Like hitting a patch of seasonal black ice, though, when it comes to buying a Christmas present for the discerning car fan, the important thing is not to panic. In fact, there’s absolutely no reason to panic in this instance, because even if you’re flat out of ideas for car-themed gifts, we’ve got you covered. Whether it’s toys, clothes, gadgets, books, video games or stocking fillers, below you’ll find our round-up of the best automotive-inspired gifts for Christmas 2023.

The prices are mostly the recommended retail prices but are subject to change and many will be discounted from the date of publication until Black Friday, so don’t miss out. Happy shopping!

• Toys and games
• Video games and consoles
• Books, films and art
• Experiences
• Tech and tools
• Clothing and apparel
• Car cleaning and accessories
• Stocking fillers

Want a few high end motoring gift ideas? Click here for a list created by our friends at Times Luxx.

Toys and games

1. Mercedes-AMG G 63 Licensed Ride-On 12V

If your child wants to motor about your garden like an absolute baller, they could do a lot worse than this fully licensed Mercedes-AMG G 63 ride-on. With various features of the madcap G 63 carried over, such as a quilted appearance for the seat and side-exit exhausts (fake, obvs), this 12-volt, twin-motor electric car has the proper kerbside cachet for your child.

The G 63 ride-on also comes with a 2.4G parental remote control as a safety override if you need it, but with seatbelts, a soft-start function and a top speed of 3mph — plus the legendary strength of the Mercedes G-Class, obviously — your child should be nice and safe in this beauty.

And they can even listen to their favourite tunes as they drive along, thanks to full onboard multimedia connectivity.

Price £219.95
Buy it at OutdoorToys.com

2. Lego Icons Chevrolet Corvette 1961

Lego’s Creator Expert series — intricate sets aimed at older, more experienced builders — has been doing some wonderful classic car sets for years now, and the latest addition to the canon is this marvellous C1 first-generation Corvette. As a 1961 model, it has the later ducktail rear end with the Corvette’s now-trademark quad rear lights, a look which evolved into one of the most beautiful cars ever built, the C2 Corvette Stingray.

Nevertheless, this Roman Red original is a blocky little beauty and, like many of the recent Creator kits, you’ve got the choice of building it as either an open-top or a fixed-head coupé. It’s a 1,210-piece construction, so Lego says it is suitable for those 18-plus, but a keen parent could build it in tandem with a tweenager as a nice Christmassy thing to bring families together.

This would go perfectly with the Danish company’s Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Corvette Z28 kits, if you know someone who’s got the Lego illness and has already bagged the other two bits of classic Americana… but we couldn’t possibly comment.

Price £129.99
Buy it at Lego.com

3. Hot Wheels Criss Cross Crash

A blast from the past for many no doubt, Hot Wheels’ Criss Cross Crash is still going strong, still delivering its hypnotic blend of speed and mayhem.

How it works is simple — users place two or more little cars (the more the merrier) onto the assembled track whereupon they’re propelled around the banking by battery-operated rollers until they crash spectacularly to the delight of all present.

Be sure, if ordering, to order a couple of Hot Wheels die-cast cars along with it as there’s only one included in the set, and it’s not a whole lot of fun with just one. Definitely not recommended for use with dad’s set of vintage Matchbox models.

Price £34.99
Buy it at Amazon.co.uk

4. Lego 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28

A hot classic car-inspired kit brought out for last Christmas, this is a brick version of the 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28. Builders of the Camaro have the choice of assembling it as a hardtop or convertible with the added option of exposed or hidden headlights.

It’s not as complex as something like the Lego Technics Lamborghini Sian but, with 1,458 pieces, the finished model is a substantial beast, measuring just over 36cm in length and 14cm wide. It’s also beautifully detailed and includes functional elements such as working steering, an engine with moving parts and doors that open and close. It’s customisable, too, with alternative body panels to get the look you want.

Price £149.99
Buy it at Lego.com

5. Baghera Racing Car

Sometimes, abstract style is better than 100 per cent modelling accuracy and this beautiful retro racer from Baghera is a great example of that. Its simple but attractive lines evoke streamlined motorsport cars of the 1950s and ‘60s, and the tough body is made of ABS plastic that is lacquered and hand-polished to a pristine finish. Add in big, chunky wheels with proper rubber tyres on them and it’s a thing of genuine ergonomic beauty.

Available in four colours — red, blue, green and crisp silver — and measuring a sizeable 18cm long, the cars also have different numbers on them, so you can either collect the set over time or just buy all of them to put them on display somewhere; yes, they’d be just as good for eye-catching interior décor as they would be racing around the living room floor in the hands of a young child.

Price £33.95
Buy it at The Lovely Little Toy Shop (N.b. this is a shop founded by the wife of one of our writers)

6. Bentley Bears

They really should have called one of these “Woolf Bearnato”, in homage to one of the famous Bentley Boys of the 1920s. Still, if you’re looking for a car-related gift with a difference, these top-end teddy bears from British luxury marque Bentley ought to suffice.

There are four to choose from, with three costing £65 each. These are the Engineer teddy bear, the Heritage Racing teddy bear and the Cosy Knit teddy bear. The former two relate to Bentley’s motorsport exploits, with the Engineer resplendent in white and green overalls with a matching cap, while the Heritage Racing bear is an epitome of 1930s gentleman racers — leather bomber jacket, racing goggles and a suedette helmet. Plus a polka-dot scarf of the kind that was worn by Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin, father of the famous supercharged Bentley Blower. James Bond used to drive one of those in the Ian Fleming books, you know.

The Cosy Knit teddy is said to be the “baby” of the Bentley bear family, hence it is wearing a coordinated knitted jumper and bobble hat for maximum cuteness.

That just leaves the Special Edition Signature Bear, which has flexible joints and a double-ribbon necktie in grey and green. This one is pricier than the others at £80, but all four bears have a Bentley ‘B’ embroidered on one paw and measure 40cm tall. Each one is presented in a 100 per cent cotton Bentley-branded dust bag to keep them clean when they’re not being carted lovingly around the house by their proud new owner.

Price £65-80
Buy it at BentleyMotors.com

7. Ferrari Testa Rossa J ride-on car

The Bicester-based Little Car Company specialises in producing scaled-down versions of famous classics such as the Bugatti Type 35 and Aston Martin DB5, all built to unbelievably high standards.

One of the firm’s latest creations is a 75%-scale version of the 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, one of the best-known racing cars of the fifties and sixties. The car has been officially sanctioned by Maranello, its design being based on original drawings obtained from Ferrari’s archive, and there’s the option of customising each example in a period-correct livery with the assistance of Ferrari Classiche.

Rather than a pint-sized rendering of the fabled Colombo V12, the Testa Rossa J (the J stands for “Junior”), is powered by a 16bhp electric motor giving the Little Car Company’s Ferrari a top speed of 50mph with several selectable driving modes controlling the power delivery to ensure that it’s safe whatever the driving abilities of the person behind the wheel. Because of its performance, it’s recommended for ages 14 and above — and even accommodates an adult measuring 6ft 5in, we can confirm.

Given that the Testa Rossa gets genuine Ferrari chassis plates, it could also be argued that it’s actually Ferrari’s first fully-electric vehicle, and one with a range of around 62 miles at that, though it’s not one built in Maranello — these are very British interpretations.

While the level of workmanship is staggering, so is the price: each of the 299 Testa Rossa Js start from around £82,000, which is a positively eye-watering price for a vehicle that isn’t road-legal. Regardless, with so few examples slated for production, your chances of getting your hands on one are vanishingly slim.

Price c.£82,000+
Buy it at The Little Car Company

8. Porsche 911 Dakar with Christmas tree 1:43

The Porsche Dakar is a 911 with a difference — a rough-rider standing tall on its suspension and wistfully reminiscing about the German manufacturer’s success in the 1980s on the most gruelling motorsport event of them all, the Paris-Dakar rally (now just the Dakar).

And so while there are plenty of splendid models of Porsche’s highly desirable road-car range available in the Porsche catalogue, it’s this little 1:43 scale version of the Dakar with a Christmas tree strapped to its roof that caught our eye. Because the incongruous sight of a Norwegian spruce lashed to the top of one of the most famous sports cars in the world is one worth celebrating in miniature.

Price £70
Buy it at Porsche.com

9. Hot Wheels City Speedway Hauler

A gift that performs the dual purpose of keeping your house tidy, and it’ll entertain the kids for hours? Sounds too good to be true, right? Not with this brilliant Hot Wheels City Speedway Hauler.

In its most compact form, it looks like a car transporter and will house up to 22 Hot Wheels models — great for keeping them from going under mum and dad’s feet, for instance. Yet the whole thing folds out into a six-foot-long, two-lane drag strip, with the cab featuring a launch mechanism for simple yet highly effective head-to-head racing.

A small blue gate at the end of the track also flips after the “winning” car has gone through, causing the losing vehicle to crash off the track — trust us, your kids are going to love that feature. And, like any Hot Wheels track-based merch, it’ll connect to other playsets for maximum versatility.

Price £29.99
Buy it at Argos.co.uk

10. Lego Technic Ferrari Daytona SP3

A step up in complexity from the magnificent Creator Expert kits, Lego’s Technic series has produced some monster car-related sets in recent years — think the Bugatti Chiron and Lamborghini Sian FKP 37, both of which had about 3,600 bricks in them apiece. Well, eclipsing both is this stunner, the Ferrari Daytona SP3.

A mammoth 3,778-brick project, it will keep its builder engrossed for hours as they put together one of the most beautiful and rarest of modern-day Ferraris.

And if they’re a proper car nerd then once they’ve built it they can bang on about how Ferrari’s Special Projects department builds these bespoke one-offs for the super-rich for real, and how Eric Clapton, old Slowhand himself, once splurged £3 million turning a 458 Italia into a replica of the 512BB in the process.

Price £389.99
Buy it at Lego.com

11. Carrera Race To Victory 1:32 Digital Slot-Racing Set

One of the unspoken joys of having children is that you can live vicariously through them. And so if, as a youngster, you always yearned after Scalextric — or you had one of the primitive sets from the company with a basic figure-of-eight track — then this slot-racing set-up from Carrera is going to satisfy your desires, while masquerading as the perfect 2023 star gift for the kids.

OK, sacrilege maybe that we’ve favoured the German company Carrera over ostensibly British Scalextric, but its range of cars is incredible and the way its track fits together is just that bit more solid than Scalextric.

There are cheaper slot-racing sets available from Carrera which are analogue, but this fabulous two-car digital 1:32 pack includes a mega Mercedes-AMG GT3 and a KTM X-Bow GT2, both with working head-, tail- and brake lights.

The beauty of digital is that you can build these sets up with more and more cars and track bundles, until you one day have a mammoth layout on which you can run eight cars simultaneously for the most involving of slot-car-racing action. Not that we’ve planned this ourselves or anything, you understand.

Price £339.95
Buy it at Ebay.co.uk

12. Ravensburger Lamborghini Huracan 3D Jigsaw

Combining an accurately finished model of the Huracan with the joy of making it via a 108-piece jigsaw puzzle, these Ravensburger kits are brilliant add-ons if you’re just looking for the last few “top-up” presents on your gift list this year.

Give this Lamborghini to someone clued up on cars and watch them get all wistful as they lament the impending passing of the Italian company’s yowling V10 engine.

Price £28.99
Buy it at John Lewis

Video games and consoles

1. Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S

One of the two titans of console gaming in the 2020s, the latest Xbox models possess top-line graphics and ridiculously quick processing power. For the ultimate experience, you need the Series X, which comes with a large 1Tb hard drive and a slot for games discs – this is retro-compatible with titles from older Xbox consoles, so your library of games amassed over the years doesn’t need to be declared obsolete.

