Mercedes-Benz

Which Mercedes-Benz to Pick

A Mercedes-Benz rental is really a choice between 3 badges. Rent a Mercedes-Benz to arrive and be noticed and you want AMG, the G63, the GT R, the GT 63 or the S63. Rent one to arrive and be assumed senior and you want the factory speaking in its own voice, the G550 or the S580. Rent one to be driven, and you want Maybach, the S580 Maybach or the GLS 600. It is the luxury car rental with the widest spread of reasons.

The G-Wagon is the shape everyone recognises. The G550 carries the shape without the AMG noise, for anyone who wanted the object rather than the association. The G63 is the hand-built AMG V8 with side exhausts, the default arrival car. The G-Wagon Brabus is built by a tuner that is not Mercedes, and it is the music video car.

The AMG GT R is the enthusiast's AMG, a 2-seat coupe with a firm ride and an exhaust that never shuts up. Book it for the drive and the noise, not for a date or a wedding. The AMG GT 63 is the 4-door with the same face on the front and 4 adults inside, and it is not the 2-seat GT. The S63 is an S-Class with an AMG V8 under it, the executive silhouette with a private payoff on start-up.

The S580 is the diplomat's car, the one nobody is criticised for arriving in. The S580 Maybach stretches it and adds a rear compartment that reclines to 43.5 degrees. The Maybach GLS 600 is the SUV version, with 2 reclining rear seats, a fridge in the armrest and a stair that folds out at the curb. Both Maybachs are for someone else to drive.

What a Mercedes-Benz Says

Mercedes-Benz is the badge that works at both ends of the room. An S-Class says someone senior, probably being driven, probably not to be interrupted. A G63 says celebrity, athlete, money that wants to be seen. A Maybach splits the audience in 2. An insider reads a Rolls Royce alternative. Everyone else reads a big Mercedes, and that gap is the whole product.

The unflattering reads are specific. The G-Wagon tax write-off. The Kardashian car outside a boutique. A Maybach as a long S-Class with badges. The G has the cleanest answer, since it was developed as a military off-roader, was in armed service by the early 80s, and still carries 3 locking differentials, a grab handle for the passenger and a door that shuts with a sound Mercedes protects as a design feature.

Where the Presence Comes From

Every AMG engine is built by a single person in Affalterbach, cold-tested before it ever runs, and signed. The vertical-slat Panamericana grille on every AMG is a tribute to the 300SL that won a Mexican road race in the 50s.

The S-Class and Maybach cars steer their rear wheels, opposite the fronts below 37 mph and with them above, so a car this long turns like a compact. A fragrance flacon in the glove box pulses scent into ionised, charcoal-filtered air rather than running it constantly, so your nose never stops noticing it. The AMG cars have their own perfume, sandalwood and ginger, called Number 63. The Maybach GLS puts hot stone massage in the back seats and 27 speakers around them. The door closes with an engineered thud. Mercedes has a sound quality manager whose job that is.

Mercedes-Benz Rentals Across Southern California

Los Angeles is the natural home of the G-Wagon. A black G63 outside a Beverly Hills boutique is close to wallpaper, and the same car in the desert draws a crowd. The Maybach GLS 600 is the airport pickup car for this whole region, a single vehicle for 4 people and their luggage. The S580 Maybach is the wedding and red carpet sedan. The AMG GT R belongs on Angeles Crest at 7 am with the exhaust open, and nowhere near a 3-hour freeway crawl. The G550 belongs on a Big Bear weekend, the one booking where the 3 lockers are a story.

We deliver Mercedes-Benz rentals across Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, the Inland Empire and Palm Springs, to hotels, residences, venues and the curb at LAX, SNA, BUR, LGB, ONT, SAN and PSP. Mercedes-Benz rentals run from $395 to $1,195 a day depending on the car. Weekly rates drop the per-day price.

Drive a Mercedes-Benz

In a G63 you sit upright behind a flat windscreen, and the V8 starts with a boom and burbles at every light. It does not want to be hurried through a corner. It wants to be seen going through it slowly. The AMG GT R is the opposite, low, long-bonneted, the ride about 20% firmer than a public road needs, and the exhaust never quiet even in Comfort.

The S-Class is a different sensation entirely. On a parking maneuver the rear wheels turn the wrong way and a car this long swings around in a space a compact could not. In the Maybach the drive is in the back seat. Recline, raise the footrest, pick the massage, and the outside world goes away. Public roads only. Track use is not permitted.