Valentine's Day motoring gifts may not be the first thing you might've thought of in the run-up to the romantic occasion. However, if your other half is a serious car lover, then a car-related gift may mean something to them. It's a sign that you really know what their heart beats to, and isn't that the purpose of love at the end of the day?
Some say love is different things, though quite famously, nobody can really explain it anyway. It's a plethora of emotions that we all succumb to when we're presented with a significant other. And Valentine's Day is where those feelings are celebrated - traditionally anyway.
In that sense, if you're serious about buying your other half a car gift, you may want to consider what they're into. There are many things out there from Porsche gifts to Ferrari gifts and plenty of others. So, it's really the time to shop around and see what you can find.
The best Valentine's Day motoring gifts at a glance:
Editor's pick: Chocolate Racing Cars gift tin - buy from Not On The High Street
Best cleaning gift set: Autoglym Luxury Bodywork and Wheels Collection - buy from Amazon
Best race car experience: Lamborghini Super Trofeo Track Experience - buy from Virgin Experience Days
Nevertheless, whether you go for a BMW gift or something completely non-car related is up to you. We've done our bit to put together a comprehensive guide of the best Valentine's Day motoring gifts out there.
The best Valentine’s Day motoring gifts
Editor's pick
www.notonthehighstreet.com
Chocolates are a classic gift for any occasion, and what better way to treat a car lover than getting a set of treats shaped like them?
With a useful tin and in a range of wrapper colours, the occasion is easily met, and makes for a great share box when relaxing to a Netflix series.
Pros
- Great gift for any occasion
- It's chocolate, of course it'll taste great
Cons
- We wish there were different car designs
Best wallet valentine's gift
Perhaps one of the best ways to get to one's heart is to target everyday items. A reminder of a significant other every time you open your wallet is a nice touch, but what about the whole wallet itself?
This one is a little nod to the Rothmans livery seen on the Porsche 956 and MK2 Ford Escort rally cars. The same seller also offers a wallet in a Gulf livery, if that takes your recipient's fancy - or even the old Lotus stripes as seen on Jim Clark's old F1 cars.
Pros
- Very cool design
- Useful item
Cons
- For licensing reasons, there's no car branding
Best track wall poster
www.notonthehighstreet.com
If your partner has memories at the Nürburgring, or perhaps you've both been there together, this could be a great gift to retrieve that area in their heart.
You can spend hours staring at it and pointing out the different corners where you either nearly lost it, crashed, or simply spectated other cars as they pounded past.
Pros
- 3D track prints are always cool
- Fits in any environment
Cons
- Not an official piece of merchandise
Best couple's ornament for Valentine's Day
In the place of a car air freshener, a little hanging plaque celebrating you and your loved one is available for Valentine's Day.
You can customise the design, photograph, and even a makeshift song and artist of your own writing.
Pros
- A neat touch to your cabin
- Really heartfelt
Cons
- It's not for everyone
Best cufflinks gift ever
www.notonthehighstreet.com
Have you ever wanted to walk into an important corporate meeting, wearing your best, freshly ironed shirt and embracing a set of Bentley cufflinks? We suspect the idea never came to your mind either, but you can anyway and they're a really neat set of cufflinks.
You can embrace these things at the Goodwood Revival or some other motorsports event. They're based off the 4.5 litre Blower which was made famous by racing at Brooklands in the hands of Sir Henry Birkin and Woolf Barnato. It was a real icon of the supercharged racing era, and a great Valentine's Day gift to a loved one.
Pros
- Seriously cool, accurate detail
- A great gift to any car lover
Cons
- The Union Jack looks a bit melted
Best car wax
This carnauba paste wax has added hydrophobic polymers to make water beads more readily on the paintwork. It's a hard-wearing and easily applied wax that's at the top of its segment as far as paste wax goes.
Pros
- Great quality car wax
- Comes with application pad
Cons
- 250ml isn't the biggest you can get
Best cleaning kit gift
If your partner is fastidious about cleaning their car, then any maintenance kit will be of much appreciation to them. Autoglym's luxury bodywork and wheels kit is a great set for any home detailer.
Included is a microfibre towel alongside foaming shampoo, custom wheel cleaner, tyre dressing, ceramic spray, and glass cleaner. A great kit to get any car looking up to standard.
