I want to hire an 'Interesting' car, Orlando.

[Blib]

I'm off to Orlando/Daytona for the Daytona 500 next month.

I'm looking to hire an 'interesting' car to hoon about in for the week. So far, I've come up with a boggo Mustang from Avis & a Chevrolet Corvette ZHZ from Hertz. The latter is tempting but expensive, for me anyway.

Anyone know of a specialist place over there with something a bit out of the ordinary for me to hire?

Thanks.

[vz-r_dave]

Hummer H3

[MoonMonkey]

We're hoping to go later this year and I've told the mrs it's conditional on me getting something like a V8 mustang or similar. Will be interesting to see how you get on

[Blib]

vz-r_dave said:

Hummer H3

Yeah, I know.

[Matt Harper]

http://www.floridaexoticcarrentals.com/

[RacerMDR]

oh oh, there was a place near my hotel. Ferraris, SLRs all sorts in there.

now then, where was it.............I got lost a bit when out there.......

Look up the Holiday Inn towards the waterpark......its on the same side as that, but driving towards the airport.

not much help I know :-)

[Blib]

Matt, you ever thought about going into the travel business?



p.s. I've just got my tickets for the 500 & Nationwide races. Both in the Sprint Tower.

[Blib]

Thanks racermdr.

[Matt Harper]

Blib said:

Matt, you ever thought about going into the travel business?



p.s. I've just got my tickets for the 500 & Nationwide races. Both in the Sprint Tower.

Excellent news, Elliott! Well done with Sprint Tower seats - very commanding view of the entire speedway. Last time I was at that spot, it was called the Nextel Tower and was a guest of UPS. The corporate hospitality and the view was pretty spectacular. You might want to look into renting a track-scanner, great for listening to the verbel back and forth between drivers, their spotters and the pit crew.
Let me know when you've got your plans finalized - perhaps meet-up for a few beers while you're over here.
Any other local (Central FL) info required - just shout up.

[MonkeyBusiness]

Whenever I have hired a car, I've always got something different from what I ordered (always an upgrade though). Don't hire companies always have a 'subject to availabilty' clause?

[Arese]

I hired a standard Corvette C6 from Hertz a couple of years ago, when i visited Orlando. Took it down to Miami for a couple of days, coming back the touristy way. 6.2 V8, 420bhp, plenty of fun. Will be cheaper than the special Hertz one too.

[Blib]

Arese said:

I hired a standard Corvette C6 from Hertz a couple of years ago, when i visited Orlando. Took it down to Miami for a couple of days, coming back the touristy way. 6.2 V8, 420bhp, plenty of fun. Will be cheaper than the special Hertz one too.

Thanks Arese. Unfortunately, the standard Corvette is not available that week according to the Hertz site. I think I'll hire a Mustang from Avis. They don't state 'or similar' on that model and to be honest even though my heart says go for the mega Corvette, my head says that £600 for five days is too much.



(Still, my heart may yet prevail!)

[Blib]

Matt Harper said:

Blib said:

Matt, you ever thought about going into the travel business?



p.s. I've just got my tickets for the 500 & Nationwide races. Both in the Sprint Tower.

Excellent news, Elliott! Well done with Sprint Tower seats - very commanding view of the entire speedway. Last time I was at that spot, it was called the Nextel Tower and was a guest of UPS. The corporate hospitality and the view was pretty spectacular. You might want to look into renting a track-scanner, great for listening to the verbel back and forth between drivers, their spotters and the pit crew.
Let me know when you've got your plans finalized - perhaps meet-up for a few beers while you're over here.
Any other local (Central FL) info required - just shout up.

Matt, thanks once again for your help and advice. I'd love to meet up with you if possible. I'll e-mail nearer the time if that's OK?

I don't drink though so it will have to be Coca Cola for me.

[Matt Harper]

Blib said:

Arese said:

I hired a standard Corvette C6 from Hertz a couple of years ago, when i visited Orlando. Took it down to Miami for a couple of days, coming back the touristy way. 6.2 V8, 420bhp, plenty of fun. Will be cheaper than the special Hertz one too.

