Best Christmas gifts for car lovers

Autoglym invariably makes it to our lists of best car care products. We like a lot of its gear because they simply work. No fuss, just effectiveness, and at a reasonable price. The Autoglym Collection includes products for interior, exterior, and wheels, plus applicators.

Contents:
Interior - 500ml Interior Shampoo, 500ml Fast Glass, 500ml Vinyl & Rubber Care
Exterior - 325ml Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner, 325ml Super Resin Polish, Rapid Ceramic Spray 500ml
Wheels - 500ml Clean Wheels, 500ml Instant Tyre Dressing, 300ml Wheel Protector
Applicators - Microfibre Wash Mitt, Hi-Tech Finishing Cloth, Hi-Tech AquaDry

As far as gifts go, an interior cleaning kit doesn't quite come as good as Leather Honey's Leather Care setup. It not only includes two applicator cloths, but a bottle of leather cleaner and conditioner as well. We've tried it for ourselves on a test, and found that it's immensely good at the job.

It aided very well in keeping the natural texture of the leather upholstery, while lifting up a great amount of dirt in the process. It requires quite a bit of agitation to fully lift up and clean the dirt embedded in the leather, but it's a very satisfying process once completed, and the gift recipient will be hugely happy.

This is a product from a British company that uses a Japanese ethos and whose detailing brushes are made in China.

There are several reasons why we rate 26JPN's detailing brushes, other than the multiculturalism. Firstly, the bristles are boar's hair and are wonderfully soft and don't scratch surfaces. Secondly, we like the slightly textured grip and the lack of any metal parts that could mark surfaces.

If you want a pair of detailing brushes you can use on car interiors or exteriors, it's hard to past this quality set.

Tamiya is a brand synonymous with car culture, and an important part in the development of a petrolhead. The GF-02 Squash Van is a 4WD dancer that's a 1:10 scale version of a custom 1950s Ford panel van.

This kit comes unpainted, so it's really up to the gift recipient as to what to coat the top layer with. We gave one of these a thorough test back in the summer, and was impressed at its off-road capabilities and sheer fun.

Read our full review of the Squash Van here.

Representing both great value for money compared to other Lego Icons sets, the McLaren MP4/4 Formula One car piloted by Ayrton Senna is one of the most impressive sets Lego has ever made. Not only is it fun to build, but it's also very detailed and not too difficult for the casual builder.

It's an essential for any F1 fan to display in their home or office. It's proportionally correct to the real 1988 season car and even comes with a little plinth to display it on.

We took this set for a spin and loved its attention to detail. The handling wasn't so flash, but that's forgivable. Packed full of fun extras and impressively detailed for its price, this is an ideal gift for car enthusiasts interested in old VWs.

There are hundreds of dash cams available, but this is one of the best you can buy without breaking the bank. With a 170-degree wide-angle lens, 1080p recording at 30fps, great night vision, micro-SD card, and all the necessary basics from G-sensor and motion detection to loop recording, this is a solid option.

A lot of cars have a small warning triangle to warn other road users that said vehicle has broken down. They always have to be reflective, and sometimes, can be tricky to spot depending on how big they are.

This Be Seen Screen takes a different - and slightly easier approach to breaking down (at least in terms of warning others), and consists of a large safety banner with a series of suction cups that stick to the rear of your vehicle. It covers a good portion of two test vehicles we stuck it to, and there's certainly no mistaking the fact that said vehicle is inoperable.

It takes seconds to put on and a few more seconds to take off again. My only real criticism is that it's slightly tricky to fit back into the case it comes in. But for the hopefully-rare eventuality, it's a useful bit of kit to keep in the back of your vehicle.

The Solar 1 set from Auto-Vox is the easiest reversing camera to fit. The camera is solar-powered, so you don't have to wire it to the reversing light for power. Furthermore, the connection between the camera and the dashboard display screen is wireless.