If you need something a little cheaper, the entry Series S has a smaller hard drive (512Gb) and slightly detuned hardware, plus it doesn’t come with a disc drive, but it’s still capable of running some of the best games available for the Microsoft platform. There’s also now a 1Tb Xbox Series S if you need more storage space for games.

Xbox Series X price: £429-£459.99
Buy it at Argos, Currys or Game

Xbox Series S price: £249
Buy it at Argos, Currys or Game

2. PlayStation 5

Sony released its latest generation games console, the PS5, in 2020. For car enthusiasts, the big title for PS5 is Gran Turismo 7, the legendary Sony-exclusive racing game launched in early 2022, with rallying sims such as the Dirt series also good fun.

Like the Xbox Series X, the PS5 packs a punch with an ultra-high-speed hard drive, 4K graphics, 8K HDR, 120 fps and ray tracing. It also looks pretty cool compared to the Xbox’s cube-like design, though be warned it’s a fair bit larger than the PS4, so takes up more room on the shelf.

The PS5 is available in two forms — the standard model or a cheaper Digital version, which has the same performance but comes without the disc drive. It’s backwards compatible so if you want to run your old PS4 discs on the PS5, best opt for the pricier model.

PS5 price: From £479.99
Buy it at Argos, Currys or Game

PS5 Digital Edition price: From £389.99
Buy it at Argos, Currys or Game

Note: A new portable version of the PS5 is available this Christmas, enabling PS5 owners to play their games over WiFi without using the TV. The Playstation Portal Remote Player costs £199.99 and can be ordered from the Playstation Store here.

3. Nintendo Switch OLED

The Nintendo Switch is starting to offer more options for racing game fans, including remasters of Burnout Paradise and Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, and the WRC Generations rally sim. Plus is has a few cracking titles for younger gamers, such as Lego 2K Drive and the Switch exclusive Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which is brilliant fun.

The latest and most powerful version of the Switch is the OLED (organic light-emitting diode) version, with a larger (7in), more vibrant screen and double the internal storage (64Gb) compared with the regular Nintendo Switch.

The real beauty of the Switch is that you can play it away from home, using the screen on the controller, making it ideal for car journeys and visits to friends’ houses, as well as home entertainment.

Price From £299.99
Buy it at Nintendo (Mario Kart bundle), Argos or Game

4. Art of Rally game

There are more realistic rallying games certainly, but Art of Rally is far more charming than all of them. The game, made by Funselektor Labs, has a hazy, dream-like quality and eighties-influenced soundtrack and allows players to race rally cars from the 1960s to 1980s around sixty stages loosely — very loosely — inspired by real-world rallies.

Yes, the cars have been renamed for legal reasons but they’re still very clearly modelled on Minis, Porsche 911s, Audi Quattros, Ford RS200s, BMW M3s and Mazda RX-7s.

It’s a wonderfully arty, strangely meditative take on the arcade racing game and is available across Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch platforms.

Price £19.99 (PS4 & PS5) / £10.99 (Xbox) / £19.99 (PC)

Buy it at Playstation store (PS4 & PS5) / Microsoft Store (Xbox) / Steam (PC)

5. Forza Motorsport

Forza Horizon, with its free-roaming environments, has perhaps eroded some of the gloss that the Forza Motorsport sister series has built up over the years, but the latest entry to the latter has aimed to redress the balance.

Actually the eighth game in the Motorsport series, the 2023 title drops the titular numbers because it is considered a reboot. As the Xbox’s flagship racing franchise, the newest Forza makes the most of the Series X’s mighty processing power, with the visuals seriously upgraded from the FM7 predecessor.

There’s also an enhanced online racing experience and a career mode, allowing for better car upgrades if you drive with the ultimate of precision. It’ll keep serious gamers hooked for hours in a cycle of incremental self-improvement on the beautifully rendered tracks, that’s for sure.

Price £59.99-£69.99
Buy it at Argos, Microsoft, Game

6. EA Sports WRC

If you prefer your motorsport action more rugged and muddy than whizzing round and round super-clean racing circuits, then the newly launched WRC game from EA Sports should suffice. It’s only available for the current-gen consoles, namely the Xbox Series X and PS5, because it’s such a comprehensively massive game.

This is the first time that the world-renowned Codemasters team — part of EA Sports — has had the official licence for the World Rally Championship. There’s more than 370 miles of official stages from the real thing rendered in the game, plus an enthralling career mode.

But what will keep dedicated car lovers coming back is that WRC has no fewer than 78 legendary rally machines, from the distant past right up to the present-day Hybrid competitors. So whether you want to drive a Hillman Avenger, a Ford RS200 or Colin McRae’s legendary Subaru through the woods at breakneck speed, WRC can provide. There’s even a Vauxhall Nova in there. Really.

Price £44.99
Buy it at Argos: PS5, Xbox Series X Game: PS5, Xbox Series X

7. Gran Turismo 7

The legendary Gran Turismo franchise was revitalised last March with this latest effort. Driving.co.uk’s editor Will Dron described GT7 as a triumphant return to form following 2017’s lacklustre GT Sport.

GT7 does what we had hoped GT Sport would do, but failed: blend the latest cutting-edge physics and graphics with a good old-fashioned dose of fun. With a lot more cars and loads of new features, GT7 is miles more entertaining than several of its predecessors in the franchise.

Importantly, it offers a lot to the Gran Turismo newbie without being too intimidating, while still retaining enough of its old character to appeal to the experienced racer. The mix of cars is rich, allowing players to drive everything from near-priceless classic supercars such as the Ferrari F40 to the utterly mundane: 2014 Honda Jazz anybody? And there are new cars being added all the time.

As ever, GT7 is a PlayStation-exclusive release and is available on PS4 and PS5.

Price £49.99 (PS4) / £59.99 (PS5)
Buy from Argos: PS4, PS5

8. Forza Horizon 5

It was always going to be hard to top the excellent and incredibly fun Forza Horizon 4, and while the UK setting of Horizon 4 was very appealing, Horizon 5 is a better game overall.

Visually, it’s jaw-droppingly pretty and set in a fictionalised version of Mexico. It is the largest environment yet seen in a Forza game and one rich in diverse landscapes and racing venues. It’s a game that continues with the hyperactive festival-like atmosphere laid down in Horizon 4 yet manages its content better in a way that doesn’t feel as overwhelming, despite the fact that the array of cars and activities is at least as strong.

Don’t go expecting anything like the old Forza Motorsport games — they were more akin to an Xbox rival of the Gran Turismo franchise. Horizon 5 is a great deal more amusing and a spectacular visual feast.

Available on PC and Xbox Series S and X.

Price From £39.97
Buy from Microsoft, Game or Currys

Books, films and art

1. Variable Valve Timings by Chris Harris

One third of the latest line-up of BBC’s phenomenally successful Top Gear TV show — currently on an indefinite hiatus following an accident involving cricketer Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff — Chris Harris has been a motoring journalist and dyed-in-the-wool car geek for decades.

In this book, he goes through his formative years avidly reading What Car? magazine, then his early career as a print journalist for Autocar before transitioning to the YouTube and TV superstar he is today.

It’s a thought-provoking insight into how someone who has a deep love for cars can turn it into a highly profitable — and enjoyable — career.

Price £15.99
Buy it at Waterstones.com

2. Rear View Prints Posters

This company offers a delightful selection of various car-themed posters that are sure to wow the petrolhead in your life. There are various sizes and finishes available, with wide-ranging subject matters to boot. So, for example, you can pick the evolution of the Porsche 911 GT3 through the years, or some of the most iconic film cars over the decades, or your favourite GP circuits, or even old car adverts and portraits of motorsport greats.

There’s also the ability to send in a picture of a personal vehicle and have Rear View Prints turn it into a poster — perfect if the car-lover in your family wants something more bespoke to their particular dream set of wheels.

Price £19.99 to £199.99
Buy it at RearViewPrints.com

3. Boring Car Trivia books by Richard Porter

If you’re a fan — or someone in your life is — of painfully dull automotive minutiae, Richard Porter’s brilliant Boring Car Trivia Books are well worth a look.

So popular was Porter’s Medium-Sized Book of Boring Car Trivia, that he followed it up with two more volumes, respectively titled Boring Car Trivia Volume 2 and Boring Car Trivia 3. The hilarious script editor of The Grand Tour (a.k.a. Sniff Petrol), revels in the most tedious automotive facts that are sure to delight and thrill hardcore car enthusiasts and, as the titles suggest, thoroughly bore everyone else.

Rather than just being a list of facts, all three books are written with good humour and an eye for the absurd. Given that there are three of them (all reasonably priced) they make for either a riveting trio or, as single volumes, nice small gifts. Look out for the fourth in the series, which is coming soon.

• A Medium-Sized Book of Boring Car Trivia, £4.50 from Amazon – buy here
• Boring Car Trivia Volume 2, £4.99 from Amazon – buy here
• Boring Car Trivia 3, £4.99 from Amazon – buy here

4. Enzo Ferrari: The Man and the Machine by Brock Yates

With the biopic of “old man” Enzo Ferrari — starring Adam Driver, who played Kylo Ren in the Star Wars sequels — coming out just after Christmas, you can get your car-fanatical relations ahead of the curve with this in-depth look into the life of the famous Italian.

The book by American journalist Brock Yates delves into the behind-the-scenes persona of Ferrari, a man who was known for a combative management style and various controversies in his life, so this book should be a fascinating, rollercoaster read about the formation of this world-renowned automotive marque.

Price £12.99
Buy it at Waterstones.com

5. Gran Turismo movie

No, we’ve not gone mad and listed the game twice — this is the film, based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a young gamer who was a dab hand at the Gran Turismo PlayStation series. He then won the third iteration of the GT Academy in 2011, an annual competition to transform gamers into proper racing drivers — and he’s been a professional motorsport combatant since.

OK, so the film based on his life isn’t going to be a cerebral experience like watching a mind-bending Christopher Nolan flick, but it promises to be a few hours of solid crash-bang-wallop racing entertainment. In his review for Driving.co.uk, Will Dron said: “it’s very obviously a marketing movie at times … but there is real heart within the true story”, and he noted the stellar cast.

And yes, we know people stream films nowadays, but you can hardly wrap up a subscription to Netflix and pop it under the Christmas tree like you can a nice 4K Blu-ray disc, right?

Price £24.99 (Blu-ray 4K)
Buy it at HMV.com

6. Bond Cars: The Definitive History – Jason Barlow

If you want to guarantee a nice, heated debate in the post-Christmas-dinner lull on December 25, then get people talking about which is the best Bond car in history. Jason Barlow, a motoring journalist and former Top Gear presenter, does the groundwork for you with this thorough look back at every significant car that has appeared on screen in the venerable spy film franchise.

So to arm someone with the right knowledge to win that Christmas Bond car argument, this is the book to provide all the information needed.

But just so you know, it’s definitely the Lotus Esprit S1 from The Spy Who Loved Me.

Price £30 (hardback)
Buy it at Waterstones.com

7. Limited100 automotive artworks

Nottingham-based Limited100 sells art prints from a curated group of photographers, with printing and framing completed by the in-house specialists over as much as six hours per order. Each print is part of a limited run of no more than 100 , ensuring a certain amount of exclusivity, too.

Price From £119 to £589; supersize acrylic glass from £5,899; photoshoot and print package £1,089
Buy it at Limited100.co.uk

8. 75 Years of Motorsport at Goodwood book

This beautiful hardback coffee-table book does what it says on the cover — it begins with the first event in 1948 at the Goodwood Motor Circuit, while also documenting the original Festival of Speed in 1993 and the inaugural Revival of 1998, bringing the reader right up to the present day, celebrating 75 years of motor sport activity at Goodwood.

