As peer-to-peer car rental service Turo comes to the UK, we round-up some of the best models to rent.

Quick question. What are your top five cars of all time? In the MR PORTER office, the list reads: a Porsche 356, a Jaguar E-Type, a Mercedes-Benz 280 SL Pagoda, a Citroën DS and an Alfa Romeo Spider. Or maybe a Land Rover Defender. It’s difficult to decide.

Of course, most of us would be thrilled to take a spin in any of these masterpieces of automotive history. But not all of us have the enormous mountains of cash that would allow us to buy one, let alone all of them. Thank goodness then, for Turo, the innovative car-sharing company, which, after a successful launch in the US a few years ago, finally made its way across the Atlantic last month.

Whether you want a classic car or a high-performance convertible, or even a family-friendly minivan or functional wheels to get you from A to B, you can rent it via Turo for on average 30 per cent cheaper than standard car-rental companies – in the UK from around £20 a day. Or if you’re looking to make money from a car that is otherwise sitting unused, you can rent it out.

Anyone in the UK, US and Canada can sign up to hire a vehicle from Turo’s community of local car owners – both car-hire entrepreneurs and individuals. This second part, the peer-to-peer community – which is currently available in the US and Canada, and is coming to the UK later this year – is much like Uber or Airbnb in that it self-polices via a five-star rating system that encourages both the lender and the driver to be on their best behaviour.

Scroll down to discover a few of the most stylish cars you could rent on Turo right now, whether it’s because there’s a rail strike and Uber surge prices are off the charts, or just because you want to drive around feeling like James Bond.

On its release in 1961, Mr Enzo Ferrari called it “the most beautiful car ever made” and he wasn’t alone in this opinion. This 1960s icon – driven by the likes of Messrs George Best, Frank Sinatra and Steve McQueen – was also voted the “best British car ever” in a 2015 worldwide poll. An original 1969 Jaguar E-Type with 4.2 litre straight-six engine can be hired from Turo in opalescent blue with navy leather interior. Hire it from £251 per day in London.

Porsche got it absolutely right the first time: the instantly recognisable 356 was the company’s very first production automobile. Back in the 1950s, you could have snapped up one of these for $4,000, but they now go for up to $100,000. Not a bad investment. Just ask Mr Jerry Seinfeld. This immaculate 1958 356 speedster replica is yours from $199 per day in Los Angeles.

A car fit for a king (viewers of The Crown now know that the Royal Family have long driven about their country estates in these vehicles), the Defender is an icon of British engineering and a real collectors’ item, especially now that it has been discontinued. This military green bone rattler wouldn’t be ideal over long distances, but it’s perfect for a weekend in the country. Yours from £101 per day in London.

Take a closer look at the Land Rover Defender in the below video, where MR PORTER visits the Twisted Automotive workshop to see old models restored to their former glory, and then some.

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