Pros
- Comprehensive cleaning kit
- Microfibre towel included
Cons
- Would be nice to have pre wash
Best Porsche lineage poster
Available in a number of sizes, the Porsche 911 Turbo lineage print is a great addition to any car fan's living area, bedroom, or possibly even kitchen.
If your significant other is a Porsche enthusiast, this is a brilliant gift for them.
Pros
- Great lineage print
- Available in a number of sizes
Cons
- 992 missing
Best off-road driving experience
www.virginexperiencedays.co.uk
Loose surface action is one of the biggest grin makers and the Rage Hurricane is no grass kart. It's a proper super buggy that does 0-60mph in under four seconds and reaches over 120mph. On gravel. That's something you don't want to miss.
Pros
- Huge fun
- Where else can you pull big power slides?
Cons
- Dirt driving isn't for everyone
Best track driving experience
www.virginexperiencedays.co.uk
After four sighting laps, you get the chance to drive the Radical SR5 track car. Your day starts with a briefing before some sighting laps before you get into the track machine.
It's a fabulous gift for your car-loving partner and a day they probably won't forget anytime soon. The location is near Hemel Hempstead and the only location you can do the experience.
Pros
- Exhilarating experience
- Full briefing beforehand
Cons
- Bit of a far trek for some
Best race car driving experience
www.virginexperiencedays.co.uk
Getting a race licence, gathering sponsors, and paying for a season is seriously expensive and out of reach for most people. However, you can get an authentic race car experience akin to GT3 cars via a track experience of driving a Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo.
You get eight laps and a trained instructor to guide you around. There's just one location at Hemel Hempstead and you get three sighting laps, so you can learn the track before you drive.
Pros
- Exhilerating experience
- Authentic Super Trofeo car
Cons
- You'll want to keep driving all day
Best Goodwood experience
www.virginexperiencedays.co.uk
We've all seen clips of intense motor racing around the Goodwood circuit at some point. Whether it's the Member's Meeting or Revival, it's hosted some exciting action from the likes of classic Minis to GT40s.
But while it's inaccessible to drive a D-Type Jag around Goodwood, you can opt for four supercars via Virgin Experience Days. You can choose from any of the fleet they have and you're guaranteed to have a blast around what is a truly iconic circuit. What a great gift for your significant other.
Pros
- Great range of cars to drive
- Iconic circuit that's in anyone's dream list
Cons
- No vintage race cars, sadly
Best value dash cam
Nextbase is a dash cam industry leader. Its 422GW model strikes a great balance between its high end range and more basic models. To kick things off the build quality is second to none, everything is well put together and the touchscreen is responsive and easy to use.
The recording quality can be set at 1440P at 30fps or 1080P at 60fps, which is helped further by some clever software. There are even some smart features such as Alexa Voice Control.
Pros
- Has Alexa voice control
- Easy to use
Cons
- Not quite as good quality as 4K units
Best portable jump starter
This is a power bank for a car and devices. It's made by a company called NOCO, which is one of the top dogs in the world of car battery care. This little power pack is hugely powerful, capable of jump-starting anything other than large commercial vehicles. The important thing is that it also looks after a battery in doing so, thanks to its UltraSafe 2.0 technology.
Pros
- Great quality
- Acts as power bank, too
Cons
- Not a Valentine's gift for everyone
Things to consider about Valentine's Day motoring gifts
Generally speaking, gift guides should really be taken with a pinch of salt. The only person that knows their other half as well will probably be you. Like a car book guide, this is really an ideas list - an article to draw inspiration for your motoring lover. Because all interests are different to one another.
Likewise, if you're looking for 3-pointed star gifts yourself, then our Mercedes-Benz gift guide can only be limited to inspiration. However, we can at least attribute the feelings of love with optimum happiness and endless joy. And where else, as petrolheads, can we find more joy than in the things we're passionate about? Cars are the keys to our hearts, the catalyst of our work ethic, our aspirations, and even at the worst of times, our sources of happiness.
Even if in the run-up to Valentine's Day, you're struggling to find a way to celebrate it with your partner. Just think, if their hearts idle in the same way an engine does, a car gift could mean everything. If it's something humble like a VW-themed gift, that's special to someone.
Aaron Hussain is a commercial content writer at Bauer Media writing for Parkers and CAR. He is obsessed with classic cars and anything with a fascinating story to tell.
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