The Land Rover Defender, like the Jeep CJ and Toyota FJ-series, is an iconic automobile. Available in D90 and D110 configurations (though unfortunately, the D110 was never officially sold in the United States), the Defender (and its Land Rover ancestor) has been a staple of governments, militaries, and the off-roading community for decades. Yet with many other classic cars before it, increasingly stringent emission regulations and changing buyer demands have made the Land Rover Defender a relic. To gauge interest in a possible replacement, and to tease some of the technologies we may be able to expect in the future, Land Rover is deputing the DC100 concept at the upcoming Frankfurt International Motor Show.
World Wrestling Entertainment filmed their latest episode of “Raw” in San Diego August 16th, and San Diego Prestige had the distinct pleasure of working with the entertainment company to provide a little slice of luxury and excitement for their Monday night show! Undisputed champion Alberto Del Rio arrived to his title fight with challenger Ray Mysterio in a beautiful Ferrari F430 Spyder, causing quite a stir.
The idea of a track-bred Mercedes Benz catches many people off guard, and perhaps not without reason. The company has established a well-known and well-deserved reputation as one of the preeminent luxury car manufacturers in the world, making such cars as the S550 and GL450. What many people fail to realize however is that Mercedes Benz has been extensively involved in motor sports over the decades. The company currently campaigns a team in Formula One and has run sports cars successfully at Le Mans as well as in the German DTM touring car series and the old Group A racing series. Needless to say, the company – especially AMG – knows what it’s doing when it comes to building track-bred cars. With the Black Series, Mercedes can branch out from its core audience and offer performance-minded customers the ultimate performance machine. Much in the same vein as Lamborghini’s Super Leggera and Super Veloce models and Ferrari’s Challenge Stradale, Scuderia, and GTO variants, the Black Series represents the best of the best.
Spotted at an impromptu (or not so impromptu) test session in Europe recently was none other than the next generation Mercedes Benz C63 AMG Black Series, the spiritual successor to the original CLK63 AMG Black Series. Taking its DNA from the German touring car series, the original CLK63 AMG was a truly staggering performance car that was capable of going from point A to B on a racetrack in remarkable fashion and little time. We have one in our sports car rental fleet and can attest to its performance. To say that it could hold its own with the best from Italy is no exaggeration. So how will the new model perform? With a purported 6.2 liter naturally-aspirated V8 engine producing 510 horsepower and 472 ft.lbs of torque and a curb weight that is 44 pounds lighter than the original model, the new car is shaping up to be quite the beast and more than worthy of the Black Series title.
If you are a fan of german engineering and want to experience one of the most exciting, most poised, finest built sports cars available, you owe it to yourself to try out the CLK63 Black Series. And do it before its younger brother, the C63 AMG Black Series, shows up on the scene and steals the show!
We’re no strangers to yachts at San Diego Prestige. In fact, our yacht charters are quite popular and our fleet of rental yachts has something for nearly everyone, from high-powered motor yachts to cruisers and sail boats. But nothing in our fleet comes close to the Aurelia, a new super yacht christened for an Australian motorsport enthusiast. The 121ft long yacht, named after the legendary Lancia coupe, is equipped with two 3,648 horsepower V16 turbo diesels and is capable of more than 30 knots on the open ocean, no small feat for a vessel of this size. The most striking feature of the vessel is without question its paint job, err, livery. Painted in the iconic racing colors of Gulf, light blue and emergency orange, the vessel looks absolutely striking. Whether it looks good or not is up to the individual – as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder – but there’s no questioning whether it draws attention or not. It does so in spades!
Keeping in line with its motor sport inspired design, the owner wasn’t satisfied just outfitting the yacht with extremely powerful engines and a race-inspired livery that can be seen from miles away. The interior cabins are also designed with classic racing colors and motifs in mind. Bertone, Pininfarina, and Zagato are all paid homage to in the interior cabins. The only thing that the boat is missing is a garage with a gulf-liveried Porsche 917! Without question, the boat demands attention, and the overall plan is pretty well executed, we must admit, but we don’t know where we stand on this one. Is it too gaudy? Or is it an awesome tribute to one of motor sports most iconic and legendary liveries? And would you paint your yacht like it?
We just recently added the beautiful SLS to our Mercedes Benz rental fleet, and now the company has officially launched the convertible version of the two-seat flagship. And we must say, we kind of love it! Not that anything could make the standard SLS look anything less than drop dead stunning, but if anything had a fighting chance, it would be the roadster version. Hard to imagine that Mercedes Benz could outdo themselves, but we must say, we are particularly smitten with this car. The long nose seems to work even better with the top down, and ponder this: the available soft top colors include not only the obligatory black, but tan and red as well! We can’t help but think that red leather and a red soft top on a silver or black SLS roadster would look simply stunning!
The fear of course is that by turning the coupe into a convertible, it somehow resulted in a compromised car that fails to deliver. Though we’ve yet to drive one (we don’t feel too bad of course; nobody has driven one yet!), the car only weighs 88 pounds more than the coupe, is rated to have a top speed of 197 mph, and is very likely a more convenient car than its coupe sibling despite it having a soft top. The gull wing doors on the standard SLS are perhaps its most defining feature, and are stunning in person, but can prove quite a hindrance if you happen to find your car blocked in on either side in a parking lot! In a tight squeeze, it’s much easier to get into your car by sliding behind your door than underneath it! Whether it’s more convenient or not though is irrelevant when it comes to a car like this. The car is beautiful - what more needs to be said?
