Antonio "Antonio Sureshot" A.'s Profile

McLaren Beverly Hills is situated on some prime real estate; it's on Wilshire Blvd next to The Auto Gallery, only blocks away from the high end boutique shops on Rodeo Drive.

Just a typical weeknight in Los Angeles... I received an invite to a special party that The McLaren Group was throwing to celebrate the opening of their newest showroom. While red carpets and media walls lined the sidewalk leading up to the building, McLaren's newest supercar was undoubtedly the belle of the ball.

Invited guests were given the chance to get up close and personal with the 592 brake horsepower McLaren MP4-12C; a car that just about anyone can drive home at the bargain price of $229,999! I'm almost there, but need to save up just a FEW more pennies...

I have tons of photos and a writeup from the experience:
http://www.motormavens...

To reach Sapphire Auto Group, exit FREMONT ST off the 10fwy. Go north on Fremont and turn right on Valley Blvd. (It's actually on the south side of Valley Blvd, just east of Fremont Ave.)

You'll see the huge metal letters from their sign on the right side. Ask for Anthony - he is friendly, honest and trustworthy, and has a great reputation in my circle of friends. One of my friends just sold his Mazda Miata through Sapphire Auto Group, and took the money from the sale to upgrade into a beautiful silver Lexus IS. He's had absolutely ZERO problems with it.

Because of my friend's good experience in dealing with Sapphire, I decided to drop off one of my BMWs for a consignment sale at their lot. They received the car and detailed the hell out of it, and posted it on AutoTrader and all sorts of different websites so that people will see the car and buy it right away. In my case, I'm only selling a car through them - I'm not buying one from them right now, cause I just have way too many cars and not enough parking spaces at the moment.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy a car from them, and most likely will do so in the next 6-8 months. These guys told me if I'm looking for a particular kind of used car, I can tell them in advance, so they can help me find one online or though one of those dealer auctions. It's likely that I'll do this when I'm ready to buy a higher end car... but right now, I just have way too many cars in the garage.

If you live in the San Fernando Valley, you NEED to call Ricky and Robby at Top Gear Autowerks if you ever need work done on your car. These guys are not like most of the other auto repair shops out there - they're HONEST and they have low prices. This is why most of their clientele are repeat customers!

Top Gear is a new shop that they recently opened up, but I was a customer of theirs at the previous shop they had too. When my 5-series BMW wagon started running rough a few weeks ago, I took it to Top Gear and asked them to diagnose the problem; they told me that I'd need to replace the oxygen sensors on the car.

The guys were completely honest and transparent through the entire process. They told me I could just get the parts through the BMW dealer myself, or they could order the parts for me through their parts vendors. Since I was looking to get the best quality AND best deal, I called Center BMW to find out how much the factory BMW Bosch O2 sensors would cost. Apparently, the 5 series BMW has FOUR of these O2 sensors, and they were something like $360+ each. Ouch!

I asked Ricky from TopGear if they could get me some good O2 sensors for a lower price, but I didn't want any cheap Taiwan car parts on my car either. He was understanding of my situation, and called around for me until he found a vendor that had the SAME EXACT Bosch O2 sensors brand new in box for only $79 each. What!!! That's super cheap compared to the BMW dealer price!!! When the parts were delivered to the shop, he took them out of the Bosch box and compared them to the O2 sensors they pulled out of my car. They had the EXACT brand, exact same wires, exact same fittings, exact same part numbers, and exact same everything. The only difference was the fact that he only charged me $79 each, instead of $360 each at the dealer.

Same thing with my BMW ignition coils! I had to replace 3 ignition coil packs on my 5 series. The BMW dealer quoted me $159 each for the coils, plus labor. Top Gear was able to get me the EXACT SAME Bosch ignition coils brand new for just about half the price. Again... same part number, same markings, same everything as the factory BMW Bosch parts that were removed from my car.

My car runs nice and smooth again thanks to Ricky & Robby at Top Gear Autowerks. I highly suggest you take your car to them if it needs repairs. Tell them Antonio sent you.

I love GoDaddy for registering domain names. I own a bunch of domains, and it's so easy to look up domains either on their website or on their mobile app on my iPhone.

Also, when I need to call in to actually SPEAK to someone, I can get someone on the phone in less than 5 minutes. Sure, there are cheaper places to buy domains or host websites, but what I love about GoDaddy is their service.

I just renewed 5 of my domains 10 minutes ago, and used a 30%off coupon that I received via email. It actually applied MORE than 30% off on my entire order!

I'm buying a new domain later today or tomorrow... you can be sure I'm going through GoDaddy!

The crispy potato taco is real good! Super soft mashed potato inside a crispy fried taco shell... and only $1.60!

I came here for the Caldo de Res (Beef Soup). It certainly hit the spot, especially on a cold night like tonight. To be honest, the beef soup at El Gallo Giro is better, because the beef is softer, and the soup is more flavorful, and the portion is bigger... but I'll definitely be returning to Los Burritos because it's closer to my office, and the service was very quick and courteous. The guy behind the counter was super nice. The place looked pretty clean inside too!

This bar is AWESOME. They specialize in bourbon and whiskey. You can get top shelf whiskey for $5 on their Whiskey Wednesdays. Also, on Sunday nights, they have a live jazz band playing while they serve up their "Whiskey Education" specials.

They serve up an awesome Old Fashioned, Mint Julep, and on cold nights, also make sure to try the Hot Spiced Cider, which has fresh cinnamon, apples, cider, and Sailor Jerry. Makes you feel like you're at a ski lodge, minus the St Bernard.

Even though I'm a well-practiced carnivore, lately I've been trying to cut A LOT of the meat from my diet... good thing for me, Hugo's has some really good non-meat options for people.

Try the GRILLED FISH and/or the SOY CHORIZO. I've ordered both in burritos and in nachos. Super pho king delicious, especially with HONEY CHIPOTLE salsa!

A word to the wise: Read my tip about Wednesday nights after 7pm! Cause if ya don't know, now ya know _______!

I found Industry Lift on Craigslist, and just rented with them for the first time. They are a GREAT option/alternative for renting golf carts in the 626 area!

This is the official golf cart provider of Formula Drift at Irwindale Speedway. These guys are very nice, but they are always busy and sell out of golf carts very often! BOOK EARLY!

Ask for Beau or Christie and tell them Antonio from MotorMavens sent you.

626-815-9335

Almost everyone else has written an overly wordy review of this place, so like Kodak, you get the picture.

I'll keep it short n sweet.

I definitely did NOT order the $5000.00 burger. I'd recommend trying the Lobster Mac n Cheese and the Peking Duck Breast, which was moist and flavorful.

I also ordered Skirt Steak with Chimichurri, but to be honest, the steak was a LOT less flavorful than the typical skirt steak I'm accustomed to eating. I do love chimichurri, but I didn't think that it should account for ALL the flavor in the steak.