Grunden makes a good foul weather jacket, neo cuffs and all. It's just a heavy. Hellie Hansen (whatever the spelling) used to make a great one-piece light pull over. But they seem to have stopped (if anyone knows of a comperable make light one-piece top please let me know!). The thing is you don't want to be hot under the jacket. You'll sweat and even in the summer that can chill you, not to mention be uncomfortable.
As for a vehicle, I agree with Fishpart. Unless you really expect to spend days riding the open beach a 4x4 for just driving to fishing spots is overkill. Not sure how much open beach driving access you have in CT.
Now I'm going to say something you probably don't want to hear: Even if you have real expectations of driving the beach regularly, I still would advise against an SUV as your first car. While 4x4's and pickups are more car-like today than the models of 20-30 years ago, it's still a different class of automobile. Spend a few years getting experience driving a passenger car. Then look into a 4x4. Along the way see if you can take a "test" ride with someone who has a 4x4 or maybe rent one for the weekend. You have to crawl before you can run.