A selection of carefully curated photos and stories are told across 336 glossy pages, covering all kinds of motor sport disciplines, as well as championing the tales of both the machines and the drivers which have made headlines at the Sussex circuit over the years. Priced at a pound for every year covered in the book; neat.

Price £75
Buy it at Goodwood.com

Experiences

1. Half-day drifting experience

If you know someone who watches car shows on the television and loves the bits where the car is sliding wildly, with smoke billowing off its rear tyres, then this is for them. The half day experience is available at five locations across the country, and significantly reduced in price at the time of writing

It places the recipient at the wheel of specially prepared, rear-wheel-drive cars with an instructor alongside, teaching the deft car control required to execute a drift. To top it off there are six passenger laps with a professional, to see what top-level, tyre-shredding drifting is really all about.

Price £89
Buy it at TrackDays.co.uk

2. Drive a heritage diesel train

“Wait,” you’re thinking. “That isn’t a car.” Well, this experience is for transportation experts such as yourself. Joking aside, people who love cars tend to love all machinery, and within even the most mature of folk is a big kid who would no doubt love to take control of a train for a short blast.

The recipient of this gift is put at controls of two heritage diesel locomotives on a railway line in Derbyshire, which is conveniently central in the UK. And if there are some hills on this route, and we guess there are in Derbyshire, then you might even get to experience a bit of “clagging” — a train enthusiast term for the deep thrashing noise a diesel locomotive’s engine makes when it’s working particularly hard.

The gift also includes a guided tour of engine sheds and the railway’s museum, plus lunch for two.

Price £299
Buy it at IntoTheBlue.co.uk

3. Ultimate Adventure Driving Experience

If the person you’re buying for is more into off-road driving than they are circuit work, this half-day experience is a belter. This gift will put someone behind the wheel of a variety of interesting machinery, including a rally car, a 4×4 on a challenging course, a Rage buggy for six laps of a gravel stage, the choice of a fire engine, HGV or double-decker bus… oh, and a 30-minute Segway ride on a woodland track.

There’s even the opportunity for some drifting, doing donuts and figure-of-eights on a drift stage, plus passenger rides with professional drivers to round it all off.

Price £199
Buy it at TrackDays.co.uk

4. Palmersport driving experiences

Get ready for a bit of Tina Turner: the Bedford Autodrome-based Palmersport experience is simply the best. We include it in our gift guide every year because the variety of circuits and full-on motor sport machines is unrivalled and, unlike with some other packages where you’re asked to build up speed slowly, the instructors genuinely encourage you to go as fast as you possibly can from the off — there’s no holding back here.

What’s more, the finer details are all very carefully observed, from the on-site branding to the catering and prize-giving ceremony.

Half-day experiences start from around £545 while full-day courses are into four figures, so they’re not the most affordable of presents — but as the top-end driving event that will be remembered forever, it’s got “star gift” written all over it.

Price From £545 plus VAT
Buy it at Palmersport.com

5. Five supercar thrill plus passenger ride

Of course, not everyone will want to be in a fully prepared drift or rally car — some just want to drive the exotic road cars that they dream about purchasing when their numbers come up on the lottery. This package gives a car fan a chance to do just that.

Those who go along can mix-and-match their preferred five vehicles from a list of 15 — including models from Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche, among more — and while it will limit the amount of time you get in each vehicle (probably 10 minutes, max), it does add up to a substantial and rewarding half-day experience.

Better still, there are 20 venues to choose from across England and Wales and this current price includes a high-speed passenger ride along with the five drives.

Price £269
Buy it at TrackDays.co.uk

Tech and tools

1. Nextbase iQ smart dash cam

If you’ve been jealous of Tesla drivers with their 360-degree cameras and “Sentry mode”, then this could be your solution. It does all the usual dash cam stuff, yes, and the top spec model records the road ahead in crystal clear 4K resolution. But it also has a camera pointing into the cabin, offering a 180-degree view that captures the view through the side windows. Combine that with radar sensors and you get a very smart security device that will capture thieves before they break into your car, and record clips to the cloud.

It also has a Witness Mode, which is voice activated and records 30 mins of video in case unwanted people approach your car while stopped at traffic lights… or in case you want a record when pulled over by the police.

Other smart features include sensors that can detect the speed of other vehicles, and even create an animation of an accident to send to insurers. See our full review of the new Nextbase iQ here.

Price £349-449, depending on version. For smart features, a monthly subscription of £6.99 or £9.99 is required.
Buy it at Halfords.com

2. All-new Echo Auto (2nd generation) 

While the quality of virtual assistants in cars is rapidly improving, the systems in used cars can often be more hindrance than help, meaning you may have to divert your attention away from the road and onto fiddly physical controls. Bringing in the help of an established assistant like Amazon’s Alexa can make driving a more serene and more safe experience, and brings many of your phone apps into the fold to transform your journeys

The updated Echo Auto allows hands free operation of music apps such as Amazon Music, Apple Music and Spotify, as well as podcast and audiobook apps. It also has the ability to set navigation destinations and control smart home devices from the car with your voice.

Do note, though, that it’s not compatible with all cars: check whether it’ll work with your here.

Price £59.99
Buy it at Amazon.co.uk

3. Garmin Mini 2 dash cam

If you want a good dash cam but on a budget, then try the Garmin Mini 2. Despite its diminutive size — it’s described as being as big as a car key, allowing for discreet mounting near your interior mirror — it can still film in 1080p HD video and is fitted with a 140-degree wide-angle lens. It will also automatically upload saved incident footage to the Garmin cloud “Video Vault”, so that you know you’ve got those all-important clips saved in perpetuity for future reference.

Price £99.99
Buy it at Argos.co.uk

4. Porsche Speaker 2.0 / ‘60 Years Of 911’ Version

A high-end Bluetooth speaker, this little beauty is designed to look like one of the tailpipes on the exhaust system of a Porsche 911 — perfect for a car fan who’s also a home audiophile.

There are two versions, the regular model for £461, or a limited-build run to celebrate 60 years of the 911 itself, which is one of 1,963 units (that, of course, being the year the 911 arrived); this one is an extra £40 and has an inscription on it denoting its restricted availability.

Either version features Qualcomm aptX hi-def wireless audio, measures 215mm long, weighs 1.1kg and comes with an attractive carry case.

Price £461 or £501
Buy it at Porsche.com

5. Ghost II immobiliser

This is a beauty of a security device. It needs professionally wiring into your car but the Ghost II immobiliser works by creating your a PIN from your vehicle’s own interior buttons on the dashboard and steering wheel. So, until you press a certain sequence of buttons of your choosing, the car won’t start at all, even with the key present, preventing “relay thefts” or anyone who has your car key without your permission from driving the car no matter what they do.

Diagnostic tools typically used by car thieves cannot detect the Ghost, hence its name, and it comes with both a two-year warranty and also a smartphone app for easy operation.

Price £99.99
Buy it at GhostInstallations.co.uk

6. Tile Mate

A returning favourite from last year and such a straightforward little gift idea. For anyone who’s a bit forgetful when leaving their car keys around the place, simply attach a Tile Mate to the bunch and then the owner can use a smartphone app to get the Mate to emit a high-pitched beep — making the “lost” keys easy and quick to locate.

It’s got a working range of up to 76 metres and is powered by a battery that should last for up to three years. It’s also compatible with both Android and Apple devices.

Price £19.99
Buy it at Tile.com

7. CTEK MXS 5.0 T battery charger

This is not a glamorous gift but, for anyone who owns an older car or motorbike which they only use on high days and holidays, the CTEK battery charger is an absolute godsend.

It plugs into a three-pin domestic socket at one end and then, through the crocodile clips typical of external car-battery charging systems, attaches to a car’s battery at the other. It’ll then either “condition” the battery by pulsing electricity into it periodically to keep the charge level topped up, or it will even recover a deeply discharged 12-volt battery. And it should work with any type of vehicle battery, including ones designed for cars with engine stop/start systems.

It can work in extremes of temperature and has a clear, simple design with an eight-light display to show the current state of the battery/charging cycle.

Attach one of these beauties to a garage queen car and it is guaranteed to start up smoothly the next time it is needed, even if it stands immobile for months at a time.

Price £81.99
Buy it at Halfords.com

8. Halfords Advanced 200 Pc Socket and Ratchet Spanner Set

For any garage tinkerers who could do with a complete set of tools sockets and ratchets, this Halfords 200-piece kit contains 100 tooth ratchets and 72 tooth Ratchet Spanners, with a technology called Surface Drive Plus that Halfords claims provides up to 28% more torque before rounding. And during the Black Friday sales period there’s a massive discount of more than £130.

Price £199.99 with Black Friday discount (normally £330)
Buy it at Halfords.com

Clothing and apparel

1. Auto Tees

If our experience of car enthusiasts’ fashion choices is anything to go by, they love to wear car-branded t-shirts — especially cool-looking ones like these from Auto Tees. There’s a variety of designs covering some of the biggest car brands, such as BMW, Ford, Lotus, Toyota and Volkswagen (among more). And they’re offered in six sizes from S to 3XL, and most of the t-shirts come in a wide selection of colours. They’re also described as a unisex fit, so they’re suitable for both the male and female car fanatic this Christmas.

Price £17.99 to £19.99
Buy it at AutoTees.co.uk

2. No.20 Racing Blue Leather Wallet

There is no cooler motor sport livery than Gulf colours — this is a fact. The idiosyncratic combination of sky blue and orange makes almost anything look magnificent, including this natty leather wallet from Not On The High Street.

Other competition-livery-themed wallets are available, but you want to get this one for your petrolhead relation. It features five credit/debit card slots, a zipped pocket for coins, a note section, and two further slipped pockets. Measuring 11cm wide, 9.5cm high and a slender 1.5cm thick, the wallet also has RFID protection (it means it’s like a small Faraday cage) for the cards contained within as a security feature.

Price £30
Buy it at NotOnTheHighStreet.co.uk

3. Volkswagen ID.R Pikes Peak Hill Climb hoodie

Your intended recipient of this gift doesn’t need to own a Volkswagen ID. or R model to wear the epic unisex hoodie with style. It commemorates the German company’s course record at the fearsome US event, set in 2018 when Romain Dumas blasted up the 12.4-mile track on the side of a Coloradan mountain in less than eight minutes in the phenomenal Volkswagen ID.R, smashing the course record. Hence the hoodie has ID. and R logos emblazoned on it, as well as a graphic of the Pikes Peak track itself. Finished in black cotton (90 per cent), it comes in six sizes from S to 3XL.

Price £93.50
Buy it at Volkswagen Retailers (click for more details)

4. Campbell Heritage Collection clothing by RetroClassic

RetroClassic Clothing does some lovely car-related merch as it is, but the company is hoping you want a “Campbell Christmas” this year as it has two new t-shirt designs which pay homage to legendary record-breaker Donald Campbell.

The first design shows Donald and the Bluebird CN7, in which he clocked up 403.1mph for the then land speed record in July 1964, while the second has Campbell with the Bluebird K7 hydroplane he eventually hit 276mph in.

Like all of RetroClassic’s items, the t-shirts are made of 100 per cent ethically produced cotton and are available in a variety of colours. Sizes are XS to 4XL for men, 8-18 for women and from 1-2 up to 12-13 years for kids.

Price From £27.60
Buy it at RetroClassicClothing.co.uk

5. Serengeti anti-glare sunglasses

At this time of year, if it’s a nice day then you can potentially end up with the danger of searing glare from the low-lying sun. Avoid the consequences of such meteorological misfortune with these Serengeti anti-glare sunglasses.

