Auto Express summer essentials 2025

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.

Sealey SV20 Series Brushless Cordless Rotary Polisher Kit

• Price: £239.94 inc VAT
• Visit: sealey.co.uk

Built for professionals, perfect for enthusiasts – the SV20 Series Premier Cordless Rotary Polisher Kit delivers heavy-duty performance in a lightweight, ergonomic package. Its brushless motor ensures long-lasting power and quiet e ciency, while dual-handle positions provide superior comfort and control for every angle.

This kit adapts effortlessly to any polishing task thanks to its Ø180mm backing pad, variable-speed trigger with lock and six speed settings. It comes complete with two interchangeable polishing pads, a quick-change backing pad key, 20V 4Ah battery, mains charger and a durable kit bag. And it’s all backed by Sealey’s three-year guarantee.

GYEON Q²M Bug&Grime and Q²M QuickDetailer

• Price: from £10.50
• Visit: mycarcleaning.co.uk/collections/gyeon

Summer road trips are great fun. But the bug splatter across your car when you get home is less fun. Q²M Bug&Grime offers an easy and effective way of removing unsightly bugs and other road grime, reducing the chance of damaging bodywork with aggressive scrubbing. Just a single application and rinsing with a pressure washer will remove most of the mess, even old and more resistant stains. And, despite its strength, Q²M Bug&Grime is perfectly safe for all types of paintwork and ceramic coatings.

For additional help, Q²M QuickDetailer offers an easy method of making your car’s surfaces slicker and glossier. Its special formula designed to remove smudges and smears makes it perfect for post-wash touch-ups, or for getting rid of those dreaded fresh water spots. It’s also great as a drying aid if you’re washing your car in hot conditions. Completely safe to use on coatings and traditional waxes, Q²M QuickDetailer is an easy and effortless way to boost your car’s looks in almost no time at all.

Collins 2026 Big Road Atlas Britain and Northern Ireland

• Price: £14.99
• Visit: collins.co.uk

Explore Britain and Northern Ireland with easy-to-read mapping from Collins. This fully updated, spiral-bound road atlas covers the whole of Britain using the ultimate 3.2 miles to 1 inch scale for clarity and ease of use. Each scale of mapping is colour-coded for simplicity, while the smallest scale maps are great for long distance route planning, and the street plans help you locate your final destination. 

There’s also more than thirty categories of places of interest including castles, theme parks, sports venues and surfing beaches, plus full postcodes for the top 1,000 places of interest – ideal for use alongside sat-nav systems.

AlcoSense Elite 3 breathalyser

• Price: £69.99
• Visit: alcosense.co.uk/elite3

The AlcoSense Elite 3 breathalyser provides results that can be trusted, helping you accurately check you’re safe to drive the morning after. The unit works via a premium 28mm2 semi-conductor sensor, providing a reading that goes down to two decimal places delivered in just a few seconds. This is combined with clear colour coding - green, amber and red. A memory recall function makes it easy to check the previous nine results, while the Elite 3 can be set to any limit used in the UK and Ireland. The unit is also discreet and pocket-sized, so it can be taken anywhere.

Car mats from CarMats.co.uk

• Price: From £21.99
• Visit: carmats.co.uk

Want to keep your car’s floor clean and looking good? CarMats.co.uk specialises in perfectly tailored mats to fit every make and model. Manufactured in the UK, they’re built to last using weather-resistant, anti-slip materials to ensure they perform in all conditions. And you can choose from a wide range of colours and personalised embroidery options to reflect your individual style. So whether you’re heading to the coast or exploring the countryside, these custom carpet and rubber mats will help protect your car’s interior from sand, mud, ice cream and anything else the great British summer might throw at it. For a limited time, you can save 10 per cent with the code AUTOSUMMER10 when you check out.

Overland and Overland + jump starters

• Price: from £79.95
• Visit: mobilesolarchargers.co.uk

Winners of four Auto Express Best Buy reviews, the Overland and Overland + are excellent expedition-proven power banks that can also jump start any engine from 0.1 to 5.0 litres. The units can be recharged via either mains or an optional fold-out solar panel, and are supplied with their own 12V lighter-style socket.

Jordan Bespoke - Handcrafted Leather Goods

• Price: From £45
• Visit: jordanbespoke.com

Jordan Bespoke is a British brand producing handcrafted Italian leather goods inspired by motorsport. O ering luxury luggage, helmet bags and accessories, each piece refl ects iconic brands such as Ferrari and Aston Martin. Made to order with unique options, Jordan Bespoke fuses British design and Florentine craftsmanship for timeless, high-performance style.

Bilt Hamber Double Speed-Wax

• Price: £16.95
• Visit: bilthamber.com/product/double-speed-wax

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 premium wax is a vital part of any home-detailing kit - providing a layer of protection over the paint fi nish while also giving a glossy shine. Bilt

Hamber’s Double Speed-Wax is an award-winner that’s both water- repellent and detergent-resistant, producing impressive, long-lasting results. It’s better value than the more expensive paste waxes, too, with Double Speed-Wax coming in at £16.95 for a 250ml tin that also includes an applicator pad and a microfibre cloth.

Great Britain A-Z Super Scale Road Atlas 2026

• Price: £15.99
• Visit: collins.co.uk/az

Navigate your way around Great Britain with this detailed and easy-to- use A-Z Road Atlas. Fully revised and updated, the spiral-bound, A3 road atlas features clear road mapping at a mainland map scale of 2.5 miles to 1 inch. It includes eleven pages of main route mapping covering Greater London, Birmingham and Manchester, along with a route planning map, mileage chart with average journey times, and seventy city and town centre street plans. Plus, there’s sixteen port and airport layouts, Channel Tunnel terminus maps, and an index to cities, towns, villages, hamlets, major destinations and selected places of interest, with postcodes for sat-nav use

Nilfisk High Pressure Washers: Built for Speed and Power

• Price: Use code AUTOEXPRESS10 for 10% off everything in the Nilfi sk webshop
• Visit: shop.nilfisk.com

Speed matters on the track - but when it comes to cleaning, Nilfi sk delivers just as fast. These powerful high-pressure washers feature an integrated hose reel, foam sprayer, and durable metal pump to provide a quick, thorough clean every time. Perfect for cars, bikes, decking and more. Use code AUTOEXPRESS10 for 10% o everything in the Nilfisk webshop (offer ends 21 July).

Nextbase 320XR dash cam

• Price: £99 (until 21st July 2025)
• Visit: halfords.com

Stay safe on the road this summer with the Nextbase 320XR Dash Cam bundle. Designed for protection on every journey, it features both front and rear recording capability to capture every detail on the road. With 1080p HD resolution, a wide 140-degree viewing angle, and a sleek, discreet design, it’s a perfect set-up for any car – easy to use on the daily commute, or even a longer road trip. Get the 320XR Dash Cam for just £99, with a £100 saving, exclusively at Halfords until 21st July.

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.