The solar panel is perfectly adequate for charging the 2.8Ah battery, which, in turn, powers the camera. Auto-Vox says that if the solar panel gets 30 minutes of sunlight per day on average, you need only top up the battery (via USB) once a year. The screen needs to be powered by plugging it into the 12V plug in your car, but the charger has a USB port so you can still use it for phones or other devices.

One of the reasons we like the Solar 1, beyond the easy setup, is the strong and uninterrupted signal. In many cheaper wireless units, the transmission can be sketchy. But not here.

There may be little chance of gifting your loved-one a Mercedes-AMG Project ONE or Lotus Evija. Thankfully, this instalment in the DiRT Rally series can offer a realistic yet digital rendition of both cars, as well as over 500 others.

Select from number of iconic rally locations across the globe in the most powerful off-road vehicles ever made. Once you've done that, the racing physics are exceptional for an arcade racer

This stylish pressure washer from Nilfisk is our current favourite after testing one last year. Simple to use and with a long hose, it's an easy tool to work with and comes with a raft of attachments to make cleaning a doddle. It's powerful too, offering 140 bar, 1800W, 465 l/h, all thanks to a robust aluminium motor. This kit even includes a foam lance which means you won't need to go searching for an aftermarket one yourself.

Read our full Nilfisk Core 140 Pressure Washer review

The Gtech Multi Mk2 K9 is a fairly powerful handheld vacuum cleaner that's perfect for any dog lover. It's powerful, well made, light at 1.5kg, and comes with the bits you need - power brush for hair, dusting brush, and crevice tool. Its internals are also reinforced to deal with pet hair.

CTEK is one of our favourite brands of car battery chargers. The Swedish company produces a range of robust charging units for cars, motorcycles, boats and lorries, so you can be sure that a CTEK charger will do a good job of keeping your family hatchback on the road.

The CTEK MXS 5.0 is simple to connect and includes an eight-step display to allow you to keep tabs on the charging process. Once the battery is charged, the MXS 5.0 maintains it to 95-100 per cent capacity to prolong its life by up to three times.

Read our full review of the CTEK MXS 5.0 here.

The main things you'll want from a good portable battery booster are compactness and power. This option from NOCO overs great power with the capability of starting petrol engines up to 4.0 litres and diesel engines up to 3.0 litres.

It boasts incredible build quality with a premium fit and finish, and we tested it for our sister site Parkers, and found it had no trouble firing up a 2.4-litre, 5-cylinder Volvo V70 that had drained its battery. It's immensely easy to use and is clever enough to not allow overcharging or damage to anything it powers. It even doubles as a power bank, thanks to a couple of USB sockets - which charges up your mobile devices amazingly quickly.

Bahco is one of the top brands for hand tools, and it usually demands a premium for them. It's, therefore unusual that this set is such a good deal. It's a 1/4-inch metric drive with 25 pieces total (12 hex sockets with all the common sizes). And it comes in a hard case, which is a nice little bonus.

Nothing quite highlights the genre of adventure in a car quite like this. From 1969 to 1970, three men set off from Charing Cross Station and quite literally explored the world. 40,000 miles and many mechanical fettling later, and a trusty Land Rover Series IIA became an icon.

The car, nicknamed ‘TEN’ after its registration plate TEN 423, is currently missing. The three explorers, Waxy Wainwright, Mike Palmer, and Chris Wall, are appealing for it to be found. And to give the book an extra sense of adventure and insight, they collectively wrote it.

Little can be said apart from this being one of the most eye-opening and fascinating publications I’ve ever come across. You are immersed in what places such as communist Prague, the Middle East, Afghanistan, India, Thailand, and the spine of Africa used to look like 50 years ago. Rather sadly, the closing chapter details that due to political unrest and turmoil, the same journey couldn’t be done again today.

It’s a great book for car spotting as well. Images of cities flooded with cars and people reveals some great gems. From Renault Dauphines in Morocco to Chevrolet Bel Airs in Turkey, you get a gripping sense of what tourism used to be like. As for TEN, you can’t help but admire how much of an incredible journey that Landie faced. It became the moving symbol of the United Nations, and it’s a great shame TEN wasn’t preserved for the world to look back on today.

