Best car vacuum cleaners 2025
Heavy-duty cleaners for your car and workshop are put to the test
The vacuum cleaner you use to clean your house might do a reasonable job in your car when you just need to quickly spruce up the interior and get rid of a light layer of dust, but ask it to do anything more hardcore and it’s likely to wilt.
For deeper cleans, workshop use and dealing with wet spills, it will pay to invest in a sturdy wet and dry workshop vacuum. In addition to dealing with daily dust, these are designed to swallow sweet wrappers, mud and chunks of discarded toddler snacks without clogging.
They have bigger dirt tanks than the average domestic cleaner and will be able to go for longer without needing to be emptied. And they usually have more power too.
Outside of the car they can be used to suck up dust from sanding and can be set to wet mode to clear floods and spills or speed up upholstery cleaning. For this latest mega-test we have opened the candidates out to include cordless cleaners for the first time. Which of our 11 suckers delivers the winning punch?
How we tested
All the machines in the test are designed for wet and dry cleaning, so we tried them in both modes. To judge the dry cleaning power, we installed the appropriate filter and timed them cleaning up lines of rice, sugar and flour from a carpet mat. We then changed them to wet mode and set the stopwatch as they ingested five litres of water.
Used - available now
2016 Audi
A5 Cabriolet
86,100 milesAutomaticPetrol3.0L
Cash £11,950
2020 Volvo
XC60
55,200 milesAutomaticPetrol2.0L
Cash £23,400
2021 Vauxhall
Corsa
75,166 milesManualPetrol1.2L
Cash £7,990
2022 BMW
X1
34,000 milesAutomaticPetrol2.0L
Cash £23,995With the cleaning done, we measured hose and cable lengths, plus accessories and adaptors. Machines which were less likely to fall over and stored away tidily also gained points. Battery-powered machines had their battery life measured on the highest setting. Finally, we considered the value of the machines and consumables such as filters or bags.
Vacmaster Multi 20
- Price: around £69.99
- Hose: 2.5m
- Capacity: 20 litres
- Rating: 5.0 stars
- Contact: cleva-uk.com
It might not have the ultimate power of some of the bigger, more expensive machines, but the Vacmaster wins due its all-round ability and value. It’s supplied with a decent number of tools that are useful for car-cleaning duties and has a long 2.5m cable.
There’s also a ‘blow’ function to help clear dust more quickly and a power take-off socket that’s perfect if you are running power tools such as a sander at the same time as the Multi 20. It performed well in the suction tests, only just behind machines that cost more than twice as much.
Nilfisk Multi II 30T
- Price: around £169.99
- Hose: 4m
- Capacity: 30 litres
- Rating: 4.5 stars
- Contact: nilfisk.com
This is a big vacuum with a big price, but if you have the budget and the space to store it, then the Multi II 30T is a fantastic tool for car cleaning and workshop use. It came top in our suction tests, and the huge four-metre-long hose means you’ll be able to reach all the way through a car without needing to move the machine.
Like the winning Vacmaster, it has a self-switching socket to control dust-creating power tools. We also liked the nifty filter-vibration button that shakes off dust off to restore cleaning power – this will save you having to buy too many of the pricey consumables.
Daewoo Wet & Dry Vacuum Cleaner
- Price: around £52
- Hose: 1.5m
- Capacity: 20 litres
- Rating: 4.5 stars
- Contact: halfords.com
Mention Daewoo to car geeks and they’ll think of the Korean brand from the nineties, but in future they might also think of this surprising little vacuum. Despite its compact dimensions it has a decent-sized dirt tank and the 1,000W motor seemed keener than rivals that claim to have more power.
Wide-mounted castors meant it was stable, and it also had tool storage. Despite the low price, it had a solid metal pipe with a ratchet mechanism to make cleaning large areas easier. The only real letdown was the short hose, which meant we needed to move this machine around more than some others.
Stihl Sea 60 Cordless
- Price: around £314 (with battery and charger)
- Hose: 2.2m
- Capacity: 12 litres
- Rating: 4.0 stars
- Contact: stihl.co.uk
If money is no object – or you already have a Stihl battery and charger – then the Sea 60 is a fantastic cleaner. The 36V battery kept the cleaner working hard for just over 15 minutes on the higher power setting and took around 80 minutes to charge back to 100 per cent. The hose is 2.2m long, but the two-piece suction tube is flimsy. You’ll claw back some of the price on consumables, though, because the filter is washable.
