Big Island

Terrible experience! I booked a Ford Explorer, which is a 4WD off-road vehicle, but I ended up with a 2WD SUV. I don't remember the exact model, but it was some Nissan SUV with poor performance. The car couldn't even climb a hill properly despite flooring the gas pedal, failing to outperform a small old sedan. Since a 2WD vehicle isn't allowed to go up to the Mauna Kea summit, we had to cancel our trip. The main reason we booked the expensive 4WD Ford Explorer was to go up the mountain. If I had known I'd end up with a 2WD SUV, I would have just booked the cheapest Ford Fiesta. We wasted thousands of dollars for nothing. The store staff had an extremely poor attitude. First, they offered us an upgrade to a 4WD for an extra $70 per day! I had already paid for a 4WD, but they gave me a 2WD instead, which is ridiculous! When we showed no interest in upgrading, they aggressively pushed third-party insurance, claiming it's legally required when we said we didn't want it. When we ignored this, their attitude turned extremely bad. We never had such a bad rental experience in Oahu or Maui. It greatly affected our travel mood! This happened at the Budget store near Kona Airport on the Big Island.