Thanks Arese. Unfortunately, the standard Corvette is not available that week according to the Hertz site. I think I'll hire a Mustang from Avis. They don't state 'or similar' on that model and to be honest even though my heart says go for the mega Corvette, my head says that £600 for five days is too much.



(Still, my heart may yet prevail!)

Trouble with renting the Hertz 'vettes is that they have a unique paintjob that very easily identifies the car as a renter, which in turn tends to attract theiving bds, who sometimes assume that being a tourist, the car will have all of your valuables in it.
V6 Mustang is a pretty mundane mid-range snore-mobile. In reality, the "or similar" might be a better vehicle (unless you've gone for a convertible, in which case the alternate is an equally uninspiring Chrysler Sebring). Mainstream car rental options are a bit disappointing really.
I know this is going to sound like I'm huffing paint - and I am a little biased, I'd go for a 5.7 Chrysler 300C - a premium full-size, only offered by the big guys (Hertz, Avis and Enterprise).
Blib, the fact that you don't drink makes me deeply suspicious of you. Healthy-living, sober types scare the be-jesus out of me.

[stigmundfreud]

we did 3000+ miles in the sebring in the summer. Actually it was a bloody comfy car with good stereo which matters

but it wasnt special

[Blib]

I thought about the 300c but decided to go for the Mustang. After what I've paid for flights,hotel room, tickets to the races etc, it will have to suffice.

MattHarper said:

Blib, the fact that you don't drink makes me deeply suspicious of you. Healthy-living, sober types scare the be-jesus out of me.

I used to drink.....I used to drink a lot.

[Streetrod]

RacerMDR said:

oh oh, there was a place near my hotel. Ferraris, SLRs all sorts in there.

now then, where was it.............I got lost a bit when out there.......

Look up the Holiday Inn towards the waterpark......its on the same side as that, but driving towards the airport.

not much help I know :-)

I know that place, they had some very heavy metal on the forecourt including a Saleen S7. Very silly money though.

[Arese]

Matt Harper said:

Trouble with renting the Hertz 'vettes is that they have a unique paintjob that very easily identifies the car as a renter...

You can rent the standard ones though. This was my beauty...absolutely loved it. Hoping to rent another this year, and take it from Las Vegas to California

[Fastra]

Be careful when they offer to 'give you a break' and upgrade you though!!!!

Happened to me at Alamo Car Hire a few years ago.
Got to the reception and was served by this 'really, really' nice bloke. He asked me how many people in my party and what luggage we had (there were 5 and normal luggage - 1 case each) and said that we'd struggle in the large seddan I'd booked. So he offered to 'give me a break' and upgraded me to this big feck off Chrysler People carrier thing. He passed forms for me to sign and that was it.

5 weeks after returning I looked at my credit card bill. It was amiss to the tune of £320!!! This was down to Alama charging me for the upgrade. I made quite a few calls to Alamo to complain and got nowhere, my main point being at no point did the guy ever mention a cost implication! They argued I should have read the agreement form (of course in hindsight I should have!!) but after a stty 9 hour flight, which also had been delayed 4 hours, I argued how can anyone really read these things in a busy, car hire reception area!! I got no where and had to pay!!


The daft thing is that my parents were with me and had booked the same car, and this actually turned out to be plenty big enough and would have easily done the job!

Bugger!

[LuS1fer]

Don't expect a lot from the V6 Mustang - it's more a Capri than a muscle car even with 210hp. The V6 has no rear sway bar in stock spec and the suspension will be stock soft. The hire car will have the base all-plastic interior. I'm telling you this so you won't expect too much or be disappointed. It's a hire car that looks like a Mustang - no more,no less.

I managed to get a Charger 3.5V6 which has a bit more room in the back but you won't be writing home about that either.

If you want a decent car, it's the Vette all the way. Failing that the Pontiac G8 is the US version of the VX8R. Ultimately, the roads are so undemanding that it doesn't really matter what you hire.