Featuring photochromic lenses, colour-enhancing spectral control filters and the key glare-reducing polarisation, there’s a selection of designs and colours to choose from in the SS22 Driving Heritage Capsule Collection, any of which would make a perfect gift for a car enthusiast.

Price From £140
Buy it at Serengeti-Eyewear.com

Car cleaning & accessories

1. Karcher K4 Power Control Pressure Washer

A pressure washer is ideal during winter, not just for cars, motorbikes and bicycles, but also for patios and driveways. This Karcher K4 is the daddy of them all, with a score of 4.7/5 from customers on Halfords.com and reviews praising the power and ease of use..

It has three different pressure settings, indicated via an LED display on the trigger gun, and two types of lances for different surfaces. For lathering up a car, the Plug ‘n’ Clean system allows you to attach a detergent bottle and applying a layer of foam.

Price £209.99
Buy it at Halfords.com

2. Autoglym Polar Wash Mitt

Wash mitts are better for a car’s paintwork than traditional sponges, and Autoglym is also one of the leading names in cleaning gear. This luxury wash mitt is therefore a top Christmas purchase for a car-loving relative, as not only is it made of a lightweight, premium cotton and polyester blend on the outside but also there are stitched finger spaces which makes the mitt easier to control when you’re washing the car — no need to grip onto it while you’re cleaning large body panels.

Price £19.99
Buy it at Halfords.com

3. Meguiar’s MT320 Dual Action Polisher Pad Kit

If you want a professional finish to your beloved car then a polisher is essential, and Meguiar’s is arguably the top brand for such tools. The speed of the MT320 can be adjusted between 3,000 and 7,500opm (oscillations per minute), and the dual-action system allows you to set it to revolutions rather than orbits for jobs other than buffing, where paint defects need to be removed and repaired.

It comes with a replacement brush set, multi-position D handle, 5in backing plate and discs for cutting, polishing and finishing. Meanwhile a billet counterweight helps with balance and precision. It’s the choice of pros, hence the high price.

Price £329.99
Buy it at Halfords.com

4. Autoglym Supreme Car Collection

British car care brand Autoglym is probably the best-known in the UK, with a rich history of delivering premium products over nearly 60 years. The gift set to go for this Christmas is the Supreme Car Collection, which includes all the sprays, cleaners, polishes, dressings, mitts and cloths needed to bring your pride and joy up to pristine condition (a complete list of contents is here).

The RRP is £91.99 but we found it on eBay with a discount of more than a tenner.

Price £79.99
Buy it at eBay.co.uk

Stocking fillers

1. Top Trumps Ultimate 4×4

Everyone should find a Top Trumps game in their stocking at Christmas. Every taste is catered for, from the most deadly animals to James Bond. For car fans there are plenty of options, too, but this Christmas Santa won’t go far wrong with this Ultimate 4×4 pack, which features the monsters such as the six-wheeled Brabus G-Wagon and the new electric Hummer (“Horsepower: 1000!”).

Price £6.45
Buy it at Ebay.com

2. Volkswagen Plush Bus

Not just a cuddly piece of attractive décor, this Volkswagen Plush Bus could also double up as a pillow or neck support if needed on a long journey. So it’s not just great for the kids, but also for that mate of yours who always nods off whenever you do a motorway trek.

Price £30
Buy it at Volkswagen retailers (click for more details)

3. Faraday car-key pouch

One of the easiest and cheapest methods of car security — for modern-day vehicles, at any rate — also makes a great filler gift. These Faraday cage pouches are for cars with advanced remote central locking systems, often known as “keyless access” or similar. Simply pop the key for the vehicle into one of these at night and it cuts off the key’s electromagnetic signal from being transmitted, preventing “relay thefts” from your drive by laptop-toting car thieves.

• Keyless car theft prevention: 6 ways thieves can break into a car and how to prevent it

Price £6.45
Buy it at Amazon.co.uk

4. Porsche ice scraper with glove

No offence to Porsche, but its Christmas gifts catalogue — while undoubtedly full of lovely stuff — doesn’t have much for under a tenner. Except for this very handy ice-scraper glove. The scraper itself is made of polycarbonate, so it should be both tough and effective in the freezing cold, while the glove is waterproof and lined to keep the user’s hand nice and dry at all times.

Of course, it’ll look a bit daft using this to de-ice the windscreen of a Hyundai or Vauxhall, maybe, but perhaps it will be the first Porsche-branded step on your car-loving recipient’s path to one day owning a 718 Cayman GT4 RS.

Price £8
Buy it at Porsche.com

5. Heel Tread socks

Socks: the absolute staple comedy present for Christmas. No one likes receiving them, do they? Unless, of course, they happen to be from Heel Tread. Featuring a range of eye-catching designs themed to the worlds of road cars, motor sport and even aviation, Heel Tread’s socks are made of high-quality cotton, and they’re fashioned in a style which makes them seamless, so they ought to be comfortable, too.

Price From £11.25 a pair
Buy it at HeelTread.com

N.b. We may receive a small commission fee if you click on a link to an external website and purchase a product as a result, but these links are designed to make your life easier and it does not affect our editorial independence.

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• Enjoyed our roundup of the best Christmas gifts for car lovers? Then you might like to read our other car accessory reviews
• Here are the nine best Lego car sets available from 2022
• If you’re interested in car toys, you might want to read about the rebirth of Micro Machines, the eighties toy sensation

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The post 55 of the best Christmas gifts for car lovers 2023 appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

A survey by Compare the Market in January 2022 found that almost two in three drivers experience road rage while behind the wheel, with nearly a third reporting they had experienced a face-to-face confrontation with another driver. 

Of course, it behoves a maker of dash cams to get their own data on the perils of poor driving (and then tell journalists about it at the reveal of its latest product) and Nextbase — which today launches its new iQ dash cam — has plenty of findings to worry us.

According to the British firm, which claims to be the world’s largest and most awarded dash cam manufacturer, 72 per cent of drivers have had a near miss in the last year, 32 per cent of which could have been life threatening; more than half of motorists see instances of dangerous overtaking on a weekly basis; and 35 per cent see instances of cars ignoring road signs on a weekly basis.

The company also reported a two-fold increase in videos showing cash-for-crash incidents — whereby scammers pretend to be hit by your car in order to claim compensation — being shared through its app to insurers in the first six months of 2023 compared with the same period a year earlier. This is apparently being driven by the cost of living crisis.

So dash cams are a good idea if you’re a sensible driver, you’ll have gathered. They record a video of the road ahead while you’re driving, saving them in bite-sized clips usually around 30 seconds long, so that if the worst happens you’ve got video evidence for the police and insurers. Insurers love them, for obvious reasons, and you may find that you get a discount on your premium if using one.

But a quick look at Amazon shows there are plenty of options out there for buyers; what makes the new Nextbase iQ so special?

Let’s assume that the clarity of video recorded by the forward camera is top notch (it is, in crystal clear resolution up to 4K, depending on spec, with the hardware and software designed in-house).

The second built-in camera, facing into the cabin, may not be something that everyone has at the top of their must-haves, and might be considered overly-intrusive, but bear with me — I’ll come on to the major benefit of having it. Just know for now that the camera quality is also excellent.

There’s also nothing new in the fact that you can buy a separate camera to attach to your rear windscreen, meaning it’s possible to have three cameras recording to one memory card for all-round coverage.

Even the fact that the iQ packs a parking mode, to record people breaking in, isn’t a breakthrough feature in the world of dash cams.

Here comes the smart stuff

It’s how it works that is really clever, and the new features made possible by the powerful sensors packed into it that make the Nextbase iQ groundbreaking.

Let’s start with that parking mode — called SmartSense Parking in the iQ. Rather than waiting for the sound of a window breaking, or the rocking of the car, the iQ uses radar sensors (much like a Tesla in Sentry Mode) to detect movement outside the vehicle. That’s why the interior camera, with its 180-degree viewing angle, is a major selling point — it can capture nefarious characters coming up to the window before they break and enter.

Importantly, you can even set the sensitivity of the radar in four directions around the car via the app, in case, for example, you’re parked on a street and cars passing on the road side are setting off alerts every few seconds. A simple slide of the finger allows you to dial down the sensitivity on that side of the car.

SmartSense Parking is likely to be a really appealing feature because car thefts are accelerating as fast as bad driving — according to figures from the AA they were up by a quarter (25 per cent) last year. And it’s not just stealing of cars that’s a problem — parts are increasingly sought after by criminal gangs, too, such as catalytic converters and wheels.

If you wondering if the iQ runs out of power when parked, well, no… and yes. The iQ doesn’t come with a 12v (cigarette lighter) or USB power cable because Nextbase knows they don’t supply power once the car is locked. Instead, there are two options for owners: hard-wiring, which involves running a cable into the car’s fuse box and is best left to the professionals, or connecting to the car’s diagnostic port (‘OBD’ ports have been mandatory on all cars since the early 2000s).

This is how I connected our test iQ to our car, and the installation process, including downloading the app to my phone, connecting to the device and installing it in the car took less than 10 minutes. Tucking the power cable away behind the interior trim using the provided pokey tool took another few minutes.

Either way, the iQ is able to draw power directly from the car’s 12v battery, and will do so until it detects the battery has reached a minimum charge level. At that point the iQ powers down, so that you’ll always have enough power in the battery to start the car’s engine. Nextbase says that, thanks to radar being very low power draw compared with regular motion detectors, the parking mode should last for weeks, depending on the health of the battery and how often events are triggered.

By connecting to the OBD port, though, a second concern is raised: does the iQ also access data from the car? Apparently not. Nextbase says it made the decision not to do so, partly for privacy reasons (GDPR doing its job here), but also because to do so may invalidate a car’s warranty. And that would not a happy customer make.

So that’s vehicle security, but there’s another new feature which is all about personal safety and most definitely shifts the needle in dash cam tech. Witness Mode is a voice activated system that starts a 30-minute recording that is saved directly to the cloud, and sends an alert via text and email to up to two of your contacts.

The idea is that if you’re feeling unsafe driving through a particular neighbourhood, or have stopped at traffic lights and can see someone you don’t like the look of approaching your car, then you can not only make sure the footage is saved online but can also allow your nominated contacts to live stream the situation.

This is also offered explicitly as a tool for people worried about being stopped by the police. When asked if they had a particular case involving a police stop in mind when developing Witness Mode, a Nextbase spokesperson said no, but several high profile cases — in America, particularly — had been noted.

It’s not quite there… yet

There was only one problem with Witness Mode when I first tried to test it — the Voice Control feature wasn’t working. That was down to a firmware update over the weekend, I was told, which also prevented me from being able to connect to the camera at all via the app for a time. I was advised to press the reset button on the top of the device using a paper clip, and that resolved the issues, but it was a wobble that suggests there may still be a few kinks to iron out with further over-the-air updates.

I also noticed that Witness Mode, once I got it working (with the wake-up command “Hey Nextbase” rather than “Hey, iQ”, as stated in the app), didn’t list the recording as an “event”. Hopefully Nextbase will read this and ensure that those clips are labelled more obviously in the app. What’s more, my contacts were able to live stream the cameras at least 50 minutes after the event, yet there was no obvious way for them to download the footage.

Voice Command supposedly also allows owners to play music, place calls, send directions to your navigation app and more, which all sounds great but it wasn’t immediately obvious how to do that, so I didn’t test it.

Nor did I test two other really intriguing features of iQ, but not through my own laziness… they aren’t active yet and are set to be rolled out in around two weeks from now.

