I am considering moving to hawaii after I finish up school in a year, or doing my last classes at the university there. I was just out there a few days ago in princeville, kauai. noticed many cars there were rusted, kinda beat up. I saw more german cars on my way home from the airport in SD than I saw in the entire week I was there...so I guess not many people have nice cars out there

My buddies mom said it's a different environment and way of life out there and that people aren't into material things, which is cool....I myself will be surfing and hitting the beach most days and am pretty sure my excellent condition coop would turn to crap after being out there.

would it be a good idea to just keep the mini at my parents' house here in san diego and just get a beater truck out there? going to suck not having my mini, but I'd like to be out there. if you live on one of the islands, how's your mini holding up?

 

you said you're going to university in hawaii. do you mean you're going to school on kauai? oahu? hawaii island?

 

probably manoa. so oahu...I know its much more city-like there..but after I graduate is what I am more concerned about, if i end up living on maui or kauai..

 

here's the short, blunt answer: if your MINI "turns to crap" markedly faster on any island in hawaii than if you were to continue driving it in san diego, it's a problem between the steering column and the seat, not environmental factors.

long, nuanced & more polite answer that also addresses certain things you allude to in your original post:

if you're going to school on oahu, you'll find oahu--especially honolulu--is like a completely different country from kauai. there's likely more in common between san diego and honolulu versus honolulu and kauai than you'd think. for example, the concentration of luxury cars in honolulu is likely to be close to or surpass what you're used to seeing in san diego, especially if you're driving to and from downtown (downtown...NOT waikiki...two different places) to kahala.

my 09 MCS doesn't look different than the day i picked her up in january 09 and i didn't get the dealership's rustproofing. i know someone who just gave up his 03 MCS for a 10 MCS JCW and his 03 had not a bit of rust on it. my 93 saturn didn't show rust until 2000 and that car was not garaged most of its life. my not-quite-mom-in-law's 2000 acura TL doesn't look beat up or old at all. she lives yards from the beach and she also has not a speck of rust on her car. of course, most of the time she's not driving it, it's garaged. on the other hand, she's not fanatic about washing/waxing her car either--maybe it's washed every other week. then there are the myriad vintage car owners on oahu--one of them being the sales manager at MINI of hawaii, who has a 69 Mini--whose rides are in showroom shape.

compared to those like me who live in honolulu, kauai residents are far more "country" in attitude and economics overall and inclined towards buying an M3 versus picking up an old toyota tacoma with a lift. i don't think there are HE dealerships on the garden isle either. maui has more HE cars proportionally than kauai but less than oahu. there might be a HE dealership on maui; last i was there was three years ago and i wasn't inclined to pay attention.

no matter what island you choose to live on, the air isn't any saltier from one island to the next.

if you'd like to get an idea of what most people's cars look like on oahu and especially in honolulu (plus see what traffic's like), take a look at the traffic cams i've linked here. bonus to that link? you can check out the webcams to waikiki and kuhio beach. don't bother looking at the webcams for the city council meetings. those will either bore you or give you a migraine.

lastly, you can always talk to the peeps at hawaii mini motoring club at hawaiiminiclub.org.

 

Right, I was aware that honolulu is more of a city setting, guess I should have mentioned that. that was also the reason why I was more concerned about it after college (since I wouldn't be in the city area) but as you said it probably doesn't matter. my friend who is originally from maui said that honolulu pretty much looks like LA but on an island, so i imagine that it is similar in people, cars, etc...

HA ha! Got it

Kauai definitely seemed laid-back as you said. I definitely don't mind that lifestyle at all, if I wasn't so OCD about my car and it getting roughed up from being at the beach all the time then I wouldn't really care. at the same time, sounds like maybe it won't get roughed up...who knows..guess i'll have to live there to find out as for the high end cars on maui, last time I was there 2 years ago they had a BMW dealer and (I think) a mini dealer. seems like there was nicer cars there...the environment in kauai was super chill though....I know I wouldn't have a problem living there as i'm not into the things that big cities (like SD and LA) have to offer.

mahalo to you, appreciate your answer !!!

 

you're welcome!

there's only one MINI dealership and it's on oahu--that i know for sure.

honestly, if i were in your sitch, i wouldn't be able to bear leaving my MINI behind either. if what you're mostly concerned about it when you go to the beach, another solution is to bring your MINI but also get a moped.

the thing i'd be concerned about most is service for the MINI since there is no dealership on any island but oahu and i am not sure how experienced kauai or maui mechanics are with MINIs. not that they're backwoods or ignorant, but generally i'd feel more comfortable knowing that where i live, there are plentiful service staff who are super-familiar with my car in case something goes wrong. that's probably me being a scaredy cat city girl, though.

(those of you who live in hawaii already--this thread gives me another reason to lament the loss of the superferry. grrr! arrrgh! )