The Perfect Vehicle For...

[Tatertot]

Okay, ya'll have convinced me I need to rent vehicles instead of booking tours for me, mom, sis and niece for the PofAm 3/1/08. Everyone seems to get excited when upgraded to convertible. Is it the perfect vehicle for:

 

Honolulu -- PCC, Pearl Harbor, etc.

Hilo -- VNP

Maui -- RTH Day 1, general sightseeing, beach Day 2

Kona -- Place of Refuge, general sightseeing

Kauai -- Waimea Canyon Day 1, general sightseeing, beach Day 2

 

The Jeep Wrangler looks like it may be fun for Waimea maybe? Thanks in advance.

[Eagle1]

Aloha, We rented cars at every port but Kona, we rented from Thirfty car rental and chose a sub compact for each port and we were upgraded everytime. We had a PT cruiser for two days on Maui, a Dodge Chargeron Kaui, a Dodge Caravan on Hilo and a Nisson Sentra on Oahu on our last day. It probably cost an average of $ 35 a day plus gas. The only place that I would not recomend a convertable is Hilo because of all the Rain. Other then that if you want to save some $ and take a chance then chose the sub compact they never have them and I am sure you will get upgraded.

[rho88]

Same here, I rented with Thrifty and always got an upgrade. I spent 1 week in Oahu and I booked a sub-compact but instead got upgraded to a convertible for the week :) It was nice to have a connvertible, but it's not worth paying extra for it. I had to pull over on the side of the road a few times during my week in Oahu to close the roof because it started to rain. In Maui I was upgraded to a Dodge Magnum.

[hawaiilvr]

I always reserved compact cars, but got upgraded in each port except Kauai. I didn't want to get upgraded as gas is really expensive! We rented a convertable on our land vacation on Oahu last year, and didn't like it. It was too rainy, and the back seat is really small. My daughter HATED it!

 

The cars I had were:

 

Hilo: Monte Carlo (bad mileage, but very powerful)

Kahului: HHR (loved it!)

Kona: PT Cruiser (didn't care much for it)

Kauai: Cobalt (great mileage, OK car)

Honolulu: PT Cruiser (didn't care much for it)

 

The HHR was powerful enough for Haleakala, and comfortable. It also got good mileage.

 

YMMV, but I would rather not have a converable. They feel claustrophobic (a Jeep would be different and fun), and dark.

[Parsp]

I agree with above poster, convertible is only fun for the front seat passengers and then if you don't mind getting wind blown... which of course is the fun of a conv. Of course you could be uncool like we were and ride with the top down and windows up as we used to do when we owned a conv. Back seaters are blown to smitherines and usually hate convs so with 4 I would go larger and more confortable. For touring comfort is the thing!