The first is called Guardian Mode and is designed to send you an alert when someone else is driving your car and breaks a preset rule, such as going over a certain speed or driving beyond certain designated boundaries — useful for keeping tabs on valets or younger members of the household.

The other is RoadWatch AI, which as the name suggests scans the road ahead and uses artificial intelligence to track the speed and trajectories of other vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and more. In the event of a collision, the system should even be able to create an animation of what went on in the lead up to and during it.

And for obvious reasons I didn’t try out an apparently life-saving feature, which is carried over from the most recent Nextbase Series 2 products, called Emergency SOS. This, in the event of a serious accident (categorised by completing a checklist of 18 criteria), sends an alert to the emergency services that includes your exact location (using What3Words) and other critical details.

That may work as planned (I should hope so) but a few other things did not. For my test of SmartSense Parking mode, I parked at home and waited until the following morning to perform my criminal act and peer in through the windows. Although the video I recorded (below) clearly shows me doing so, there was no indication to me that the iQ was recording at the time — the ring of LEDs should glow red, as a deterrent to potential thieves.

And when I went to the new Nextbase iQ app to check the recordings, these also hadn’t been noted as “events” — clips deemed important enough to lock on the SD card and send to the cloud, for security.

The chances are high that these are things that can be fixed either in the settings or via firmware and software updates, which are included with the iQ over its lifetime. Clearly the cameras did record me, so the radar was doing its job.

And while those clips are not recorded as “events”, but should be, there are some clips that shouldn’t, yet are. During one hour-and-a-half drive the camera recorded two “impacts” that were nothing of the sort. I did find in the app that there are three levels of sensitivity, so I dropped it down from normal to the lowest setting.

Hit us with the costs, then

Of course, all this tech doesn’t come cheap. And you might not be surprised to know that if you want all the features all the time, there’s an ongoing payment for the privilege.

The Nextbase iQ itself comes in three versions based on video quality: the entry level “iQ 1K” model comes with 1080p video from the front and cabin cameras, and costs £349; the mid-spec “iQ 2K” model gets 1440p video from both cameras and will set you back a further £50; while the range-topping “iQ 4K” keeps the same 1440p cabin camera but gets (surprise, surprise) 4K video from the forward-facing unit — yours for £449. The optional rear cam works with all three, has 1440p resolution and costs £149.

It’s worth noting that while these couldn’t be described as cheap, there are even more expensive dash cams out there with far fewer features. Nextbase also makes it easier with interest-free payment plans via its website.

But you do need to factor in the subscription costs. You can avoid them altogether, though you’ll only get access to the app, firmware updates, Voice Control and real-time text notifications, which doesn’t make a lot of sense given the power of the product.

For Live View videos, SmartSense Parking, Witness Mode, Roadwatch AI, Guardian Mode and 30-day cloud storage, you’ll need to pay £6.99 per month. A top tier plan for another £3 per month on top adds multiple user accounts, Emergency SOS and Automated Incident Back-up. Pay annually and you also get an extended warranty.

Think of it like taking out a phone contract, though, and no doubt many will view a monthly charge as perfectly reasonable, and importantly you can cancel the subscription at any time. I suspect many iQ owners will feel much happier knowing they are fully protected, though.

They’ll be sold in the UK exclusively at the Nextbase website and in store at Halfords for a few weeks, before opening up to sales on Amazon.

Verdict: Nextbase iQ dash cam review

The Nextbase iQ has been four years in the making but even on launch day it’s still not quite firing on all its cylinders: we’ll have to wait another couple of weeks to find out if the RoadWatch AI and Guardian Modes work as advertised, and there seem to be a few niggles that could do with fixing via over-the-air updates.

That said, the hardware is without doubt a brilliant bit of kit, with superb video quality and packed with features that will help owners feel like they and their car are safe, whether in motion or parked up. And despite the complexity of the device, the iQ is really easy to install and set up.

The prices need to be looked at in the context of the features on offer, and even before all the features are unlocked, and with improvements that could be made over-the-air, the Nextbase iQ is probably the best dash cam on the market today. With all the features in the mix and a few minor tweaks to the app, it really will be leaps and bounds ahead of the pack and the best way to help protect you and your car.

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The post Nextbase iQ review: First test of ‘the world’s smartest dash cam’ appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

An ice scraper is one of those items which you often don’t realise you need until it’s too late, but since it’s illegal to drive with an obscured view of the road, it’s an item no driver should go without.

We’ve researched the best ice scrapers to make the job as quick and painless as possible. Here are the seven we’ve deemed to be up to the task.

1. Swedish Ice Scraper

Swedish Ice Scraper ICE06 6mm, £13.99 from Amazon – buy here

If anyone knows how to make a good ice scraper, it’s going to be the Swedes. Designed to be used throughout Nordic winters, this scraper has no issue tackling our less severe conditions.

Each scraper is made from laser cut 6mm thick acrylic glass, which has been polished and sharpened using diamonds. The shape of the blade is designed for efficiency, the rounded corners protect your glass and rubber seals, and there’s even a slot for cleaning your wiper blades.

There’s a neoprene holder for warmth and a finger grip for ease of use — it’s clear every detail has been thought through when designing this product. It’s available in four colours and one happy customer said “this is by far the best ice scraper I’ve ever owned!”.

2. RevHeads Ice Scraper for Cars and Vans

RevHeads Ice Scraper for Cars and Vans, £12.80 from Amazon – buy here

RevHeads claim this ice scraper is tough enough to outlast your car, so we can assume it’s pretty well made. Reviews also confirm this, with one humorously stating: “this trusty companion of a scraper had clearly undergone intense strength and martial arts training at its place of birth.”

The scraper has a claw-shaped design on one side for breaking up chunks of ice, and the other side has the standard design you’d expect from an ice scraper. Other happy reviewers state that it’s “comfortable to hold”, “easy to use” and “good quality”.

3. MATCEE Ice Scraper with Snow Broom

MATCEE Ice Scraper with Snow Broom, £20.99 from Amazon – buy here

If snow is as much as a concern as ice or you own a large SUV or van, then this multi-taking ice scraper snow brush might be the way to go. It has an extendable pole, a pivoting brush head, as well as a trusty ice scraper. There’s a non-slip foam handle too.

Customer reviews state that its “nice and sturdy”, a “must have for cold weather” and that you can “clear the full windscreen from one side”.

4. Halfords Ice Scraper

Halfords Ice Scraper, £1 from Halfords – buy here

If you’re looking for cheap option then you can’t get much cheaper than this £1 bargain from Halfords. There’s not a huge amount to say about it to be honest, apart from the fact that it’s made from plastic and has a easy-grip handle.

However, it’s got rave reviews with customers calling it an “amazing product”, “great value for money” and that it’s “ideal to put in your door pocket”. Does what it says on the tin.

5. Halfords Ice Scraper with Weatherproof Mitt

Halfords Ice Scraper with Weatherproof Mitt, £4 from Halfords – buy here

Say goodbye to chilly hands when de-icing your windscreen with this scraper with an attached mitt, even when getting rid of a thick layer of snow. The mitt is made from polyester fleece and a water-resistant material to keep your hands toasty warm, and is another bargain option from Halfords at under a fiver.

Customers “love the mitt” and how warm it keeps their hands and say that the scraper “works well”. There’s a similar ice scraper by Netagon at Amazon.co.uk, which also has positive reviews.

How to use an ice scraper

Legally you must be able to see out of every glass panel of your car before you drive, and you can be fined if you don’t abide by this rule. Therefore, it’s important that you thoroughly de-ice your car before setting off for your own safety and the safety of others on the road. Here’s how to use an ice scraper:

1. Switch on your engine and set your heater to defrost
2. Turn the heat on full and set the air to recirculate (rather than the A/C setting)
3. Wedge your ice scraper between the windshield and the ice and drag it across the glass until the ice begins to lift
4. Work your way around the car removing the ice from all the windows, headlights and brake lights.

If there’s snow on your windscreen, brush this off first before using an ice scraper.

How to de-ice your windscreen without a scraper

If you don’t have an ice scraper to hand and time is on your side, it’s best to switch on the engine of your car, set your heater to defrost and let it warm up. If you’re in a hurry, use something plastic like a spatula or credit card (be careful not the damage the magnetic strip) which won’t scratch your windscreen – we don’t really recommend it though.

Never use hot water to remove the ice as it may crack your windscreen.

What is the best car ice scraper?

The Swedish Ice Scraper consistently ranks top of “best ice scraper” lists, and has a flurry of excellent reviews. However, if you have a large van or SUV long handle ice scrapers such as the MATCEE scraper and snow brush, are a great option too.

Do cone-shaped ice scrapers work?

For a while there was a bit of hype around a cone shaped scraper, called the Magic Ice Scraper. According to reviews of this particular brand, as well as other cone-shaped scrapers, it doesn’t appear that they work as well as the products we’ve listed above.

This article features products that have been chosen independently by Driving.co.uk journalists, and our reviews are unbiased. We may earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to affect our opinions.

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The app has been built into the multimedia systems on the new Austral SUV and Mégane E-Tech Electric models equipped with Renault’s OpenR Link infotainment system. The move is designed to provide drivers with greater levels of “comfort and safety”, allowing them to use the app without connecting or touching their phones.

Waze, one of the most popular navigation apps out there, uses real-time data from users in order to identify the fastest route, taking into account issues that may impact on journey times such as road works, traffic jams, stranded cars, and hazards such as fog and floods.

Renault drivers can download the app for free from the Google Play app store either via their car’s OpenR multimedia screen or through their smartphones with their My Renault mobile app. The set-up can also be integrated with existing Waze accounts.

“Renault is the first car brand to offer Waze directly on the vehicle’s multimedia screen, without activating the smartphone,” said Jérôme Seror, director of digital customer experience at Renault.

“We are convinced that the large number of Waze users will appreciate this new feature when they drive the Nouvel Austral or the Mégane E-Tech electric. This is clearly in line with our strategy to offer our customers an intuitive, immersive and connected driving experience.”

While Renault is the first manufacturer to directly integrate Waze as an accessible app through the car’s interior touchscreen, it isn’t the first car company to make use of it.

In 2018, Fiat launched the special-edition Panda Waze, integrating Waze into its own Uconnect system.

At the time, the Panda didn’t feature an infotainment screen and so users had to make do with mounting their phone in the Panda’s dashboard cradle, but it meant that Fiat drivers could continue using the Uconnect app while they were driving without having to switch between it and Waze on the go.

As well as partnering with Fiat on the special-edition Panda, in August of 2018 Waze introduced support for Android Auto which meant that users of Android phones could see and use Waze through their cars’ touchscreens. A month later, Apple CarPlay compatibility was introduced.

Waze is also available through Android Automotive, which is a full infotainment operating system made available first on the Polestar 2.

For many motorists then, the use of Waze through their multimedia won’t be a new feature, but Renault’s recent efforts do mark the first time that drivers will be able to access the app without pairing their smartphones with the car they’re driving.

Waze has been owned by Google since 2013, though the mapping underpinning the app remains separate from Google’s own mapping system.

“As more and more Waze users join us on in-car platforms and as this type of technology continues to evolve, it is important that we provide them with the best driving experiences,” said Waze’s director of marketing and partnerships, Aron di Castro.

“That’s why we are pleased and proud to announce our partnership with Renault. The integration of Waze’s real-time routes, navigation and alerts into the screen of Renault’s next generation vehicles offers a smoother and more streamlined driving experience.

“We look forward to bringing this all-new driving experience to as many users around the world as possible in 2023.”

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The post Renault integrates Waze navigation app into its multimedia systems appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

There are a huge number of brands represented on the market, and a massive number of retailers selling them, meaning that you should be able to find yourself a great deal. Here’s our round-up of the best, as well as answers to some frequently asked questions.

