Best car-themed Christmas gifts for under £50 2026
There’s something for everyone in our festive pressie line-up. Here are 20 great options for under £50
While Christmas Day is a time of joy, the period leading up to it can be a little stressful as you try to tick off the list of presents you need to buy.
We’re here to help, with a selection of the best gifts we’ve found for the motoring fans in your life, whatever their ages. We have scoured the shops and the internet to find the toys, trinkets and tools we’d like to find wrapped under the tree.
For this issue, we’ve set ourselves a budget of £50, with plenty of the choices costing under £20 to make them suitable as stocking fillers or Secret Santa gifts. These are our top 20 presents for under £50.
Collins 2027 Big Road Atlas of Britain and Northern Ireland
- Price: around £14.99
- Contact: collins.co.uk
Our reliance on sat-nav means we’ve lost the romance of planning a road trip. The tech will find the fastest way to a destination, but won’t be much use if you want to take the scenic route or see what other attractions you might be passing. So if you know someone who likes to take the long way round occasionally, treat them to a decent road atlas. We really rate the new Collins range because it has a big scale, clear mapping and includes 10,000 places of interest.
Corgi Vanguards Triumph TR6
- Price: around £37.99
- Contact: uk.corgi.co.uk
This model is aimed at the older collector or enthusiast rather than being a toy, but it will bring a lot of pleasure to anyone who owns – or dreams of owning – a classic Triumph TR6. The newly launched 1:43-scale Corgi Vanguards model is a die-cast replica of a car built in 1975, and is painted in an unusual, but original, French Blue. Like all Vanguards, the model has an impressive level of detail and is ready to display straight from the box. It will be easier to maintain than a real TR6, too.
evo Premium T-shirts
- Price: around £24.99
- Contact: evo-shop.co.uk
We’re not just fans of evo merchandise because it’s the sister title to Auto Express – its T-shirts are genuinely something we’d be proud to wear, thanks to some funky designs and bright colours. There are subtle outlines of pedals, steering wheels and legendary performance cars, or a simpler look with the evo logo and stripes.
All are made from premium 100 per cent cotton and available in sizes from small to 3XL – perfect for those Christmas waistlines.
An Illustrated Guide to the McLaren F1
- Price: around £44.95
- Contact: porterpress.co.uk
The McLaren F1 is arguably the greatest supercar ever created and has become a legend on and off the track. This book is perfect for fans who want to know literally everything there is to know about every F1 ever made, with full specification details of them all, including the 64 customer road cars, GTR racers and extreme long-tail LM models.
Every car is illustrated, showing the original colour schemes, racing liveries and specs, alongside details of each model’s history.
Porsche Goat Keyring
- Price: around £30
- Contact: shop.porsche.com
Do you know someone who thinks their Porsche is the Greatest Of All Time? Or perhaps they just like to celebrate Chinese astrology using their sports car keys. This plush teddy bear key ring from the brand’s official range marks the Year of the Goat and is part of Porsche’s Zodiac series.
The teddy bear is wearing a long-pile fleece goat hoodie with embroidered details. There is a strong metal key ring for secure attachment to keys and bags.
Foldable MINI umbrella
- Price: around £39.60
- Contact: shop.stratstone.com
This umbrella is MINI in more ways than one. It’s just 27 x 6cm when folded and weighs 337g, meaning it will slip into a door pocket or handbag easily. If your winter walks are interrupted by a downpour, it opens at the push of a button to reveal a 98cm-diameter canopy, which the company claims is windproof at speeds of up to 75mph.
There are several designs and colours available to match your MINI, each with the brand’s Wing logo on the handle, and a wrist strap.
Hobbycraft Colour-In Cardboard Dino Safari 4x4
- Price: around £12.50
- Contact: hobbycraft.co.uk
This cardboard 4x4 takes kids’ colouring books to the next level. Once built, the Dino Safari 4x4 measures 90 x 116 x 55cm, so is large enough for them to play inside – and it will look impressively big when wrapped under the tree.
But the real fun comes from colouring in the bodywork with pencils, pens and paints to make it unique. The dinosaur theme adds an extra element of interest. It is said to be suitable for anyone over the age of three.
Bonnets & Boots Bundle
- Price: around £39.99
- Contact: amazon.co.uk
The Bonnets & Boots range of in-car organisers is designed for women by women, and are said to have the style and quality of homeware or clothing.
The bundle here includes a Backseat Bag to hang behind the front seats and keep essentials within easy reach of the driver. Then there is a Glovebox Organiser to store documents, pens, cables, tickets and passports safely. The final item is a Boot Caddy, with has three collapsible compartments. The set is available in four colours: Cream, Rose, Mocha or Matcha.
Ring Tyre Inflate Go 10
- Price: around £27
- Contact: shop.ringautomotive.com
This gift will never be a letdown, because the Ring Tyre Inflate Go 10 is a significant upgrade from a foot pump or relying on the machine at the local petrol station. The Ring is small enough to hold in your hand but has a big battery and a powerful motor, which will take all four tyres from flat to the correct pressure, as shown on the digital display. There is also an LED light on top of the housing to help you find a tyre valve on a dark road.