Review by Aaron Hussain

Without attempting to show too many biases, as someone with a strong interest in Maserati and other Italian marques, I was hoping there would be a book that would cover the relatively little-known side story that was O.S.C.A (Officine Specializzate Construzione Automobili).

I mention Maserati because, well, it was founded by the Maserati brothers, Bindo, Ettore, and Ernesto in 1947. You have to bear in mind that by this point, the brothers had sold the Maserati brand to the Orsi family in 1937. Nevertheless, this book takes everything that’s quintessentially important and beautiful about making a thick automotive history book and dials it up to 11 – or even 12.

You can tell it took all the time to research and stitch together. The late Sir Stirling Moss has a section dedicated to his time racing the OSCA cars as he recalled his victory in one at Sebring in 1954. You get accounts from the people that were there – and one of my favourite parts was where Mauro Fantuzzi, one of OSCA’s engineers and testers, recalls how Ernesto could often lose his temper on the spot and turn up on mornings in a bad mood. But almost on the next spot, he would regret his anger and become warm and generous again.

With amazing period photography, details of the Mille Miglia and continuous other gruelling races, and of course, the cars themselves, this publication is worth it to anybody wanting to learn something new about an Italian manufacturer that wasn’t necessarily remembered. But it’s also worth it if you merely like cars. It’s a triumph of words, photographs, and ultimately, a great story.

Review by Aaron Hussain

An unexpected delivery through my letterbox came in the shape of Porsche Outlaws. We’ve featured a fair share of Porsche books on CAR Book Club, and I can say with confidence that none of them come close to the sheer fascination of this one.

It explores a substantial part of Californian Porsche culture, where slightly scruffy-looking, but tuned Stuttgart hot roads are the trend. It tells the story of all kinds of Porsche specialists that are famous within the scene – anyone from Magnus Walker to the safari-spec cars.

The best chapter for me was the story of the R-Gruppe and the immensely strict entry requirements to be admitted as a club member. I was glued for a whole afternoon on that section alone, and needed a coffee break before immersing myself into the next chapters.

Needless to say, the photography and depth which this book explores the cultures and personalities is amazing. The cars within aren’t bad either – and even as a classic German car enthusiast, I felt compelled to obsess more over the Zuffenhausen icons.

Review by Aaron Hussain

Giles Chapman has treated us to another affordable publication that lights a warming fuse to our petrolhead hearts. This compact compilation of car stories explores the ‘well, how cool is that?’ side of automotive history, and there are some great stories to be told.

It is laid out like a traditional book with some black and white pictures to break up the text. And what’s more, you get a great deal of variety packed within, which means you never really know what’s coming next – a bit like Richard Porter’s ‘Boring Car Trivia’ series, only it delivers in a more detailed, story-like way.

For example, have you ever wondered what the story was behind Rolls Royce’s Spirit of Ecstasy? Or the sole designer behind the Jowett Javelin? Or the bizarre reason why Peter Sellers sold his Ferrari 330 GTC? Without giving too much away, I particularly enjoyed the story of the man behind Volvo’s revolutionary 3-point safety belts – did you know he also worked on the ejector seat for a Saab fighter jet?

Nevertheless, if you want to expand and enrich your petrolhead mind with some great automotive stories, Chapman has done the hard work for you, and this is a must-have if you’re gifting a friend or simply treating yourself. Besides, it’s vastly more affordable than the majority of car books out there.

Review by Aaron Hussain

The new Bugatti Tourbillion has been making the headlines of all supercar enthusiasts worldwide. It’s the first to have a brand new V16 engine made and developed by Cosworth, and the first Bugatti manufactured under Mate Rimac’s radar. You won’t find any information on it in this publication, as I suspect Lance Cole’s new book was published shortly before its debut.

