10 Most luxurious cars you can rent n drive in Bengaluru

If you're an automobile enthusiast, you would obviously wish to drive all kinds of cars. But most of us are not rich enough to afford buying various expensive cars. Even if we can afford, we can't afford all. Some of them are honestly not worth the money, because of various reasons like practicality, maintenance, tax and other reasons. However, thanks to various self drive rental agencies, we can afford to rent and drive these cars for a short duration, by paying fraction of their purchase price. Of course we can't drive like we own it- there'll be rules to comply with- time, speed limit, kms and so on, but still you can try luxury cars through this way and get to know them better.

Bangalore is probably self drive rental capital of India. Lots of luxury cars are available here for rent. Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad are next 3 cities with lots of options. Not too many in Chennai. Without wasting more time, let us look at the options. I've narrated my experience with some of these cars after the table

#	Car	Agency	Car’s value	Min Spend required (to rent)	Remarks
1	Maserati Ghibli	Driven/Royal Brothers	1.4 crores	80000 + 1 lakh deposit	24 hours/300 kms, weekday. 40 lakh accident liability applies [Review | Rental experience]
2	Ford Mustang	RTT/Myles	85 lakhs	11800 + LDW/Deposit	4 hours/40kms
3	Mercedes E Class	Avis	70 lakhs	13040	About 10 hours, weekday
4	BMW 5 series	jiffycars.in	65 lakhs +	14200+ fuel + 50k deposit	24 hours
5	Volvo S60	Driven/Royal Brothers	41 lakhs	11500 + deposit	24 hours/300 kms weekday [Review | Rental experience]
6	BMW X1	Volercars	40 lakhs +	8400 + fuel + deposit	24 hours
7	Audi Q3	Zoomcar	40 lakhs	840	4 hours/20 kms
8	Merc GLA Class	Zoomcar	40 lakhs	960	4 hours/20 kms
9	Merc CLA	Driven/Royal Brothers	40 lakhs	50000 + 30000 deposit	24 hours/300 kms
10	Volvo V40	Driven/Royal Brothers	39 lakhs	8000 + 25000 deposit	24 hours/300 kms

Car's value is approximate. Most of these models come in several variants and price difference varies by as much as 5-10 lakhs. Rental agencies usually add cheapest variant.

1. Maserati Ghibli
This imported Italian car looks stunning to view from any angle. It is probably worth at around 70-80 lakhs but thanks to CBU route, costs twice as much in India. Features don't match the price tag but looks are indeed impressive.

I had an opportunity to drive the Ghibli for 2 hours in December- read my review here and rental experience here.

Earlier RB used to offer this for 10 hours at around 35k during weekdays. Now looks like you've to rent for a minimum of 24 hours and rental increased from 50k+ to 62k+. Add 18% GST and you'll have to pay about 80k for this car, just in rental. But luxurious things don't come cheap, so don't complain.

However be aware of your accident liability. If you total this car, be ready to cough up about 35-40 lakhs (upto 25% of car's value). RB will claim insurance only for amount beyond 25%. This is the big risk in renting this car- even minor scratch can cost you lakhs.

2. Ford Mustang
Mustang is a very popular muscle car in US. Ford is selling it in India and RTT (Ramesh Tours n Travels) have bought one for self drive- it is listed on RTT site for about 70k per day. Very expensive (looks like they're trying to recover their investment in 100 days). But the good thing is Mustang is listed on Myles website as well, for hourly rental during week days. For about 11 to 13k you can drive this around for 4 hours..

3 Mercedes E Class
Myles had E Class on its fleet, which now seem to have been discontinued. Thankfully, E Class can be rented from Avis for about 13k, for about 10 hours on a weekday. [My review of E Class rented from Myles here]

4. BMW 5 series
Saw this car listed on jiffycars.in. Don't know much about the company but you can drive it around for whole day for about 15k in rental.

5 Volvo S60
A luxury sedan supposed to rival C class and 3 series. Can be yours for a day at about 11.5k. Be advised that the car is cheapest variant and doesn't have any bells n whistles. Unless you're very particular about Volvo, the Q3/GLA from Zoomcar will be a much better option- more ground clearance, cheaper to rent, less accident liability and no deposit. Read my review of Volvo S60 here and a day trip experience here

6. BMW X1:
An entry level SUV from BMW range, the X1 can be rented from Volercars for under 10k

7 and 8. Audi Q3/ Merc GLA from Zoomcar:
For just Rs 840, you can drive an Audi Q3 for 4 hours. 20 kms worth fuel included. I had rented the Q3 earlier from Revv for about 1500 Rs for 4 hours. Now Revv BLR seem to have discontinued the Q3. If you can't afford the other expensive options, Audi Q3 or Merc GLA from Zoomcar is your best bet.


Read my GLA review n view photos here

9 Merc CLA:
Royal Brothers/Driven have added a Merc CLA to their fleet. ClA is Mercedes Benz's cheapest car in India, just a level below C Class. I don't see a point renting this car at INR 50k per day, when you can rent a similar Merc GLA or Audi Q3 for about 5k from Zoomcar

10. Volvo V40
V40 is a lot nicer to look at than S60. V40 R design and cross country models can be rented from Driven/Royal Brothers for a day at about INR 8000

Points to be aware of

• There will be speed limit to comply with- around 120 kmph with Zoomcar/Myles, 100 with RB, similar with rest.
• Check accident damage liability. Limited to 10k with zoomcar but can be lot higher with other agencies like Royal Brothers, where you've to pay upto 25% of car's value. You don't want to risk damage to these cars and end up paying lakhs of rupees in damages.
• Drive carefully. With more power comes more responsibility.
• Most of these cars will be cheapest variants and will miss various features available with top of the line variants of these modules. Set your expectations accordingly.
• Rental amount shown are for weekdays. Weekend rental can be more expensive.

There were few other cars- like BMW 320d , Merc C class etc which now seem to be discontinued.

Did I miss any? Are you aware of any other cool car available for self-drive rental in Bengaluru- do comment below. So what are you looking for? Book your ride and have fun.