• Shop dash cams at Amazon – here

Best live Black Friday dash cam deals

Even though Black Friday isn’t quite here yet, there’s already some great deals on dash cams. However, if you can’t spot anything you like, don’t despair: some retailers could add more items to their sales as the week continues.

Amazon

Amazon had one of the best selections of dashcams on sale last year, as well as some eye-widening discounts: some models had their price tags slashed by more than £100, while cheaper models were available for just £20.

This year has seen discounts on industry favourite Nextbase, whose wares have been reduced by up to a massive 40%.

However, be wary as Amazon’s deals are often gone in the blink of an eye. You can expect the Black Friday deals to expire on 11.55pm on the 28th.

• Nextbase 222XR Dash Cam Front and Rear, £89.95 (saving £60) – buy here
• Nextbase 522GW Dash Cam Front and Rear Camera, £189.95 (saving £80) – buy here

Halfords

This year Halfords has discounted a seven dash cams by up to 35%. Halfords is guaranteeing the discounts shown are the lowest prices for the products, but if for any reason they drop the price further on or before the end of the Black Friday deal period, you’ll get the difference back on an e-gift card.

And motorists who are a bit tight for cash this November will also be happy to know that you can split the cost over a number of months using Klarna — but don’t use this option unless you can make the payments.

• Nextbase 320XR+ Front and Rear Dash Cam Bundle with 32GB SD Card, £109 (saving £60) – buy here
• BlackVue DR750X-1CH Dash Cam with 32GB microSD Card, £240 (saving £59.95) – buy here
• BlackVue DR750X-2CH (32GB), £320 (saving £79.95) – buy here
• BlackVue DR750-2CH LTE 4G Cloud-Connected Front/Rear Dash Cam with 32GB microSD Card & Vodafone V-Sim, £424 (saving £105.95) – buy here
• Road Angel Halo Go Full HD 1080p Dash Cam & 32GB Automotive Grade SD Card, £69.99 (saving £30) – buy here
• Road Angel Halo Pro 2K+ 1520p Front & 1080p Rear Dash Cam & 32GB Automotive Grade SD Card, £129.50 (saving £70.49) – buy here
• Road Angel Halo Ultra 4K 2160p with ADAS, Parking/Winter Mode & 64GB Internal Memory, £169.99 (saving £30) – buy here

Argos

Argos always has great sales come November, and its dash cam Black Friday deals are always worth a look. This year the Nextbase 122 HD bundle is once again on offer, though whereas last year there was £40 off this year the discount this year is only £10, though that does bring it down to the same £59.99 as 12 months ago.

• Nextbase 122 HD Bundle, £59.99 (saving £10) – buy here

Very

Very is one of those sites that seems to sell everything, so it’s no surprise that it’s got some cracking dash cam deals this year. By this point you’ll be unsurprised that there were discounts on Nextbase models, though Garmin also features in the Very Black Friday deals event.

• Nextbase 300W Dash Cam & 8GB SD Memory Card, £69.99 (saving £60) – buy here
• Nextbase 422 Dash Cam Exclusive Bundle with Rear Camera, 32GB Memory Card and Carry Case, £189.99 (saving £85) – buy here
• Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2 Compact Dash Camera, £98 (saving £21.99) – buy here
• Garmin Dash Cam 57 Compact Dash Camera, £148.99 (saving £21) – buy here
• Garmin dezlCam LGV710 sat nav with 7″ touchscreen and built in dash cam, £419.99 (saving £100) – buy here

When is Black Friday 2022?

Black Friday arrives on the day after the American holiday of Thanksgiving, which always falls on the fourth Thursday in November.

That means that this year it is on November 25. However, you can expect a number of retailers to begin their sales early, so there are already some great deals available.

When is Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday is the other side of the Black Friday weekend, arriving on November 28 this year. As the name suggests, it’s an online-only event so you won’t see the same scenes of people brawling over televisions on the evening news.

However, the deals are often better on Cyber Monday than on Black Friday due to the fact that retailers try to get rid of stock to make space for new-season products. On the flipside, that also means that more popular products are likely to be out of stock.

Do dashcams go on sale for Black Friday?

Yes, absolutely — there are already discounts on a huge number of top brands including Nextbase, Garmin and Blackvue.

You’ll find money-saving deals at most big automotive and tech retailers, including Halfords, Very, Argos and Amazon.

Which retailers will have the best Black Friday deals in 2021?

It may come as no surprise that we’d recommend that you head to Amazon or Halfords to grab the best dash cam Black Friday deals. The online retailers have the widest ranges of devices that we’ve seen, and some of the discounts are jaw-dropping — it’s not often that you can find 40% off a dashcam.

However, as we said earlier, we’d recommend that you be prompt when buying a dash cam from Amazon on Black Friday. Its best sales are only brief, and it’s possible that the most popular deals will be over by the end of the day.

Is Black Friday a good time to buy dashcams?

Absolutely — unless for some reason you desperately need one before Black Friday, we can’t see why you’d buy one at any other time. You can get brand-name devices at massive discounts, and more affordable ones for less than £40. Some devices on Amazon last year had their prices slashed to less than £20.

Which is the best dashcam to buy?

We reckon the best dash cam you can buy in 2022 is the Nextbase 622GW. It comes with all the bells and whistles, including integrated Alexa voice control and What3Words, which can pinpoint your global location anywhere on the globe to within three square metres.

It also has great definition (4k at 30fps) and a three-inch touch screen. The 622GW is not in a Black Friday deal at Halfords but at £269 still represents excellent value compared with the competition.

Should I wait until Black Friday to buy Product?

No, you can buy a dashcam with a Black Friday discount already, so get in there before the deals disappear.

N.b. We may receive a small commission fee if you click on a link to an external website and purchase a product as a result, but these links are designed to make your life easier and it does not affect our editorial independence.

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There are a large number of retailers we’re expecting to discount their wares come the end of November, so there’ll be a huge selection to choose from — meaning that you’ll be able to grab a discount while ensuring you’ve found a model that will keep your child safe and sound.

Read on to find out where to find a deal on a child seat this Black Friday, as well as which models we’re expecting to see on sale.

• Shop car seat deals at Amazon – here
• Shop car seat deals at John Lewis – here
• Shop car seat deals at Boots – here

Last year’s best Black Friday Car Seat deals

* We may earn revenue if you click the links below and buy the products but we never let this affect our recommendations. Remember to shop around on Black Friday to make sure you’re getting the best price.

Our top picks from the 2021 sales:

• Silver Cross Balance i-Size Car Seat Group 1/2/3, £163.99 (saving 61.01) at Amazon – buy here
• Britax Romer Advansafix M i-Size Group 1/2/3, £89.99 (saving £35.01) at Amazon – buy here
• Cosatto All in All Rotate Group 0+/1/2/3 Car Seat, £139.95 (saving £110) at Uber Kids – buy here

When is Black Friday 2022?

Black Friday is closely linked with Thanksgiving, a holiday celebrated in various countries across the world, but perhaps most directly associated with the US. It falls the day after “Turkey Day”, which means that this year it will be on Friday, November 25.

However, plenty of stores will start slashing prices from the start of November.

When is Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday is an online-only shopping event that takes place on the Monday following Thanksgiving — this year, that’s November 28. The fact that it’s online-only means it’s not quite as well known as Black Friday.

However, the sales themselves are often even more impressive, if less certain — many of the most popular products available will be sold out by the time Cyber Monday rolls around.

Do child car seats go on sale for Black Friday?

Absolutely. Judging by past years, we’re expecting a number of retailers to discount car seats designed for children of all ages and sizes.

Amazon — one of the prime (get it) reasons for Black Friday’s modern popularity in the UK — will likely be responsible for some of the best offers, but don’t be surprised to see more traditional child-oriented retailers like Uberkids or Mamas and Papas offering discounts, too.

What car seat Black Friday deals were available last year?

Amazon – up to 47% off

In 2021 Amazon had wide range of car-related products on offer for Black Friday, from 99p Audible subscriptions and dashcams, to car DVD players and tools.

The retail discounted child car seats by more than a third, which translated to savings of more than £70 on some models from trusted brands including Maxi-Cosi, Britax Römer and Graco.

If last year’s offers were anything to go by, we’d predict there will be a range of sizes available: the selection of last year’s offers below includes models suitable for children from newborn all the way up to age 12.

• Britax Romer Advansafix M i-Size Group 1/2/3, £89.99 (saving £35.01) – buy here
• Silver Cross Balance i-Size Car Seat Group 1/2/3, £163.99 (saving 61.01) – buy here
• Britax Romer Evolva Group 1/2/3, £76.49 (saving £68.51) – buy here
• Maxi-Cosi Titan Group 1/2/3 ISOFIX Car Seat, £129 (saving £70) – buy here
• Graco Junior Maxi Lightweight Booster Seat Group 2/3, £29.95 (saving £5.05) – buy here

Uberkids – up to 45% off

As a retailer of equipment for babies and toddlers, it’s no surprise that Uberkids had some great car seat Black Friday deals last year. Many of these centred around Britax Römer, a very well-respected and trusted manufacturer of pushchairs and other children’s equipment, as well as award-winning brand Cybex.

• Britax Romer KIDFIX III S Group 2/3 Car Seat, £129.99 (saving £60) – buy here
• Cosatto All in All Rotate Group 0+/1/2/3 Car Seat, £139.95 (saving £110) – buy here
• Cybex Sirona M2 i-size Car Seat, £153.99 (saving £65.95) – buy here
• Recaro Mako Elite i-Size Car Seat, £128.99 (saving £60) – buy here

Mamas and Papas – up to 25% off

Mamas and Papas is a well-loved store that most parents across the UK will be familiar with — after all, it’s been selling pushchairs, cribs, toys and other newborn-focused products since the early eighties.

It’s no stranger to a smashing sale, either, and last year saw up to £60 off models from Joie and Maxi-Cosi. And if you’re in a real hurry, fear not: Mamas and Papas often has sales on its car seats.

• Maxi-Cosi Mica I-Size Car Seat, £239.20 (saving £59.80) – buy here
• Cybex Solution B2 Fix Car Seat, £99.95 (saving £40) – buy here
• Joie Trillo Car Seat Stage 2/3, £45 (saving £15) – buy here
• Bugaboo Turtle Air Car Seat, £171 (saving £19) – buy here

John Lewis – up to 35% off

John Lewis might not be the first retailer that pops into your mind when you think of car seat Black Friday deals, but the department store stocks a host of household names including Joie and Maxi-Cosi, and even makes car seats bearing its own name (which we’d expect to see bearing the biggest discounts come November). The “never knowingly undersold” mantra can be extremely reassuring, as can the legendary customer service if something goes wrong or needs replacing.

Last year, we saw John Lewis take the same approach to a number of other retailers and discount a range of Maxi-Cosi car seats by 20% — which saw parents save more than £60 on some models.

• John Lewis Swivel Group, 0+/1 Isofix car seat, £140 (saving 30%) – buy here
• Maxi-Cosi CabrioFix Group 0+ Baby Car Seat, £83.99 (saving 20%) – buy here
• Joie Baby Trillo Group 2/3 High Back Booster Car Seat, £44.99 (saving 10%) – buy here
• John Lewis Group 0+/1 Belted Car Seat, £65 (saving 35%) – buy here
• Joie Baby Spin 360 Group 0+/1 Car Seat, £179.10 (saving 10%) – buy here

Boots – up to 27% off

Another store than might not immediately spring to mind when you think about car seats is Boots. However, last year the store offered up to 27% off top car seat brands like Maxi-Cosi and Silver Cross.

