If you're planning to rent a car in Tobago, make sure it's as high off the road as possible. The pot holes, drains and speed bumps are insanely high/deep! In fact a small, narrow SUV is perfect. That will enable you to go on the dirt/gravel roads as well.
Cheers!
Rent a car.....but make sure it's not a low rider!
-
Leo Paquin
Thanks for the tip. We won't be going for several months yet. It seems everytime I decide on what type of vehicke to rent a new comment appears.
Your suggestion of a narrow SUV seems to blend in the various pros and cons.....
Jeeps..... Able to get around but comments are that the ride is extremely rough and that the soft tops make easy targets.
Regular cars ..... More comfortable but don't do well on some dirt/gravel roads (not to mention the potholes etc.)
A narrow hard top SUV appears to solve many of the problems.
We plan on visting the whole island from the Crown Point area to Speyside and Charlottesville. We will travel to Speyside on the Atlantic side but later run the Caribbean side from Courland Bay to where the road ends.
Did the narrow SUV allow you to gain access to all of the generally recognized public beaches and other areas?
Your suggestion of a narrow SUV seems to blend in the various pros and cons.....
Jeeps..... Able to get around but comments are that the ride is extremely rough and that the soft tops make easy targets.
Regular cars ..... More comfortable but don't do well on some dirt/gravel roads (not to mention the potholes etc.)
A narrow hard top SUV appears to solve many of the problems.
We plan on visting the whole island from the Crown Point area to Speyside and Charlottesville. We will travel to Speyside on the Atlantic side but later run the Caribbean side from Courland Bay to where the road ends.
Did the narrow SUV allow you to gain access to all of the generally recognized public beaches and other areas?
-
Steve Wooler
- myTobago Editor & Chief Anorak
- Posts: 4856
- Joined: Sun Apr 21, 2002 11:00 pm
- Location: Suffolk, England
- Contact:
Hi Leo
With all respect to Bryn, his comments do not take into account one important fact: the insurance on your vehicle will not cover "off road" travel. If you attempt ANY road where the conditions are so bad that they require an SUV, you could be leaving yourself seriously exposed to financial risk if anything goes wrong. Do not under-estimate the cost of recover, repair and possible compensation while the vehicle is unavailable for hire should you get stuck, break the suspension or otherwise have an 'incident' while trying to get down to some remote beach. All the popular beaches are perfectly accessible with ANY vehicle.
The roads on Tobago are not THAT bad. Any middle-market upwards car with a decent suspension system is going to give an adequate drive quality. The small SUVs (they’re all ‘small’ on Tobago) have very stiff suspension – so you actually end up with a far worse ride quality than in most equivalent-costing saloon cars. Having said that, I borrowed a Daihatsu Terios during my last visit and found it a big, big improvement on the old Suzuki’s I’ve been used to, although Sheppy assures me that the latest Suzukis that he’s running have come on a lot.
Having said that, the small SUVs are the most popular rental vehicles on the island. It’s one of the big giveaways that you’re a tourist (as opposed to a resident or regular visitor).
With all respect to Bryn, his comments do not take into account one important fact: the insurance on your vehicle will not cover "off road" travel. If you attempt ANY road where the conditions are so bad that they require an SUV, you could be leaving yourself seriously exposed to financial risk if anything goes wrong. Do not under-estimate the cost of recover, repair and possible compensation while the vehicle is unavailable for hire should you get stuck, break the suspension or otherwise have an 'incident' while trying to get down to some remote beach. All the popular beaches are perfectly accessible with ANY vehicle.
The roads on Tobago are not THAT bad. Any middle-market upwards car with a decent suspension system is going to give an adequate drive quality. The small SUVs (they’re all ‘small’ on Tobago) have very stiff suspension – so you actually end up with a far worse ride quality than in most equivalent-costing saloon cars. Having said that, I borrowed a Daihatsu Terios during my last visit and found it a big, big improvement on the old Suzuki’s I’ve been used to, although Sheppy assures me that the latest Suzukis that he’s running have come on a lot.
Having said that, the small SUVs are the most popular rental vehicles on the island. It’s one of the big giveaways that you’re a tourist (as opposed to a resident or regular visitor).
Steve Wooler
myTobago.info - the definitive Visitor Guide to Tobago
myTobago.info - the definitive Visitor Guide to Tobago
-
Steve Rea
we left it a bit late to book in advance but we ended up getting one through thrifty via our hotel.
We got a hard top diatsu terrios 4wd (which we need a couple of times) and a/c. ok it was a bit more expensive than some other places but was worth it. With the size of the wheels you can almost ignore any potholes. mpg was very good too. It was only a year or two old and was in mint condition and we had no probs at all with it. went all over the island
We got a hard top diatsu terrios 4wd (which we need a couple of times) and a/c. ok it was a bit more expensive than some other places but was worth it. With the size of the wheels you can almost ignore any potholes. mpg was very good too. It was only a year or two old and was in mint condition and we had no probs at all with it. went all over the island