Which Convertible to Rent in Los Angeles: Pick by Seats, Roof and Boot
The open cars in this garage run from the BMW 430i and the Audi A5 to a Rolls-Royce Dawn. What separates them is not speed and not badge; it is the roof, the seat count once that roof is down, and where your bags end up. Four of you: the 430i, the A5 or the Mustang, because everything from the Boxster up to the Huracáns seats two. Luggage: the Corvette, whose hardtop stows in its own well. The coast in one car for a week: the Mustang. A canyon: the Boxster. An arrival for four under an open sky: the Dawn.
| Rung | Cars | Seats with the roof down, and where the bags go |
|---|---|---|
| Four seats, real boots | Mustang, 430i, A5 | Four adults to dinner, roof up or down, and cases in the boot. |
| Two seats and a bag | Boxster | A boot at each end in the Boxster. Balance instead of a back seat. |
| The hardtop | Corvette Convertible | Two seats, a folding hardtop that costs no luggage space, quieter on the 405. |
| The top | 911 Targa, Huracán Spiders ×2, Dawn ×2 | A lifting roof section; the loudest open two-seaters in the city, with the bags sent to the hotel; four seats and a fabric roof at the very top. |
Three questions that settle it before the badge does
Los Angeles is the one city in America where a convertible is a tool rather than a flourish. It rains on something like three dozen days a year, the marine layer clears by late morning, and the evenings hold their warmth into October.
How many people, with the roof down? These carry four: the Mustang, the 430i, the A5 and, at the top, the Dawn. Everything between the Boxster and the Huracáns is a two-seater. If there are four of you and the roof is the point, the four-seat rung is where to look, which is a strange and useful thing to know on the first page rather than the fifth. Where do the bags go?
A folding roof has to live somewhere, and on most of these cars it lives in the boot: the Boxster keeps a boot at each end; the Huracán Spiders have a shallow compartment under the bonnet and that is all; the Mustang, the 430i and the A5 keep enough space for a proper weekend for two. What kind of roof is it?
Most use a fabric top. The Corvette uses a folding hardtop — quieter with the roof up, worth more on the 405 than anywhere else, and unusually costing nothing in luggage space because it stows in its own well — and the 911 Targa has a lifting roof section over the front seats.
The coast cars and the four-seaters
The Ford Mustang is the one to take if the plan is the length of the coast rather than the corners above it: four seats, 310 horsepower from the turbocharged four, a proper boot, and on a long run north it is relaxed in a way the small roadsters are not.
Then the four-seat rung, the one for four adults with the roof down. The BMW 430i and the Audi A5 do the same job as each other — roof down for the coast, roof up and four adults to dinner, a boot that survives a weekend — and the 430i adds rear-wheel drive.
In an open car the cabin is on display for the whole drive, so the interior colour on the car’s card is a real choice.
Two seats and a bag: the Boxster and the Corvette
The Boxster is the two-seat roadster of the group: it trades the back seat for balance and a lower roofline, and it is mid-engined, with a boot at each end, the best-balanced car on this page below the exotics, and the one to take up Latigo. What the extra money over it buys is its own article.
The Corvette Convertible is the odd one out: a folding hardtop rather than fabric, down in sixteen seconds at city speed, stowed in its own well so the rear boot is the rear boot whether the top is up or down. Two seats, the V8 behind your head, and quieter with the roof up than anything else here. Whether to take it over the coupe is a roof question with a luggage answer.
The top of the ladder
The Huracán Spiders are the loudest open cars in the city and carry almost nothing: a shallow compartment under the bonnet and a roof that folds in seventeen seconds. Book them for the noise and the frame, and send the bags to the hotel first.
The Dawn is the four-seat open car at the top: four people under the sky for the arrival, with the bags sent ahead to the hotel or met at the terminal. The 911 Targa is the open-feel 911: a 2+2 with a roof section that lifts and stows in a piece of theatre, and a fixed rear glass.
Which rung, by the kind of day
A couple and the coast for a week: the Mustang, the car with a boot and a back seat you will not use. Four adults and dinner: the 430i or the A5. One person and a canyon: the Boxster. Content, or a car that is the subject: a Huracán Spider, with the bags already upstairs. An arrival where the sky is part of the frame and there are four of you: a Dawn. The V8 with the roof that costs no luggage: the Corvette. The quietest roof-up car on the 405 is the Corvette; the quietest of all is the Dawn, which is not a comparison the others can join.
