Exotic car spotting has become one of those quirky hobbies that blends passion, detective work, and a touch of serendipity. There’s a thrill in catching a Ferrari at the local grocery store or spotting a Bugatti wedged between an everyday Prius and an Accord. It’s like discovering a diamond in a claw machine. Whether you’re casually scrolling through Instagram, lurking on exotic car forums, or cruising upscale neighborhoods, the hunt for special high-end cars and supercars has become an obsession for some automotive enthusiasts.
So, What Is Exotic Car Spotting Anyway?
Exotic car spotting is all about the thrill of the hunt. It’s about tracking down and capturing sightings of rare, high-end, or otherwise eyebrow-raising vehicles in the wild. These aren’t museum pieces behind glass, but rather out in their “natural habitat” running errands, valet parked, or being obnoxiously revved by some douche nozzle in designer shoes.
Some spotters use fancy DSLRs with telescopic lenses while others simply rely on their smartphone. Many share their finds on spotting websites, Instagram, Reddit and YouTube to the tight-knit car spotting community.
London’s Supercar Season
In Europe, specifically London, a whole different level of exotic car culture emerges each summer. From June through August, parts of central London transform into a rolling showroom of rare and expensive metal. Multi-million-dollar machines frequent Sloane Street or post up outside Harrods.
What makes London especially unique is that a large portion of its summer supercar population doesn’t even live there. Ultra-wealthy visitors (mainly from the Middle East) ship their exotics to enjoy London’s temperate weather and shopping. We’re not talking just one car, either. Some fly in entire fleets of their Lambos, Bugattis, Koenigseggs, Paganis… you name it. Many are wrapped in custom vinyl or boast flashy wheels. It’s less “understated elegance” (that Brits are known for) and more “Hey, over here, look at me!”
Native Londoners with money, on the other hand, tend to be loyal to their British brands such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin and McLaren. Outside of “supercar season,” London’s roads still flaunt plenty of elegance, but in a more inconspicuous manner with muted colors (blacks, silvers, grays and whites).
Google Street View is Your Virtual Car Spotting Playground
Can’t make it to London? Hey, no problemo! Thanks to Google Street View, anyone from Anywheresville, USA, can now virtually roam the streets of Knightsbridge hunting for exotic cars. It’s kinda like Pokémon GO, but for adults with a love for special cars.
Here’s the kicker though, Google doesn’t just capture one snapshot in time. Many locations have multiple date stamps and each potentially with exotics. A street that looks empty in 2021 might reveal a McLaren P1 and a Rolls-Royce Wraith if you scroll back to 2017. Talk about digital time travel for car nerds! For example, in our first London Exotic Cars blog post we found an additional 335 expensive and rare cars. Using the Streetview date stamps, we made sure these exotic car sightings didn’t overlap one another.
Where to Look: Tips for Real-World & Virtual Spotters
Let’s talk geography. In the U.S., hotspots like Beverly Hills and South Beach Miami regularly serve up a buffet of Bentleys and Lamborghinis. Affluent shopping centers, 5-star hotels, and car meets (like Cars & Coffee) often double as unofficial supercar havens. Whether you’re spotting in person or online, it pays to think like the wealthy. Where would you take your Pagani Zonda for a spin?
Try these hotspots:
- Luxury Hotels
- Upscale Shopping Areas – Think Rodeo Drive (Beverly Hills), Sloane Street (London), or Fifth Avenue (NYC).
- High-End Country Clubs and Golf Courses
- High-End Dealerships – Occasionally you’ll catch deliveries or test drives in progress.
- Car Meets and Track Days
Is This Hobby for You?
Exotic car spotting is a car hobby that blends real-world adventure with a sort of digital sleuthing. All you need is basic knowledge of some of the more special cars out there, a little patience, and maybe a few gigs of data storage. Whether you’re capturing that perfect shot in person or virtually wandering through the roads on Google Streetview, you’re bound to have fun (and potentially get hooked on the hobby).
Have you ever tried car spotting with Google Street View? If so, what’s the rarest car you’ve ever spotted “in the wild”? Drop a comment below and let us know! You can even post a link to the Google Maps coordinates so we can all enjoy.
London Expensive & Exotic Car Pictures:
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