Auto Express summer essentials 2026
These are the must-have summertime products for every car enthusiast
We're thrilled to announce that it's finally summer time, and what better way to celebrate than with the perfect present for the petrolhead in your life? This is where our official Auto Express summer essentials guide comes in.
Keep reading to find our road testing experts' top products for all budgets, featuring everything from maps to dash cams, along with the best cleaning kit for keeping your pride and joy looking its finest.
Bilt Hamber Double Speed-Wax
- Price: £22.95
- Visit: bilthamber.com
After you’ve finished meticulously cleaning your car, it’s important to make sure your hard work doesn’t go to waste. That’s why a quality wax is a vital part of any home-detailing kit - it provides a layer of protection over the paint while also giving an impressive gloss finish.
Bilt Hamber’s Double Speed-Wax is an award-winner that’s both water-repellent and detergent-resistant, giving great-looking results that’ll last. It’s better value than paste waxes, which can be expensive, with Double Speed-Wax coming in at just £22.95 for a 250ml tin. An applicator pad and a microfibre cloth are also included.
Great Britain A-Z Super Scale Road Atlas 2027
- Price: £15.99
- Visit: az.co.uk
Don’t let a lost signal leave you stranded! The fully revised 2027 A-Z Super Scale Road Atlas is the ultimate alternative to sat-nav, offering clear, detailed mapping of Great Britain at a generous 2.5 miles to one inch scale across a large, easy-read A3 format.
Spiral-bound for practical use on the road, it’s packed with useful features including 70 city and town centre street plans, 16 port and airport plans, a route planning map, mileage chart and motorway junction detail. Updated for the latest road changes and now including Welsh dual-language place names, it’s great value at £15.99.
GKU D600 Pro MAX
- Price: £74 (with discount code)
- Visit: gkutech.com
If your idea of the perfect summer day is an early-morning blast along on an empty B-road, the D600 Pro Max is the ideal kit to capture it — and to watch your back if anything goes wrong. It’s the flagship of GKU’s D600 range and records in dual 4K front and 1080p rear through a Sony STARVIS 2 sensor. That means the D600 Pro retains sharp details in challenging low-light conditions when cheaper cameras can smear.
Built-in GPS logs your route, speed and direction like telemetry-lite, while Wi-Fi 6 drops clips onto your phone in seconds. There’s also a live display on the unit, plus a clever parking feature that records the 30–60 seconds either side of any impact. Buy now with discount code KNFRTNGYJGVQ.
GYEON Q²M Bug&Grime and Q²M QuickDetailer
- Price: from £10.50
- Visit: mycarcleaning.co.uk/collections/gyeon
Summer car trips are great fun – until you get home and see the mess on the front of your car. Not only does Q²M Bug&Grime offer an easy and effective way of removing unsightly bug splatter and other grime, it also means you’re less likely to damage your car’s bodywork with the aggressive scrubbing you might need with other products. It’s safe to use on all types of paintwork and ceramic coatings, and you can remove most of what you can see with just a single application and rinsing with a pressure washer.
If you need some extra help, use Q²M QuickDetailer. Its special formula is designed to remove smudges and smears, and this makes it perfect for post-wash touch-ups, or for getting rid of those dreaded water spots. It’s also great as a drying aid if you’re washing your car in hot conditions. Because it’s completely safe to use on coatings and traditional waxes, Q²M QuickDetailer is an easy and effortless way to improve the look of your car in next to no time.
2027 Collins Big Road Atlas Britain and Northern Ireland
- Price: £14.99
- Visit: collins.co.uk
Collins Big Road Atlas for 2027 is the essential travel companion for navigating Britain with confidence. This large-format, spiral-bound atlas offers clear, colour-coded mapping at 3.2 miles to one inch, scaling up to detailed 1.1 mile per inch urban maps and 64 town centre street plans— ideal for planning routes and finding your final destination with ease.
Fully updated for 2027, it includes new rail stations, revised Park & Ride locations and dual Welsh/English place names. Over 30 categories of points of interest, postcodes for the top 1,000 destinations and a handy distance calculator complete the package.
20W waterproof Mono 12V battery Portable Solar Panel Charger
- Price: £44.95
- Visit: mobilesolarchargers.co.uk
If your motor spends more time in the garage than on the road, this high-efficiency solar panel is the ultimate partner for battery maintenance. Robust and IP67 waterproof, it features an intelligent controller to safely trickle-charge 12V batteries, preventing frustrating flat-start moments. With four versatile attachment points for hanging or suction-mounting to side glass, it’s a compact solution for keeping everything from classics to daily drivers ready for action. It even comes supplied with multiple connectors for a hassle-free hookup. Free power every day, no fuss.
Did you know you can sell your car through Auto Express? We’ll help you get a great price and find a great deal on a new car, too.
