Island Dreams: Window Shop with Car and Driver

Mix yourself the biggest Mai Tai and stick a flower behind your ear for this episode of Car and Driver’s Window Shop, the videocast that shows up somewhat weekly, depending on how many of us have managed to finish our real work.

It appears that someone has vacation on their mind this week, as our challenge was tropical: Find a car for sale on any of the Hawaiian Islands. The budget was $15,000, with a $5000 bonus unlockable by wearing a Hawaiian shirt for the filming. Did anyone pay attention to these caveats? Is this your first time here?

Our would-be vacationers included the surf-happy K.C. Colwell, friend of seat turtles Jonathon Ramsey, professional hula-dancer John Pearley Huffman, Pina-Colada-drunk Elana Scherr, and potential volcanic sacrifice Tony Quiroga.

Things started off with a minty Volkswagen—that’s minty as in toothpaste-colored, not so much on the collector condition. “Is that a check engine light?” It might have been, but as Pearley pointed out, it only had to last through his vacation. Scherr chose small, but got big points for finding a car with graphics that suited island living, as well as making a map marking every racetrack on every island. Ramsey and Colwell made sensible choices, and at first it seems Ramsey has a slam dunk with a truck that has everyone oohing and ahhing—almost as much as they are over his on-theme wardrobe choice—he quickly loses ground for being both over budget and choosing a vehicle that isn’t actually in Hawaii. Colwell wins over Pearley by appealing to his deep brand loyalties. Quiroga comes in hot with a choice that horrifies most of the team, except Scherr, who is clearly angling for a raise. He has the last laugh though, as the only member of the group with actual tickets to actual Hawaii in the next month.

Instead of voting, the gang argues about frog-licking and the exact conversion between “island time” and mainland time as it applies to zero-to-60 runs, and in the end we might have picked a winner or we might have just called it so Pearley could catch a flight. Not to Hawaii. Let us know what you’d choose for a Hawaiian road trip, and what beaches you think Quiroga should visit on his upcoming vacation.

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