Porsche Models Explained: Which One Fits Your Week in Los Angeles
The Porsches in this garage are four cars, and the roof decides before the badge does. Two seats and the sky: the 718 Boxster. Two seats and a fixed roof: the 718 Cayman. The flat-six and the badge everybody reads: the 911, or the Targa if the roof has to fold in front of an audience. If you pictured a 911, the coupe and the Targa are here; if you pictured a 911 and are bringing three people, none of the four seats a third adult for a whole trip, and the five-seat answer is further down this page.
| What matters | Figure | What kind of number that is |
|---|---|---|
| Two-seaters | 718 Boxster, 718 Cayman | Open, or with a fixed roof. Mid-engined flat-fours. |
| Two-plus-twos | 911, 911 Targa 4S | A coupe, or a roof that folds behind a hoop. Rear-engined flat-sixes. |
| Deposit bands | 2 | Boxster and Cayman in the lower; both 911s in the top one. |
| Cheapest way in | $286/day | The Boxster. The 911 Targa is about two and a half times that. |
| Roof comes down | Boxster, Targa | Boxster in about ten seconds; Targa in about nineteen. The rest are fixed. |
Four cars, and the roof decides
A Porsche search in Los Angeles is usually a search for a 911, and the coupe and the Targa are both here. The more useful question is how many people are coming and whether the roof comes down, because that removes most of the models before the badge gets a vote.
Two people and a road: the 718s. Two people and an audience: the 911s. Three or more people, hard cases or a whole week of errands: none of the four, and the section on five seats says what to take instead. Every one of them is on the Porsche page with live dates and rates, and every one carries the same crest, the same steering feel and the same PDK gearbox with paddles.
The two mid-engined 718s: Boxster and Cayman
The 718 is the mid-engined car in the range — a 2.0-litre turbocharged flat-four between the axles, 300 horsepower, sixty in about 4.9 seconds — and it comes as two bodies that share everything but the roof. The Boxster is the open one: a fabric roof that folds in about ten seconds and takes no luggage space with it, because there is a boot at each end and the roof stows between them.
Two soft bags in the front, one behind the engine, and a weekend for two works. The Cayman is the same car with a fixed roof, in a saturated blue over gold wheels, and it is the one to take when the day is a canyon morning and the roof was never going to come down: same balance, a quieter cabin on the 405 afterwards, and a rate a long way under the 911s.
What both are for, in this city specifically: the coast road before the marine layer burns off, Mulholland at seven in the morning, Latigo and Stunt Road, and any evening where the point is to arrive with the roof already down. Four people, hard cases or a week of errands do not fit, and the section on five seats below is for exactly that. The argument everybody has — the 718 against the car above it — has its own page: Boxster versus 911, and what the extra money buys.
The 911 and the Targa: what the badge buys
The 911 hangs a 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat-six behind the rear axle, seats two plus two occasional passengers, and keeps a boot in the nose that takes two weekend bags. It is narrow enough for a Beverly Hills side street, civilised on a patched surface, and genuinely easy to drive slowly, which almost nothing else in its bracket is. Ours is a coupe in full racing yellow, the shade that keeps every line of the shape visible after midday. If the engine is the reason, the flat-six is explained separately.
Porsche’s own 911 body-type overview splits the range by shape, which is the right way round. The Carrera is the base car and the shape everybody means. The Cabriolet is the conventional soft top. The Targa is neither: a fixed brushed hoop behind the seats, a wraparound glass rear window with no C-pillars, and a roof panel that folds itself away in about nineteen seconds of visible mechanism.
Ours is a Targa 4S — 443 horsepower, all-wheel drive, agate grey — and it is the most theatrical car in the garage and the heaviest way to remove a roof. Above those sit the GT cars and the Turbo, which are explanation rather than inventory. The comparison people actually search for is Targa against Carrera: the coupe is the lightest and purest, the Targa buys the roof theatre and the wraparound glass. If you want the classic photograph, the Targa; if you want the best-driving one, the coupe.
When the week needs five seats
Every Porsche on this page carries two people properly, and the 911s two more for a short hop. A third adult for the whole trip, hard cases or a week of errands is a different brief, and it belongs to an SUV: the Maserati Grecale is the compact one, with five real seats and a tailgate that takes hard cases the roadster cannot even acknowledge.
If the week needs more room than that, the Range Rover Sport is the size up, and if the SUV shelf beyond the crest is the question, every SUV we rent in Los Angeles is on one page. When the week has a road in it too, take a 718 or a 911 across the same dates and let the SUV do the days with people in them.
Where the price breaks on a longer booking: every quote here is the cheapest combination of the daily, five-day and twenty-one-day rates that covers your dates. On the Boxster the five-day block beats five days outright.
