1976 Volkswagen Bus Riviera Pop-Top Camper (Automatic)

I really wanted to like this van, but cannot recommend it to nearly anyone. The positives are that it's fun looking and you'll get a lot of "sick van!" comments as you putter around the island. Aside from that, don't let the paint job fool you, nearly every system, knob, switch, etc. in this van needs attention or a trick to make it work if it does at all. I won't delve into many details but give an honest review so you know what you are getting into. The only other review with words on this upon our renting it was a year old and said the electrical system didn't work. I asked ahead of time and they said they fixed that. We couldn't get it to work and on day 3 of our trip we had to stop the van because under the seat (where my kids were sitting) started smoking. We got everyone out and one of the charging cords was melting on it's own. I was able to pull part of the system apart (a natural pigtail junction), and then called the property manager who asked me to cut a couple cords. I declined and borrowed a wrench to troubleshoot the short and pull the pigtail leads off. Far too small a gage of wire to be running the amps in there. So aside from the near miss of an electrical fire... The side door takes two people to open it, the door key doesn't operate the locks so you have to lock both front doors from the inside, then close the side door, then open the window on the side door and then lock that side door manually (which only works 40% of the time) then slide the window closed. Most of the time we had to leave it unlocked for long periods of time because it just wouldn't lock. Not the most peace of mind when traveling with passports, etc. The windshield wipers barely wipe, nighttime driving lights are about the strength of a 1985 flashlight (no joke), there's a lot of play in the steering wheel and it doesn't have power steering in the least. I am an althetic man and I was sore every evening from driving this thing for 1.5 - 2 hours. The inside smells a bit of gas which makes sense since it only gets about 10-12 mpg when original specs list between 16 and 24 mpg. And the engine itself, while underpowered when it was new, needs a significant tune up. Hawaii is all hills, rarely a straightaway, and this bus will struggle with every single one. You'll end up leading your own parade every where. Neither of the side mirrors hold there positions, always flopping down so you are staring at the pavement and not the parade behind you. The bus needs to be warmed up for 5 or so minutes before it will reliably take any acceleration, and even then it will kill randomly on you when driving. The biggest bummer of all of this is two fold. First, because of all the issues with the vehicle we had to change our trip plans for any sort of camping as we didn't want to be stuck (much of Hawaii, especially camping areas have no cell service if something happened). And the second related item, is it seems the property manager nor the owner cared about the issues, repeatedly saying "just a quirky old bus." If they had a mechanic comb through the bus for a day or two and actually fix all the "quirky" or as I would say "completely unsafe" things about this bus, it would be a really cool experience. But to me I would no recommend this to any families or folks that aren't mechanically inclined. We we're constantly having to figure out how to start it, keep it going, pull over to let 50 cars by, or find the next gas station when you only get 60 miles to a half tank... The only reason I am not giving it one star, is that it is fun to have folks constantly waving and commenting. And because of all the issues and near electric fire... we'll have stories about this trip for a couple decades. Not the stories we planned to have, but stories all the same. Ultimately I would say avoid at all costs until they actually get a mechanic to deeply root through all these issues and resolve them. Until then, find something else reliable and adventure worthy.

We really had a great time driving around in this little van for a week. We give it an overall five star review, but if you're thinking of renting this vehicle, we highly recommend that you consider seriously your capacity to manage aq finicky old vehicle with a lot of quirks. You most definitely need some working knowledge - we used to own one of our own, which is why we took this trip. This is not an easy vehicle to drive given it's lack of power steering, turn radius and overall finicky personality. We also had a lot of problems with the electrical system. We had to jumpstart the vehicle twice (the owners provide a battery pack for that and it worked great!) Sadly, we were unable to charge any of our phones for the entire trip, or use the cooler as an electric cooler or the water system, because the secondary electrical system simply would not work. I am 100% positive the owners will address this, as they were really great to communicate with and very apologetic. For us, it was no problem, we just found coffee shops and places where we could grab a quick charge and fill up out water bottles. If you can manage it, then you're guaranteed an really amazing adventure!