The Best Car to Rent for Palm Springs

The best car to rent for Palm Springs from October to May is the Rolls Royce Dawn. It's a four-seat convertible, and the white one rents for $1,195 a day. From June to September, the midday heat keeps most roofs closed. In those months, the Porsche 911 Turbo S coupe is the better pick.

The desert sets the rules here, and the calendar sets them first. Each of the four cars below fits a month, a road, or a group size. Every one of them can be delivered to your hotel, your rental house, or the airport curb.

Why the month decides the car

Palm Springs has two seasons for a car. The season runs from October to May, when the mornings and evenings are cool enough for an open roof all day.

Summer runs from June to September, and the afternoon sun makes a convertible hard to enjoy until after dark. A convertible in March gets driven with the top down from breakfast to dinner. The same car in August stays closed at noon and only opens after sunset.

So the roof matters more here than horsepower. You're paying for the roof, so book it in the months you can use it.

You walk out of the terminal at Palm Springs Airport, and the San Jacinto Mountains are already in view. PSP is an open-air terminal 2 miles from downtown. The car waits at the curb outside baggage claim, timed to your flight. In January, you can drop the roof before you reach the end of the airport road.

The best car to rent for Palm Springs is the Rolls Royce Dawn

The Dawn wins because it seats four adults in the open. Most convertibles at this level have two seats or a small back bench. The Dawn has real rear seats, so two couples can share one car for the weekend.

The white Dawn has an orange and black cabin. With the roof down, people downtown can see the orange leather from across the street. The roof folds in about 20 seconds, and it works while the car is moving at up to about 30 mph.

The roof is made of six layers of fabric. With it closed, the cabin stays quiet on the freeway and warm on cool desert nights.

The rear-hinged coach doors open backward. Your passengers step out facing forward instead of climbing out sideways. At a resort entrance in Rancho Mirage, the valet sees four people step out of one open Rolls Royce.

The Dawn makes 563 horsepower from a 6.6 liter twin-turbo V12. It reaches 60 mph in 4.7 seconds. It isn't built to be hurried, and it doesn't need to be at 40 mph on Highway 111.

The white Dawn rents for $1,195 a day with a $1,000 deposit. Extra miles are $5 each. The trunk is small, so pack soft bags.

A Ferrari 488 Spider for two people

The Ferrari 488 Spider is the pick when only two of you are going. It has two seats and a metal roof that folds away in 14 seconds. The roof works at up to 30 mph, so you can open it at a light on Highway 111.

The roof stows in its own compartment. That means the trunk holds the same bags whether the roof is up or down. For a couple flying into PSP with carry-ons, the roof never takes the trunk space.

The white 488 Spider has a red interior. Drop the roof, and people on the street see the red seats first. The 3.9 liter twin-turbo V8 sits behind your shoulders and makes 661 horsepower. With the roof down, you hear the engine inside the cabin instead of behind you.

The white 488 Spider rents for $1,295 a day. It carries a $2,000 deposit, and extra miles are $5 each.

The Huracan Spyder for Highway 111 and the hills

The Lamborghini Huracan Spyder is the car for the drive itself. The white Spyder has a V10 engine and all-wheel drive, and its fabric roof folds in 17 seconds. In Strada mode, the exhaust is quiet enough to sit in Highway 111 traffic without drawing a crowd.

One button changes that. Switch to Corsa, and the muffling goes away. Highway 74 is a short run from Palm Springs. Take it with the roof down and the V10 in Corsa.

White suits the desert. In hard midday sun, a dark car loses its edges in photos. The white Huracan keeps every crease and vent visible, so photos on El Paseo in Palm Desert come out sharp at any hour.

The white Spyder rents for $1,195 a day. It carries a $1,000 deposit, and extra miles are $5 each.

The Huracan is also the car people ask for during the Coachella festival weekends in April. The festival is held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio. The parking fields there are dirt, so the Huracan stays at the rental house. It comes out for dinner and for the drive back after dark.

The 911 Turbo S when summer keeps the roof up

From June to September, the Porsche 911 Turbo S coupe is the best pick. The roof stays closed, and the air conditioning stays on. The cabin is quiet enough for the two hours on the I-10 from Los Angeles.

It's also the quickest car in this post. The 911 Turbo S sends 640 horsepower through all four wheels. It reaches 60 mph in 2.6 seconds.

The black 911 Turbo S has four seats and a trunk in the nose. A weekend of soft bags fits. Most people walking past see a black 911, and only the yellow brake calipers hint at what it is.

Early summer mornings are still cool. Leave the hotel at sunrise, and you get the best hours of the day behind the wheel. The black 911 Turbo S rents for $1,195 a day. It carries a $2,000 deposit, and extra miles are $5 each.

Convertible rental in Palm Springs, the four cars side by side

Here is how the four cars compare on the numbers that matter in the desert.

• Rolls Royce Dawn. Four seats. Fabric roof in about 20 seconds. 0 to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds. $1,195 a day with a $1,000 deposit.
• Ferrari 488 Spider. Two seats. Metal roof in 14 seconds. 0 to 60 mph in 3.0 seconds. $1,295 a day with a $2,000 deposit.
• Lamborghini Huracan Spyder. Two seats. Fabric roof in 17 seconds. V10 with all-wheel drive. $1,195 a day with a $1,000 deposit.
• Porsche 911 Turbo S. Four seats. Fixed roof. 0 to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds. $1,195 a day with a $2,000 deposit.

All four include 100 miles a day. On a three-day rental, the miles pool to 300 for the whole trip. The aerial tramway is 15 minutes from the airport. The tram climbs 2.5 miles up the mountain in about 10 minutes. The drive there barely touches your miles.

Palm Springs exotic car rental, miles and nights

We deliver across the Palm Springs area, to hotels, rental houses, resorts, and the curb at PSP. Delivery is quoted by address. If you fly in, the airport handover means your miles go to desert roads instead of the I-10.

A three-day weekend takes 10% off the daily rate, and five days takes 15% off. A full week takes 20% off. The discount comes from the length of the rental, so you don't need to ask for it.

Joshua Tree is about 45 minutes north of the airport. Box Canyon Road is about 20 minutes southeast of Indio. It's an 8-mile road through rock layers twisted by the San Andreas Fault. If your plan includes both, tell us at booking so the extra miles are priced in ahead of time.

Overnight, the car goes to the valet or the hotel garage. You keep the keys with you, and the car doesn't stay on the street.

To rent any of the four, you need to be 18 or older with a valid driver's license. You also need full coverage insurance in your own name. A larger deposit may apply under 25.

A week or two of notice covers most dates. Coachella weekends book out early, and convertibles go first.

Match the roof to the month. From October to May, take the Dawn for four people, or the 488 Spider or the Huracan Spyder for two. From June to September, take the 911 Turbo S and drive it in the early morning.