• Mothercare Madrid Combination Car Seat, £75 (saving £25) – buy here
• Maxi-Cosi Pearl Pro2, £191.20 (save £47.80) – buy here
• Silver Cross Balance i-Size Car Seat, £200 (save £25) – buy here

Halfords – 30% off

Last year most of Halford’s car seat deals were price matched or cheaper elsewhere. However, the brand did offer a £10 voucher when you spent £50 or more.

• Joie Elevate 1/2/3 Cherry Car Seat, £59.99 (saving £15) – buy here
• Joie i-Venture Group 0+1 Baby Car Seat, £170 (saving £90) – buy here

Which retailers will have the best car Black Friday deals in 2022?

As you can see from our round-up above, there is a variety of online destinations you can head to if you’re looking for a deal on a child car seat come Black Friday.

However, if you’ve only got the time to visit one place, we’d recommend going to Amazon. Last year saw some huge discounts — more than a third, compared to around 20% at other retailers we found — and if you’re a Prime customer, delivery is often free and super quick.

If you’re more of a traditionalist, though, you might be more comfortable shopping somewhere like John Lewis or Mamas and Papas, both of which will likely discount a range of brands by 20%.

Is Black Friday a good time to buy car seats?

Yes, absolutely. You’ll likely find models discounted by at least 20% and potentially up to 30% or 40%. Discounts like that can lead to a lot of savings on something like a child seat — parents know better than anyone that they don’t come cheap. However, you’re also likely to find discounted car seats in the January sales, so if you miss out on Black Friday, don’t fear.

Which is the best car seat to buy?

We’ve created a guide to the best toddler car seats, and tested the Nuna MYTI, which is reportedly the car seat of choice for celebrities including Beyoncé and the Kardashians. At £275, it’s not exactly cheap, but it’s designed to last your little one from when they’re 15 months old to when they’re 12, saving you cash in the long run. It’s also super easy to install and our reviewers (a toddler and a 7-year old) found it extremely comfortable. We’d recommend it.

• Nuna Myti i-Size Car Seat, £275 from John Lewis – buy here

Should I wait until Black Friday to buy a child car seat?

While waiting until Black Friday will likely save you some money on a new car seat, your child shouldn’t be using a car seat that is broken or that they’ve outgrown. It’s a great time of year to pre-emptively buy your child’s next, bigger car seat, but if your little one needs a new seat pronto, then don’t wait.

This article features products that have been chosen independently by Driving.co.uk staff. We may earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products.

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Read more

• If you enjoyed our guide to Black Friday car seat deals, you might be interested in reading more articles from Driving’s Car Clinic.
• We’ve compiled all the best dash cam Black Friday deals, so you can be prepared when November rolls around.
• We’ve also created a guide to what you can expect from Halfords this Black Friday.

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The post Best Black Friday child car seats deals 2022: what to expect appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

But there’s a third way: all-season tyres, which are designed to offer a balance of performance throughout the year, in all weather conditions. This potentially means no need to store a second set of tyres and no need to spend time switching them over twice a year.

But how good are all-season tyres, and are they in fact the worst of all worlds … bad in the summer and worse in the winter?

Not according to German manufacturer Continental, which claims its AllSeasonContact tyre offers “impressive grip on snowy and wet winter roads” as well as “good braking performance on dry and wet summer roads”. In other words, no compromises.

To find out whether these claims are true, Driving.co.uk headed to Mercedes-Benz World in Surrey to test the AllSeason against Continental’s EcoContact6 summer tyre. Read on for the results.

What is an all-season tyre, and how does it differ from winter and summer tyres?

Different types of tyres differ in two key areas: tread pattern and compound (chemical composition).

Tread pattern

A quick look at the different types side-by-side shows a clear difference in tread pattern, but understanding why they’re different is not so obvious.

The first thing you notice about winter and all-season tyres is that the tread pattern is directional; the grooves flow from the centre out to the shoulder of the tyre. This is for channelling water and slushy snow, which is pushed out of the sides of the tyres to allow purchase of the road.

Summer tyres don’t have this because they’re designed for higher speeds and in the wet, around 90% of the water displacement happens in front of the tyre, like a bow wave on a boat. At lower speeds this effect is reduced, so winter and all-season tyres use the tread channels to evacuate the fluid away from the centre of the tyre.

But if you look closely at the winter and all-season tyres, you can see more differences again. The winter tyres have many more tiny grooves, known as “sipes”, across the full width. Under pressure from the weight of the car, these open up and greatly improve traction on hard snow and ice.

The downside is that they generate noise, especially at higher speeds, and so you can see above that the all-season tyres use less siping than winter tyres.

Compound

Although most tyres look the same in terms of colour and feel, the chemical composition of different types of tyre is dramatically different. All-season and winter tyres are softer than summer and sport tyres, making them more flexible and able to grip slippery surfaces better.

The composition is also designed to cope much better with lower temperatures; whereas summer tyres get even harder when the mercury drops, winter tyres are designed to remain supple.

This negatively affects rolling resistance, though — the friction between the tyre and road surface — which means the engine has to work harder to keep the vehicle in motion, resulting in reduced fuel economy.

All-season tyres strike a balance between the two, and Continental claims its All-SeasonContact tyre, with its high silica composition, is particularly good for fuel economy versus the competition thanks to best-in-class rolling resistance.

Limitations of all-season tyres

There was a reason our tests were conducted in family hatchbacks and not the hot Mercedes-AMG models on offer at Mercedes Benz World: high performance cars require tyres capable of extremes of speed and cornering ability in the dry, and all-season tyres aren’t designed for that.

The ribs (lines of tread) of an all-season tyre are softer than those of a sports tyre, meaning they aren’t as good at coping with lateral (sideways) loads as well as a sports tyre, while the maximum recommended speed of the Continental All-Season tyre is 150mph – plan anything faster and you’ll need a different set of rubber.

Because of this you’ll also find that all-season tyres don’t often come in larger sizes, above around 18in, because generally high performance cars have larger wheels with lower-profile tyres.

This is changing, as many electric cars now have huge alloys thanks to the extra torque afforded by electric motors, so a larger number of family cars can now come with wheels of 19in or more, meaning tyre companies are being forced to develop new, more advanced types of all-season products to suit.

You will also find that the tread pattern of all-season tyres increases cabin noise compared with summer tread patterns, and the softer compound increases rolling resistance thereby reducing fuel economy.

How Continental all-season tyres fared in our tests

Mercedes-Benz World laid on two almost identical A-class superminis for the test, both A 200s with front-wheel drive and the same 161bhp 1.4-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine under the bonnet. Critically, the wheels on both cars were 18 inches in diameter, with the same tyre size (255/45 R18), and the tyres pumped to the same pressure.

The only difference between the two cars (other than the paint colour) was the tyre itself: one was fitted with Continental AllSeasonContact tyres and the other shod with summer-focused Continental EcoContact 6 tyres. The idea was to show the difference, if any, between the two in wet, dry and snowy conditions.

The latter test can be achieved at Mercedes-Benz World all year round thanks to the use of a special resin coating on a strip of road surface and a series of water jets along its edges. “It’s not as slippery as black ice,” my instructor Phil told me. “In terms of its grip level it’s extremely close to packed snow.”

Phil set the speed limiter to 40mph and told me to accelerate to the maximum speed then slam the brakes on at a set of cones, letting the car’s ABS and electronic stability control systems do their thing. “That will ensure maximum consistency across the tests,” he assured me. 

Acceleration in the dry felt consistent in both cars, with each A-Class hitting 40mph well before the braking point. Then, at the cones, I stood on the brake pedal as instructed. Even with and all-season tyre, this is a disconcerting sensation, as the car slides on well beyond the point at which your eyes tell you that you should be coming to a halt. It looks simply like wet road rather than a snowy road.

But as alarming as the stopping distance with the AllSeasonContact tyre was (and we ran it three times, with almost identical results), the same test with the EcoContacts was shocking. No-one could argue that these are bad tyres – in fact they’re some of the most sophisticated available from one of the market-leading premium manufacturers. But they’re designed for summer conditions and ultra-low rolling resistance (i.e. the best fuel economy), and on snow the difference between these and tyres designed for more challenging weather conditions proved stark. 

Not only did the car sail past the spot at which we’d come to rest with the AllSeasons, but continued right to the end of the resin strip. They bit hard into the regular asphalt at the far end, and the slide finished abruptly.

When I looked in the mirrors, then over my shoulder, to try to spot the tuft of grass I’d been using to mark my runs with the AllSeasons, I found it was so far behind me I could barely see it. If this had been real snow, the difference could mean a fairly uncomfortable prang at best. On a mountain road, I dread to think.

Accelerating on the wet resin proved interesting, too. While both cars managed to pull away thanks to liberal use of the traction control, the biting point between tyre and road necessitated far less pressure on the accelerator with the EcoContacts, which means slower acceleration. If you need to get out of the way in a hurry, an all-season tyre is without doubt a massive advantage.

But what about twists and turns? What sort of difference do all-season tyres make during cornering? To find out, Phil directed me to Mercedes-Benz World’s skid pan – a circle of asphalt with grippy inner and out rings and a central ring painted with more slippery resin paint.

Normally, guests use this to learn how to drift a powerful rear-wheel-drive Mercedes-AMG (as above), but today we were finding out how fast we could drive around before the front wheels of the A-Classes lost grip and began to slide towards the outer boundary.

The answer again was clear. With the EcoContacts, a constant 21mph was just about doable but just 1mph above that and the A 200’s front tyres could no longer cope, and steering inputs failed to register – the only way to regain control was to ease off the throttle, drop back below 22mph and straighten the wheel a little (adding more lock simply encouraged the slide).

The car with the Continental AllSeasonContacts felt dramatically different. You still lose grip and the nose of the car wanders in the same way, but it happened at 26mph. That doesn’t sound like much but it’s a 24% increase in speed and when tip-toeing around on snow, it would make a big difference.

The noise from the tyres was noticeable, too: almost silent with the EcoContacts but squealy with the AllSeasons, and with noticeable vibrations through the steering wheel as the more suitable tyres work harder for grip. It’s less pleasant in terms of feel and noise but if it’s keeping your car on the road in tricky conditions, you’re not going to complain.

Verdict: should you buy all-season tyres?

An all-season tyre is now an excellent option (surprise, surprise) for all-year round. This wasn’t always the case – like the Amphicar of the early 1960s, which was pitched as both a boat and a car but wasn’t very good at being either, all-season tyres tended not to be very good in the summer and not very good in the winter.

But our tests show that’s no longer the case — the tyre technology has got to a point where stopping and cornering in the dry and wet is almost identical, while on snow they offer a clear and reassuring improvement in grip over summer tyres. Well, that’s certainly true for the Continental AllSeasonContact.

Of course, a dedicated winter tyre would outperform the AllSeasons in both of these tests. But it wouldn’t perform anywhere near as well in dry conditions. What’s more, a winter tyre will wear quicker, generate more road noise and result in poorer fuel economy when used during the summer.

So if you live in a place where you get clear and prolonged extremes of weather – dry in the summer and guaranteed, sustained snow coverage in winter – having sets of dedicated summer and winter tyres make sense. But for most people in the UK, in locations where dry and wet conditions are common but snowfall is infrequent, an all-season tyre could be a sensible choice all year round.

Continental says its AllSeason is due to be replaced in 2023 by the more advanced AllSeason 2, so we can expect even greater things from all-season tyres in the future.

Three of the best all-season tyres to buy for your car

Continental AllSeasonContact

Highly rated by reviewers and has won Auto Express group tests multiple times. Its grip on snow was noted in particular, along with its excellent all-round abilities, though some others proved a touch better in deep water and dry conditions.

