OT: Porsche Rental in Spain

Hi Everyone, I know this is a bit off topic but can anyone recommend a good 996/997 Cabriolet or a 986/987 rental place in Barcelona? I am off to Spain next week and I am considering driving down the coast from Barcelona to Valencia. I realize it is easier to just take the highspeed train but I think driving a convertible would be a lot more fun. This will be my first time in Spain. I will be visiting Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia; eventually ending in Bu�ol for La Tomatina -- the world's largest tomato fight! ( http://www.donquijote.org/culture/sp...s/tomatina.asp ) For those of you who have been to La Tomatina... do you have any advice before I go in to battle? I already have an underwater case for my Sony digital camera (I don't want the camera ruined by tomato acid) but what else do I need? I am thinking about wearing my swim goggles but that might look too geeky -- because we all know you have to be fashionable during a tomato fight. If any Rennlisters are going to the festival, PM me and I will PM you back my Spanish mobile number. We can meet up for sangria after the m�l�e. Thanks, -G

I'd recommend against renting a car, unless you take maximum insurance. When I was young I always used to take my car to the Spanish Costa. Nearly every year something happened (theft, damage,..). Net, the Spanish Costa is full of crooks, you don't want to take any risks over there.

Thanks for the advice, Yves. I really enjoyed driving from Rome up the Italian Riviera and then west to the French Riviera a couple of years ago. I drove my own car (a MB SLK320 that I had while I lived in Italy) and it was fully insured ($350+ per month!) so I wasn't too worried. I thought I would try driving a rental from Barcelona to Valencia but the more I reasearch it the less feasible it looks.

I rented a car in barcelona 2 weeks ago from the airport, drove down to valencia, near the tomato throwing thing. All pretty cool. Would not rent a porsche as the compaany would probably stiff you for a scratch or something. http://www.carrentals.co.uk/ can get a merc through this site I used. We have in-house apartments to rent in Barcelona and Madrid if you have no accommodation already. http://www.apartmentsapart.com/ I can suggest something if you are interested. Also I can reccommend a dead nice hotel we stayed in Valencia. Rooms were large and good value http://www.booking.com/hotel/es/vinccilys.html

Thanks for that link, care4era. Hmmm, Euro 635 for a Merc E Class or 5 Series Bimmer... I think I may have to go for the Renault Espace!

Yeah, I went for the Citroen clown vehicle, 107 euro for 2.5 days but it served the puropse. You have a zillion tolls to go through too on the way to Valencia, so that is an extra 40 euro in each direction to and from Barcelona.

Just came back from 11 days in Barcelona. Rented some kind of Opel for 5 days 120 Euro per day after an online search while over there. added insurance too. Went north on road trips to various little Spanish port towns and beaches, LOTS of driving in the Pyrennes on both the Spanish and French sides. Fabulous mountain villages and roads. Made it all the way to Andorra, that very small country in the mountains between Spain and France. I had a lot of fun just driving that Opel with the family. Going north certainly leads to very cool roads. If going south has roads as fun and you can swing what will probably be an expensive rental, I would say go for it!! Just get the insurance, double check with your US insurance carrier too and have a blast. Swimming in the tomato soup sounds fun but I can ghuarantee you the beaches up north are most scenic, the mountain roads close to heaven in a Porsche I bet.

Thanks for the comments guys. The lowest price I could find on the web for a Porsche rental in Barcelona was $1,099 for a Boxster (986) for 3 days. A 997 Cabriolet was $1,400 for 3 days. A Merc SLK is not that much cheaper at $900 for 3 days. It looks like I'll be taking the high-speed train!

From my experience over the years (I'm Dutch, living in US and going to Europe quite often), this is the best website for Euro car rentals. By far the cheapest of everything I've tried over the years. http://www.argusrentals.com/