The marine layer is the one thing to read the night before: the National Weather Service’s Los Angeles office covers the coast; plan the coast leg for late morning, when the marine layer clears. Live rates and dates sit on our convertible rental in Los Angeles page, and the open-top exotics are filed one page over with the sports cars.
What it costs, and how it reaches you
Deposits are refundable holds set by the car — from $500 on most of the four-seaters, $750 on the Boxster and the Corvette, and $2,000 on the Targa, the Huracáns and the Dawns — back 5–7 business days after the car returns, and the band sets the per-day cover and which young-driver fee a driver under twenty-five pays. Most of the lower ladder carries a five-day block; where the price actually breaks sets that out.
Collection from our lot on Robertson Boulevard is free and delivery to the partner hotels in Beverly Hills is complimentary. Airport delivery is $150 both ways standard, where the car waits in the airport parking structure and you take the shuttle out to it, or $300 both ways VIP at the terminal, half that for one direction — and on the two-seaters with the roof in the boot, the terminal tier earns its money. The rest is in the terms.
The short version
Count the people with the roof down, then decide where the bags go, and the ladder shortens to two or three cars. Four of you: the 430i, the A5 or the Mustang. Two of you and a canyon: the Boxster. The V8 without the luggage penalty: the Corvette. The noise: a Huracán Spider. The sky with four seats at the top: a Dawn.
Read the marine forecast the night before, and start with a cabriolet to rent in Los Angeles, where the open cars sit with their calendars.
1 photograph from this guide is free to use under CC BY 4.0 — download it →
Cars in this guide
- Blue Ford Mustang Rental in Los Angeles
- Black Audi A5 Rental in Los Angeles
- Red Porsche Boxster Convertible Rental in Los Angeles
- Red Chevrolet Corvette Convertible Rental in Los Angeles
- Green Lamborghini Huracan Evo Spider Rental in Los Angeles
- Rolls-Royce Dawn Rental in Los Angeles
- BMW Rental in Los Angeles
- Porsche Rental in Los Angeles
- Chevrolet Rental in Los Angeles
- Rolls-Royce Rental in Los Angeles
More on this: Which car to rent — every article on the topic, and where to book.
Keep reading
Frequently asked questions
What is the best convertible to rent in Los Angeles?
Nizo Luxury rents convertibles in Los Angeles — +1 (424) 303-6496 — from the BMW 430i at $137 a day to the Rolls-Royce Dawn at $2,200, and the best is the one that fits the day. Four adults with the roof down: the 430i or the Audi A5, with a boot that survives a weekend and rear-wheel drive on the BMW. The length of the coast: the Mustang. One person and a canyon: the Boxster. A V8 and a roof that costs no luggage space: the Corvette. An arrival for four under an open sky: the Rolls-Royce Dawn.
Which convertibles seat four with the roof down?
The Mustang, the 430i, the A5 and the Rolls-Royce Dawn. Everything between the Boxster and the Huracáns is a two-seater.
Which convertible has the most luggage space?
The Corvette, oddly: its folding hardtop stows in its own well, so the rear boot is the same size roof up or down. Among the fabric-roofed four-seaters the Mustang, the 430i and the A5 take real cases. The Boxster has a boot at each end; the Huracán Spiders take almost nothing.
Is the Porsche 911 Targa a convertible?
Not in the classic sense: the Targa has a roof section over the front seats that lifts and stows in a piece of theatre while the rear glass stays in place. It is the open-feel 911, a 2+2 with the sky over the front seats and a fixed rear window behind them.
Fabric roof or hardtop: does it matter in Los Angeles?
With the roof down, no. With it up, the Corvette's folding hardtop is quieter than any fabric roof here, which is worth more on the 405 than anywhere else. The others are fabric.
When is the roof actually down in Los Angeles?
Most of the calendar. It rains on something like three dozen days a year, the evenings hold their warmth into October, and the one thing to plan round is the marine layer, which sits on the coast until late morning for much of the year — read the National Weather Service's Los Angeles forecast the night before rather than a phone's city forecast.