Where to buy it: Protyre; Halfords; KwikFit

Goodyear Vector 4Season Gen-3

Another award-winning all-season tyre that’s particularly good in the wet, though not the best in dry conditions and according to Auto Express can’t quite match the Continental on snow.

Where to buy it: Halfords; KwikFit; Tyre Shopper UK

Bridgestone Weather Control A005 EVO

Considered another excellent all-season tyre, this is good in the dry and a class-leader in the wet, though deep water removes the advantages and it’s not the top model on snow, according to Auto Express. The EVO is designed for reduced wear compared with the regular A005.

Where to buy it: Halfords; KwikFit

N.b. We may receive a small commission fee if you click on a link to an external website and purchase a product as a result, but these links are designed to make your life easier and it does not affect our editorial independence.

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The post All-season tyre test: a better option than summer and winter tyres for year-round safety? appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

The calendar, officially called Landmarks Of The M40 Calendar 2023, is published by Motorway Vistas, a company put together by advertising executives Jim Thornton and Michael Lee, themselves regular M40 commuters.

The publishers describe the calendar as being an ideal Christmas gift for “colleagues, or a long-suffering family member who’s far too familiar with every bend and road sign on the M40.”

And while some may scoff at the idea, the calendar has really taken off. Speaking to the BBC, Thornton admitted that the pair had “slightly struggled” to find 12 interesting photographs that they could use, but that the boring-ness is essentially the whole point.

“On about the fifth journey, I remember saying ‘this is the most boring motorway I have ever been on. There is nothing interesting about this motorway and we should make a calendar of just really boring photos of the M40’.”

Each of the 12 photos is accompanied by ‘fascinating, and frankly indispensable facts about each of the landmarks’

The project started as a way of relieving the sheer tedium of commuting on the M40, which runs through Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire — all beautiful counties in their own rights, but possibly not best seen from the inside lane of the M40.

Nonetheless, Thornton and Lee started taking photos on their journeys and eventually decided that they had the 12 that would make up the calendar. A highlight for motorsport enthusiasts will by the shot of Prodrive’s HQ near Banbury. Prodrive was founded by David Richards, former boss of Aston Martin and the B.A.R and Benetton F1 teams, and it prepared World Rally Championship title-winning Subarus for Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg.

“Michael, God bless him, took this as a challenge,” Thornton said. “He clearly wasn’t very busy because he then researched various landmarks along it and we discussed ones we should have in.”

While the calendar might be considered something of a joke product, that was not its intention said Angie Allgood, managing director of Motorway Vistas.

“In terms of why we produced the calendar, we had hoped there was an audience of like-minded M40 enthusiasts but were also prepared for the possibility it might just be us,” she told The Times.

“What we hadn’t anticipated was that it would become a story worthy of national media coverage, and now we are getting orders not just from all over the country, including Scotland and Northern Ireland, but also Florida and California.”

According to Motorway Vistas, each of the 12 photos is accompanied by “fascinating, and frankly indispensable facts about each of the landmarks.”

For the record, those landmarks are:

• January: The brown sign for Bekonscot Model Village, Buckinghamshire
• February: The Stokenchurch BT Tower, Buckinghamshire
• March: The overbridge at Christmas Common, Oxfordshire
• April: The Stokenchurch Gap on the border between Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire
• May: The ‘Otmoor Bend’ — literally just a curve in the road near a wildlife park
• June: Middleton Stoney Water Tower, Oxfordshire
• July: The home of Prodrive in Banbury, Oxfordshire
• August: The interchange sign at Umberslade, Warwickshire
• September: The Umberslade Obelisk, Warwickshire
• October: A long run of electricity pylons, known as ‘Pylon Alley’, Oxfordshire
• November: The Viridor Ardley incinerator, Oxfordshire
• December: The ‘Existential graffiti wall’, Buckinghamshire 

The calendar costs £7.99 and you can currently buy it direct from Motorway Vistas as a single calendar, or in a two- or three-pack. Assuming, that is, you know anyone who would like a photographic record of 89 miles of tedium for their Christmas present.

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The post The ‘boring’ M40 motorway calendar that’s a road to success for creators appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

It was a beguiling message: that Tesla owners could enjoy all the comfort and convenience of car ownership without the environmental guilt. And for the most part it was true. Electric cars are far better for the environment, on the whole, and as the rest of the economy decarbonises they will become greener still. As we generate more of our electricity from renewable sources, and as we make more of our steel with hydrogen rather than coal, the environmental case for electric cars will only strengthen.

But as Henry Sanderson shows in his book Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green, the uptake of the electric car will bring its own set of moral dilemmas, environmental and geopolitical. That uptake is well under way. Although electric cars make up only about 1 per cent of the global fleet, their numbers are growing exponentially.

Volkswagen is aiming for half of its sales to be electric by 2030 — this is also the year after which it will no longer be possible to buy a petrol car in the UK. All those new cars will be powered by batteries made from a concoction of rare earth elements as well as lithium, nickel, copper and cobalt. Demand will skyrocket: for lithium, it is expected to increase thirtyfold by 2030.

Sanderson, a former reporter on China and commodities for the Financial Times, writes that whoever controls these resources will be “the new Rockefellers. A new strategic game has opened up.” His book is an account of the opening moves of that game, a travelogue of his journey through the supply chains that will shape our decarbonised future.

That journey takes him to the Atacama desert in Chile, where silvery flecks of lithium are being evaporated from vast pools of brine, and to cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where child labour is tarnishing the moral credentials of electric cars. The purpose of these peregrinations is to identify the pitfalls we must avoid if we are to transition equitably to electric cars.

As he travels from one side of the world to the other, a pattern begins to emerge: wherever there are the metals needed for the green transition, China has already snapped them up.

China, the world’s most voracious importer of oil, was quick to recognise that by embracing electric cars it could reduce its reliance on the rest of the world and in 2009 began handing out lavish subsidies to their buyers. To feed its domestic electric vehicle market, Chinese companies began buying up rare earth deposits in Chile, Australia, Congo and Indonesia, getting a head start in a geopolitical race that the West did not even realise it had to run.

Sanderson recounts a series of deals that Chinese companies were able to seal without rousing their western competitors to even the slightest awareness of their geopolitical import. In Australia, the Chinese mining company Tianqi bought a 51 per cent stake in the world’s largest lithium mine with the backing of the China Development Bank (CDB).

“Most western companies cannot get a vast state-owned bank such as the CDB to provide credit for a deal,” Sanderson writes. “The investors who owned [the mine] were only too happy to accept [Tianqi’s offer] and the deal was waved through by Australian regulators. It was the first round in the global race to secure lithium supplies, and Tianqi had won before anyone was paying attention.”

The pattern repeated itself in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Chinese companies now own 80 per cent of the country’s output of cobalt. In Indonesia too, the Chinese stainless steel company Tsingshan successfully lobbied for an export ban on nickel, meaning that only companies with a presence in the country could take advantage of demand for the metal.

The impression one gets from these deals is that western governments have fallen for a complacent delusion; that it doesn’t really matter who owns which resources because whoever owns them will always want to sell them to the highest bidder on the international market.

By this logic, it doesn’t matter if most of the lithium mines are owned by Chinese companies, so long as Tesla can stump up the cash to buy it. But what happens if — as in the case of Indonesian nickel — it’s no longer for sale? What if a geopolitical calamity such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine suddenly isolates swathes of the global economy? In such cases, you would rather your supply chains started closer to home.

In the latter part of the book, Sanderson shows that this penny has finally begun to drop in the minds of western governments and car manufacturers. He talks to the entrepreneur Jeremy Wrathall, who hopes to revive Cornwall’s long tradition of mining by extracting lithium from the county’s hills.

Commenting on that prospect, the prime minister Boris Johnson said: “It is a wonderful thing that Cornwall indeed boasts extensive resources of lithium, and we mean to exploit them.” Yet Sanderson adds that Jacob Rees-Mogg, the minister for Brexit opportunities, “replied haughtily that the UK had relied on fair and free trade for its industries and that would continue”.

Throughout the book, Sanderson deftly guides us through the convolutions of which company bought what from which, and he livens up that potentially desiccated subject matter with an eye for characterful detail.

Among the characters he introduces us to is Robert Friedland, a copper tycoon and friend of Steve Jobs, the Apple founder, who posed in his younger days as a hippy and went so far as to set up a communal farm, only for the other members of the commune to slowly realise he was working them to the bone for his own profit.

Despite the seemingly insuperable geopolitical quandaries with which it deals, the tone of Sanderson’s book is one of cautious optimism. “We shouldn’t be hostile to green technologies,” he writes, “but we shouldn’t be naive either. The oil age has left a long scar on the twentieth century. We should make sure that the industries of our green future do much better.”

Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green by Henry Sanderson, Oneworld, 288pp; £20

Buy at Barnes & Noble (US) or WH Smith (UK)

This review first appeared in The Times

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As with Lego’s take on the classic air-cooled Porsche 911, builders of the Camaro have the choice of assembling it as a hardtop or convertible with the added option of exposed or hidden headlights.

The finished model measures just over 3.5in (10cm) in height, 14in (36cm) in length and 5.5in (14cm) wide and, as usual, the kit is phenomenally detailed and includes functional elements such as working steering, a detailed engine and opening doors.

With the body finished in gloss black, buyers also have the option of customising their Camaro with red, white or grey racing stripes.

“The 1969 Camaro Z28 has been turning heads on and off the roads for decades, which is why we are so proud to see it come to life in a brand-new way via Lego bricks,” said Harlan Charles, product marketing manager for the Camaro at Chevrolet.

“Anyone who loves the iconic design of the 1969 Camaro Z28 now has the thrill of building this set and displaying it in their home.”

Based on the first-generation of Chevrolet’s Ford Mustang competitor, the Z28 was conceived as a “race ready” version of the Camaro, powered by a small block 4.9-litre V8 engine producing 290bhp.

Also making the Z28 quicker than a standard Camaro was a higher compression ratio, forged pistons, an uprated crankshaft and dual Holley carburettors.

Apart from the 1,000 or so models fitted with big block 7-litre engines, the Z28 is the rarest example of the Camaro with just over 20,000 built in 1969 (the year on which Lego’s version is based) out of a total of 243,000 Camaros.

“With its classic lines and sleek design, the 1969 Camaro Z28 is unrivalled in its elegance — which is why it was such a wonderful inspiration for this Lego design,” said Lego designer, Sven Franic.

“By building this set, you can envision yourself at the wheel, and all but feel the rumble of the engine taking you down an open road.”

Well-received recent Lego kits have included a Vespa scooter, Optimus Prime from the Transformers series, the Porsche 911 and the utterly incredible (and, at £350, utterly expensive) Lego Technic Lamborghini Sián FKP 37.

Fans of Americana such as the Camaro have plenty of other options besides. There’s also a Ford F-150 Raptor pickup truck and the Cadillac ECTO-1 ambulance from the Ghostbusters films. Regrettably, the recently released Back to the Future DeLorean time machine kit appears to be entirely sold out.

When one Chevrolet executive was asked what a Camaro actually was, he reportedly replied, “a small vicious animal that eats Mustangs for breakfast,” and for those who’d like to recreate that classic sixties pony car battle on their bookshelf, there’s also a 1,471-piece brick version of a 1967 fastback Ford Mustang.

Lego’s 1,458-piece Camaro kit goes on sale from the Lego Store from August 1 priced at £149.99.

N.b. We may receive a small commission fee if you click on a link to an external website and purchase a product as a result, but these links are designed to make your life easier and it does not affect our editorial independence.

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The post Lego unveils classic Chevy Camaro Z28 kit appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.