Lisen 4-in-1 Charger
- Price: around £18.99
- Contact: amazon.co.uk
If you know someone whose car interior is a tangle of phone wires, this could be the perfect gift for them. The 4-in-1 12V socket charger features two built-in, 80cm-long USB-C cables, which automatically retract and roll themselves up neatly inside. They can deliver up to 45W each, too, which means they’ll charge a laptop as well as a phone. There is also a 30W USB-A port and an extra 45W USB-C slot. That should keep the kids happy.
Renault House of Frog socks
- Price: around £10
- Contact: theoriginals-store.renault.com
Socks might seem like a predictable gift, but are much more desirable when they have subtle branding from one of the hottest new cars on the block: Renault’s exciting electric Twingo.
Featuring the House of Frog motif used across the merchandise for the new model, the socks are made from soft cotton with a deep green colour and the logo knitted in white on the sole, plus an embroidered frog patch on the side.
Toy Town car mats
- Price: around £23.99
- Contact: carmats.co.uk
If your kids love a road map rug, these mats can make a car’s footwell look like a playroom. Unlike boringly plain protective pieces of carpet, the limited-edition Toy Town mats have prints featuring roads, complete with traffic lights, markings and crossings.
They are made to order in the UK, so are a guaranteed fit for most cars. Boot mats using the same design are also available if you want to extend the excitement into your vehicle’s luggage bay, so the dog doesn’t miss out.
Porsche 911: Icons of Excellence
- Price: around £45
- Contact: daltonwatson.com
There are enough books about the Porsche 911 to fill a small library, but this is one of the nicest ones we’ve read all year.
It takes you through every generation of Porsche’s most famous model, concentrating on the special editions, rare variants and one-offs. There’s just enough information on each car to keep things interesting, while the gorgeous photography gets loads of room to breathe. It’ll appeal to 911 owners, fans and those who dream of having one in the garage.
Simply In-Car Stereo Display Screen
- Price: around £49.99
- Contact: halfords.com
Your gift budget might not stretch to buying someone a whole new car, but you can bring their infotainment bang up to date with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto on a proper touchscreen and still come in under our £50 budget. The Simply In-Car Stereo Display Screen attaches to the dashboard or windscreen and then connects to the car’s existing Bluetooth, or through a 3.5mm aux cable. There is also an option to transmit audio to a vacant FM radio station preset.
LEGO Speed Champions BMW M3 (E30)
- Price: around £17.99
- Contact: bmstores.co.uk
The original BMW M3 – known to fans as the E30 generation – celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, and to celebrate, the LEGO designers teamed up with the German firm to create a model with a unique livery, inspired by the graphics of its motorsport division.
This toy has features and design details that E30 fans will recognise, including the small front air intake and rear wing that helped the real-life version become the most successful touring car of all time. The kit contains 358 pieces, including a punky driver minifigure in a BMW-branded outfit.
Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Mutant Chaos Loop Challenge Playset
- Price: around £29.99
- Contact: smythstoys.com
This Hot Wheels set combines two elements kids are bound to find exciting: Monster Trucks and slime. The Mutant Chaos Loop Challenge Playset is a track with a difference, because you can either send the truck through the slime-dripping loop and land in a cup, or fire it straight through a wall of slime using the launcher.
The 1:64-scale Monster Trucks Mutant Chaos Wreckin’ Wolf model is included along with a cup of slime. The set is compatible with other models and Speed Snap Track.
AlcoSense Lite 2
- Price: around £44.99
- Contact: alcosense.co.uk
A responsible driver will steer clear of the festive tipples completely, but there might still be a nagging doubt about your alcohol levels the morning after you’ve had a few drinks or if your auntie’s Christmas pud tasted a bit boozy. AlcoSense’s entry level Lite 2 breathalyser can take away the doubt, giving clear and accurate results in seconds. All you need to do is turn the unit on, wait for it to count down and then blow until it beeps. It will then tell you if it is safe to drive.
GTO Pewter Bottle Stopper
- Price: around £20
- Contact: meandmycar.co.uk
Adding a little nod to one of the most valuable cars in the world is a classy way to keep an unfinished bottle of wine fresh. This solid-cast-pewter stopper has a tiny 4.2cm-long sculpture which is said to be inspired by the classic Ferrari GTO, and is hand-finished with a matt sheen, which resists grubby finger marks and reduces the need for polishing. It features a cork seal to keep the air out of your wine or port and will fit standard bottle sizes.
Draper Craft Brew Stubby Ratchet Screwdriver and Bit Set
- Price: around £9.99
- Contact: drapertools.com
The recipient of this gift might initially be disappointed that it’s not a real can of beer, but that will soon fade when the kids’ new toys need batteries and there’s no screwdriver in sight.
Inside the dummy Craft Brew can is a stubby Draper ratchet screwdriver set with 17 bits and three sockets, including the legendarily elusive 10mm size. The screwdriver has a forward and reverse ratchet with locking action and 1/4-inch magnetic bit holder.
Engine Maps
- Price: From £33
- Contact: enginemaps.com
We all know someone whose idea of ideal wall art is a picture of a V8 rather than a landscape. These Engine Maps are both useful and, to car fans, beautiful, too.
Each poster is handmade and laser-engraved with technically accurate exploded views of car and motorcycle engines, with more than 300 currently on offer. They are available in A4 or A3 sizes, both within our budget, and are mounted in a sturdy frame. There are also larger printed banner versions of the maps.
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