We can’t think of many cars that look as good or better in roadster form than in coupe form (the F430 Spyder perhaps?) but the SLS is one of those cars. What do you think? Is the new 2012 Mercedes Benz SLS Roadster better looking than its coupe sibling? Which car would be your first choice, the gull wing or the convertible? And perhaps most importantly of all, which color soft top would you buy? We’d love to know!
Porsche is at it again. It seems every other month, the company is releasing a new model of some sort, whether it be a hybrid version of the Cayenne or Panamera or an even hotter version of an already decidedly hot car like the 911 turbo, GT3, and yes, even the ridiculous GT2. Not surprisingly, the men and women in Stuttgart have yet another car to grace us with, and we must say… we’re not complaining!
For hardcore enthusiasts not content with the performance of the 911 Carrera S, Porsche offers the track tuned, naturally aspirated, rear wheel drive GT3. By all measures, it is a brilliant car that takes the 911’s best traits and makes them better while de-emphasising anything that takes away from the driving experience. On the track, where the GT3 belongs, the car is nothing short of spectacular. And yet, Porsche sees fit to offer an RS version of the car because apparently for some, the standard GT3 just won’t suffice! The MKII version of the 997 GT3 RS includes center lock wheels straight off of the company’s cup racing car and a built-in roll cage. With its 3.8 liter flat six engine producing north of 400 horsepower, the car is faster around a race track than nearly any other car in the company’s line up, including the Turbo. But apparently, even the standard RS is too tame for some!
The new GT3 RS 4.0 is for all intents and purposes a street legal version of the RSR cup racing car. Bumped up in displacement from 3.8 liters to 4.0 liters, the flat six engine features dry sump oil lubrication, revs upwards of 9,000 rpm, and produces 500 naturally aspirated horsepower. That amount of power is equal to that of the current Corvette Z06, which makes do with a 7.0 liter V8! To handle this power, the car features slightly revised aerodynamics from that found on the “standard” GT3 RS, with canards on the front bumper for improved down force and a slightly modified rear wing. Performance figures haven’t yet been released, but we can’t help but imagine that a sub 7:30 lap time at the Nurburgring is possible with this car! Needless to say, the car appears ready to take on all comers, from the new 458 Italia to the 2012 Nissan GTR.
We love Porsches at San Diego Prestige - our Porsche rental fleet should illustrate that quite well - and we would love to get our hands on this new ultimate GT3, but something tells us they might be somewhat hard to come by! So for the Porschephiles out there, the question is: what would you prefer, the GT3 RS 4.0 or the GT2?
In its 20th year, le tour auto is a road rally run through the French countryside. Both a celebration of antique cars - as well as the latest offerings from the world’s greatest marquees, including Ferrari, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and more - and an homage to motor sports’ past, le tour auto draws huge crowds along its route. Participants pilot their cars along stages, mostly consisting of public roads, in much the same spirit as the famous Mille Miglia motor race. But like the contemporary version of the Mille Miglia, which is no longer a competitive event, the primary goal of participants and organizers alike is to showcase some of the world’s finest cars on some of the world’s finest roads in a fun, safe, and accessible manner. We were lucky enough to witness the tour pass through the town of Bordeaux and can say without reservation that it was a tremendous experience.
Once more, the greatest drivers in the world will be hitting the track for head-to-head competition
in some of the most sophisticated race cars ever built. After a stellar 2010 season which saw the
championship battle go down to the final round in Abu Dhabi, the 2011 season begins this weekend
in Melbourne, Australia. If you are a car enthusiast or motor sport enthusiast, then you are likely as
anxious and excited as we are for the new season to get underway. There are some significant changes
from last year that look to make this season as exciting, if not more exciting, than 2010 was. (more…)
As devout tifosi, we must admit that we are intrigued by the new Ferrari Four, also known as the Ferrari FF. It is a clear departure from anything that they have done in the past, and is in stark contrast to the company’s current lineup of cars. Four wheel drive and shooting brake are not typically terms that you associate with the Maranello company. But to be honest, the 612 Scaglietti and the 456 that it replaced were for all intents and purposes forgotten by not only the public, but enthusiasts alike. With brilliant cars like the F430 and 599, the more stately, more mature GT cars at the upper end of the Ferrari range seemed to blend into the background, like a well-respected and well-mannered host at a party. We get a sense that Ferrari was aware of that reputation, and the FF is the result.
The long-awaited replacement of the Lamborghini Murcielago, and the spiritual successor of the Diablo and famed Countach - the Aventador LP700-4 - has finally been revealed at the Genevamotorshow. Featuring a 691 horsepower 6.5 liter V12 engine, Lamborghini’s proprietary and all-new7-speed ISR (independent shifting rods) single-clutch sequential gearbox with paddle activation, in-board suspension for improved handling, and carbon-fiber monocoque, the Aventador is quite simplythe fastest, most advanced street car that Lamborghini has ever produced! As Lamborghini fans, we areanxious to get our hands on one and see how it performs in the real world.
While the outgoing Murcielago was a tremendously capable car, it was often overshadowed by thesmaller, nimbler V10-powered Lamborghini Gallardo, a fact of which was not lost on the companyfrom Bologna, Italy. In fact, if you want to experience one of the finest motor cars in the world, our Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder will not disappoint, we can assure you! With the Aventador, Lamborghini is once again producing a car that leaves no debate as to which model occupies thetop tier of the totem. Inspired by the million dollar, limited edition Reventon and featuring the mostadvanced technology currently available, the Aventador appears set to take on the world!
If you’re interested in driving the Aventador, please let us know. We’re constantly looking to expandour exotic car rental fleet to meet our clients’ needs, and if there’s sufficient demand, we might just addthe new Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4!