Nilfisk Buddy II 12
- Price: around £64.99
- Hose: 1.9m
- Capacity: 12 litres
- Rating: 4.0 stars
- Contact: nilfisk.com
nilfisk’s Buddy II is a previous winner of this test and is still a likeable little machine that performed well in our tests and felt built to last. We liked the large back wheels, which made the cleaner easier to move on rough surfaces such as a paved driveway or lumpy garage floor, as well as the ability to turn it into a blower. But the cable and hose are short, and the consumables pricey. The winning Vacmaster offers more features for only a little more cash.
Vac King CVAC18V20 Cordless
- Price: around £143.98
- Hose: 1.9m
- Capacity: 20 litres
- Rating: 4.0 stars
- Contact: machinemart.co.uk
The Vac King looks identical to most other cleaners in this test, but with one big difference – there’s no cable. The 20V battery and charger are included in the price, which makes it seem like reasonable value compared to other cordless cleaners. The consumables
are the cheapest of any in this test too. The battery lasted 20 minutes in our test on the higher of the two power settings, which should be long enough to clean most cars or workshop floors.
Draper 10L Wet & Dry Vacuum
- Price: around £78.90
- Hose: 1.5m
- Capacity: 10 litres
- Rating: 3.5 stars
- Contact: drapertools.com
The little Draper has previously won a recommended rosette in this test, but has been hit hard by a price increase. We still love its tiny dimensions and feather weight, which make it easy to carry around a car – just as well since the short hose and stingy 3.5m cable mean you will need to move it around. But it claws back some advantage with its huge array of attachments.
Vac King CVAC18V10 20V Cordless
- Price: around £143.98
- Hose: 1.4m
- Capacity: 10 litres
- Rating: 3.5 stars
- Contact: machinemart.co.uk
The second Vac King cordless in this test appears to offer much less yet costs the same. But its compactness and light weight will make it more attractive to some users who don’t need the long-handled floor-cleaning ability of others here.
It weighs just 3.85kg, making it easy to move around inside the car, and the bungee-style hose means you’re not tripping over it as you clean. As with other Vac Kings, consumables are good value.
Evolution R15VAC
- Price: around £69.98
- Hose: 1.8m
- Capacity: 15 litres
- Rating: 3.5 stars
- Contact: toolstation.com
The Evolution is easy to store and carry thanks to its shape, which resembles an overgrown tool box. It has spaces on the outside to neatly store the attachments too, a place to wind the cable and a power take-off socket for connecting dust-creating tools. But there are some irritations. It only managed a middling score in the suction tests and the short 1.8m hose kept popping out of the slot. The cable was on the short side too.
Titan TTB774VAC
- Price: around £44.98
- Hose: 1.8m
- Capacity: 16 litres
- Rating: 3.0 stars
- Contact: screwfix.com
The cheapest cleaner doesn’t do much wrong when looked at in isolation and it seems great value at less than £45. The 5.5m cable and 1.8m hose are reasonably generous and it can be switched to become a blower by moving the tube to the outlet.
You’re given the choice of two filters or a bag for dust collection. The three stiff plastic extension tubes are sturdier than they look too. But the Titan’s main issue is that the Daewoo is much better for not much more.
Henry Home XL
- Price: around £199.99
- Hose: 1.9m
- Capacity: 15 litres
- Rating: N/A
- Contact: myhenry.com
We were quite impressed with the Henry’s performance and specifications until we got to the water ingestion test and read the instructions. It’s a dry-only vacuum, so was disqualified. If you only need a machine for dust and dirt, though, we have no hesitation recommending it. It matched the big Nilfisk Multi II 30T for cleaning power, the consumables are great value, and it has an enormous 12.5m cable.
Verdict
For its all-round ability, features and value, the Vacmaster Multi 20 takes the win in this test. If money and storage space aren’t issues and you need something that can handle bigger jobs, we’d recommend the mighty Nilfisk Multi II 30. The plucky little Daewoo looks great value and had surprising performance, while the Stihl offers the power of a corded machine from a battery source, albeit for a high price.
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