small 4 wheel drive. The van hauls people when we put the seats in it and it keeps stuff dry when we haul other stuff in it. We had a washer and dryer in it along with some other stuff several weeks ago. You can put a lot of stuff in it. The roof racks are good for longer stuff. Two of our cars have roof racks and they are really handy on occasion. The 4 wheel drive is mostly to pull a small trailer since it also has a tow hitch although there is a very occasional need for the 4 wheel drive when going in or out of Waipio valley. There's also the frivolous "parade" car which is a small but really fun convertible - a '52 MGTD kit car. Now there seems to be a PT Cruiser which just showed up yesterday. Not sure what that one is doing yet. It may stay, it may go, I never know about these things until after they show up in the driveway. If it gets really good gas mileage, we may swap out one of the other cars and keep it although we will run out of parking space if we keep all of them.
Here on the mainland, I drive fancy pants high end sports cars.
In Hawaii, my fantasy vehicle is an old Bronco. Maybe do a custom convertible and put a surfboard rack.
The old Bronco.
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Small, maneuverable, good gas mileage, safe.