Match the model to the day
| The day | The car | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday morning on the coast | Boxster | The roof is the entire point and it folds in seconds. |
| A canyon morning, roof not coming down | Cayman | Same balance as the Boxster, a quieter cabin on the way home. |
| A birthday where the car is the centrepiece | 911 | The badge everybody reads, in the colour nobody misses. |
| A forecourt where people should watch | Targa | Nineteen seconds of roof, and all-wheel drive for a damp morning. |
| A working week in the city | Grecale | Five seats and a tailgate; not a Porsche, and the right car for the days with people in them. |
| Airport arrival, four people, luggage | Grecale or Range Rover Sport | Four people and soft bags in the Grecale, with a sports car for a morning on the same dates; for four big cases, the Range Rover Sport. |
| Both halves of one trip | SUV plus sports car | Taken across the same dates, the SUV does the days with people in them. |
Two things worth knowing
Porsche and 911 are not the same word, and the range is wider than either. Somebody who calls asking for a Porsche usually wants one of three things — the roof, the badge, or the seats — and each is a different car here. Naming which one you want saves the two-minute conversation.
Under twenty-five, the 911s are the dear ones. The young-driver fee follows the deposit band: both 911s sit in the top one and carry the higher fee and the higher daily cover, while the Boxster and the Cayman take the lower.
What it costs, and how it reaches you
Two refundable deposit bands: the Boxster and Cayman in the lower, the two 911s in the top one. Each comes back 5–7 business days after the car returns. The Protection plan is priced per day off the deposit band, so it is lower on the 718s and highest on the 911s; your own full policy works instead if it extends to a rental of this value. The live calendars and rates are on the Porsche page; where the price breaks on a longer booking differs by car, as above.
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, where it is at the terminal when you walk out — half that for one direction.
With luggage, take the VIP handover at the terminal. Drivers are twenty-one and up with a licence held two years; under twenty-five there is a young-driver fee per day, the lower of the two on everything except the 911s. Mileage, fuel and the rest are in the terms.
The short version
The choice is rarely close once the seat count is known. Two people and a road: the Boxster, or the Cayman if the roof stays up. Two people and an audience: the 911, or the Targa if the roof has to fold. Three or more: an SUV, because none of the four seats a third adult for a week. Porsche splits its own range by body, and so does this garage.
All of them are on the Porsche page with their calendars. If it had to be a 911, it is here with its dates; if it had to be a 911 and three people are coming, take the Maserati Grecale for the days with people in them and the 911 for the morning.
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Cars in this guide
- Yellow Porsche 911 Rental in Los Angeles
- Grey Porsche 911 Targa Rental in Los Angeles
- Red Porsche Boxster Convertible Rental in Los Angeles
- Blue Porsche 718 Cayman Rental in Los Angeles
- Black Maserati Grecale Rental in Los Angeles
- Black Land Rover Range Rover Sport Rental in Los Angeles
- Porsche Rental in Los Angeles
More on this: Which car to rent — every article on the topic, and where to book.
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Frequently asked questions
Boxster vs Cayman vs 911: which is the one to take for a canyon road?
Nizo Luxury would give you one of the 718s — +1 (424) 303-6496 — the Boxster at $286 or the Cayman at $329 a day — and between them it is the roof. Both are mid-engined, light and talkative at a speed you can legally hold; the Boxster opens in ten seconds and the Cayman keeps a quieter cabin for the drive home. The 911 is faster everywhere and carries the badge everybody reads, which makes it the one to take when the arrival matters as much as the road.
Which Porsche seats the most people, and what if five are coming?
The 911, which seats two properly plus two occasional rear seats — a child, a jacket, a bag, an adult for a short hop across Beverly Hills. If a third adult is coming for the whole trip, none of the four Porsches is the answer: the Maserati Grecale seats five and its tailgate takes hard cases, and for four big cases the Range Rover Sport is the size up. For a week with a road in it as well, add a 718 or a 911 on the same dates and let the SUV do the days with people in them.
What is the difference between a 911 Targa and a Carrera?
The roof, and the weight that comes with it. A Carrera coupe has a fixed roof and is the lightest and purest of the three bodies. A Cabriolet has a conventional fabric top. A Targa keeps a fixed brushed hoop behind the seats and a wraparound glass rear window, and folds only the panel between them away, in about nineteen seconds — the most theatrical roof in the range and the heaviest. Here the coupe is yellow and the Targa 4S is grey.
Boxster vs Targa: which is better to drive open?
The Boxster for the road, the Targa for the arrival. The Boxster's fabric roof folds in about ten seconds and the car underneath is the mid-engined one that flatters a canyon. The Targa's panel takes about nineteen seconds of visible mechanism, keeps the wraparound glass over your head at a standstill, and adds all-wheel drive; it costs roughly two and a half times as much per day and everybody in the forecourt watches.
Porsche models explained: which is the cheapest to take under twenty-five?
The Boxster, then the Cayman. The young-driver fee follows the deposit band, and the two 911s sit in the top one, so under twenty-five they carry the higher fee and the higher daily cover. The two 718s take the lower fee, and the Boxster pairs it with the lowest rate on the Porsche shelf.