Nevertheless, Bugatti has forever been an idle brand for designers, engineers, and even artists alike – and this comprehensive book explores the history of Ettore and Jean Bugatti’s masterpieces before shifting the brand into the modern era and eventually under Ferdinand Piech at Volkswagen.

I own a guide to the pre-war Bugattis which was published in the ‘80s, so I was hoping this one would fill in the timely gap that has since passed. I am pleased to report it does – and in style at that. Cole’s book is wonderfully laid out and is as chronological as it can be, and you get a flavour of the artist aura as you read through. The shots of the beautifully crafted panels and engine bays transported me somewhat into the mindset that Ettore had when managing the construction of these cars.

You are guided through simply, yet thoroughly on all the models from Ettore’s Type 1 Tricycle from 1899 to the Type 57SC Atlantic and all the modern Veyrons and Chirons thereafter. The chapter covering the concepts in the ‘90s was an area of interest too, and I personally learned a lot which was never previously known to me.

This is a great book to get stuck into if you’re unfamiliar with both pre-war Bugattis or the ethos of the brand in general. After opening the book, you begin to understand what made the brand as special as it is. After finishing chapters, your mind spirals into appreciating the cars and the people behind them like fine art.

Review by Aaron Hussain

Delving into the less expensive end of the book spectrum, this compact, pictorial guide on Jaguar is a very neat pocket guide to the marque at it’s arguable peaks.

While Jaguar itself is in a worryingly silent, hot seated position of outdated models and anticipation on some new electric cars, we can at least remind ourselves of the Jags that made the brand what it was. If you want to give a friend a quick guide on the marque’s history, this is a great way to do it.

Everything from the late ‘40s MKIV to the XKs, D-Type, E-Type, and the sleek array of sports and luxury saloons are covered in brief, but very important detail. Condensing 60+ years of Jaguar history into a diary-sized book is no easy task, but it’s wonderfully presented and tells the story just as well as a larger, 200+ page thick book would.

What’s especially useful to enthusiasts and indeed writers, is that included within are the production figures of each individual model, including the number of 3.8 E-Types, V12 XJS’, and so on.

Review by Aaron Hussain

Author, Steve Saxty has previously given us great access to previously-unknown, secret Fords and outlined the insights and history of the coveted blue oval in a number of publications. This time though, he turns his attention to the Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW).

This book uncovers design concepts and sketches from BMW's history that were previously never seen before, and told in intrinsic detail after Saxty was granted access to the brand's lair. BMW by Design is one of three editions in the series, and as per the name, this one explores the design philosophy of the brand and how it evolved.

It's a sizeable publication with depths of exploration and insight. It clearly took a lot of admin, photography, and date organising to produce, and to think this is one of three books in Saxty's BMW series is fairly mind-boggling.

I reviewed it for CAR Book Club earlier in the year, and while I personally would've preferred to see more of the older, pre-2000 cars, this is a take on BMW that simply hasn't been done before. If you have the slightest interest in car design and how it creates a brand identity, you need to give this book a good read.

Review by Aaron Hussain

If you’re a self-confessed car geek who spent hours indulging yourself in a little world of toy cars and being endlessly oozed by magazines as a teenager, this book will make you smile.
If you knew the stats and specs of the whole BMW or Porsche range better than your maths GCSEs, this book will make you emotional.

If you have a fascination with both those things as well as automotive journalism, the realities of it, and how it works. Simply put, this book will make you cry.

This is Chris Harris’ first and only autobiography so far, as you’d expect, it’s a story of his life and the thinking behind the various decisions he’s made throughout his professional life. Yet still, the opening chapters outlining the life and feelings of a car nerd at a young age felt like the man was filtering the emotions out of my brain.

I guarantee if you’re a car geek, you can relate to the most hard-hitting of details. It outlines how important cars are and always have been to our lives, and who would’ve known how difficult life could get for one of the most respected hacks out there.

Review by Aaron Hussain