Best car-themed Christmas gifts for under £50 2024
Looking for some stocking fillers or presents to put under the tree this festive season? We’ve got some great gift ideas for the car fan in your life
If you’re looking for a Christmas gift for a car lover in your life, there’s no need to break the bank. There are plenty of presents that will keep them happy and cost less than £50, whether they are children, teenagers or more mature enthusiasts. Some even cost less than £10, making them perfect as stocking fillers, or for your office’s Secret Santa.
Here are 20 top gifts we’ve managed to find for under £50.
Top Trumps
- Price: around £6
- Contact: winningmoves.co.uk
The classic card game Top Trumps has taught generations of car fans the specifications of all types of vehicles, and holds enough appeal to tear car-mad teens away from their phones.
The cards are still going strong, with the latest packs including supercars, 4x4s, Grand Prix heroes and even the cars used in the Fast & Furious or James Bond film franchises.
We’d put the Sports Cars pack on our list because it has a great mix of new and classic models. At a stocking-friendly £6, these cards seem a great deal.
Pimpmykey
- Price: around £13
- Contact: pimpmykey.co.uk
If you know someone who is particularly proud of their registration number, a personalised Pimpmykey key ring could be the perfect gift.
The replica number plates are an exact 1:10-scale replica of an original, made in the UK from durable metal with a tough epoxy domed covering over the registration. You can specify a UK side logo or a green flash for an electric car. The reverse side can be an image, logo, flag or special text, and can even glow in the dark to make the keys easier to find when you drop them.
OBDEleven
- Price: around £50
- Contact: obdeleven.com
How about giving someone new features on their car for Christmas? OBD devices can do boring but important things like diagnosing errors and turning off warnings, but the OBDEleven can also activate hidden features such as cornering lights and steering settings. It also allows you to view live data like oil and coolant temperatures on the OBDEleven app.
The Bluetooth device will read OBD data from most cars, with advanced diagnostics for VW, BMW and Toyota models.
Auto Express subscription
- Price: From £32.99
- Contact: subscribe.autoexpress.co.uk
Give the car fan in your life a subscription to Auto Express and their Christmas gift could last all year. Maybe they’ll let you have a look too, when they have finished reading all the latest car news and the best tests in the business.
Prices start from £32.99 for a quarterly digital subscription, allowing them to enjoy access to Auto Express on a phone, tablet or laptop, or they can have their favourite motoring mag delivered to their door every week for just £36.99 a quarter.
John Lewis racing cufflinks
- Price: around £25
- Contact: johnlewis.com
If your loved one has a New Year’s ball or posh dinner in the diary, then give them a little something racy to complete their outfit, with a pair of vintage Grand Prix car cufflinks from John Lewis.
Designed to look like a thirties racer, they’re made from brass to give a weighty feel, with rhodium plating and black enamel details, which gives them an antique look.
The cufflinks are supplied in a posh-looking jewellery box, which we think makes them look more expensive than the £25 price.
Halfords 5 Massage Cushion with Heat
- Price: around £44
- Contact: halfords.com
Heated seats are a desirable extra, especially in winter. If you know someone who has to suffer a cold bottom when driving, you can treat them to a heated and massaging cushion from Halfords.
It features five massage programs, including three speeds. The cushion is controlled via a remote, with power coming from your 12V socket, or an AC adaptor for home use.
Online Home Shop car hoodie
Price: around £14
Contact: onlinehomeshop.com
If your kids like to snuggle on the sofa with an oversized fleecy jumper, then they’ll love this supercar hoodie from Online Home Shop. Described as a ‘hoodie blanket’, the cosy polyester fleece top features pictures of brightly coloured supercars on a navy background. A pouch-style pocket will keep their hands warm and is great hiding spot for toy cars.
It’s perfect to keep kids cosy as they unwrap their Christmas presents and at £14, is a lot cheaper than turning up the thermostat.
FatFace Off Road Multi Tool
- Price: around £12.50
- Contact: fatface.com
Not sure what to get the person who has it all? You can’t go wrong with a multitool, especially when it is small enough to fit in any car’s glovebox. Housed in a tin with a picture of a generic American off-roader on it, this business-card sized tool is a ruler, screwdriver, can opener, fruit peeler, bottle opener, box slicer, letter opener and multi-size spanner.
It’s not going to replace your tool kit, but it might come in useful in an emergency, or at least make your desk look a little more rugged.
Collins Adventure Maps
- Price: around £13
- Contact: harpercollins.co.uk
It may be dark and cold outside at Christmas, but it’s the perfect time to start planning a road trip for the summer, perhaps as a surprise present for your partner. An old fashioned paper map will help them see the whole picture – and also give you something to put under the tree.
Map maker Collins has produced a series of Adventure Maps based around popular road trips including Route 66, the Amalfi Coast and the Pacific Coast Highway.
Along with the map, there are descriptions of top attractions on each route, images of the most important sights and also a suggested itinerary.
Mattel Hot Wheels Team Transport
- Price: around £19
- Contact: shopping.mattel.com
Whether you are a collector or a kid who loves playing with racing cars, the 1:64-scale Hot Wheels ‘car and hauler’ Team Transport series offers 71 pairings of famous cars with their transporters.
There are new models launched regularly, varying from a nineties Nissan 300ZX to the famous Mercedes-Benz Blaues Wunder truck and 300 SL.
Lego Harry Potter Ford Anglia
- Price: around £9
- Contact: asda.com
This gift combines three elements that kids and adults alike enjoy – LEGO, cars and Harry Potter – all for less than a tenner. The Flying Ford Anglia kit has 165 pieces that build into a model of Arthur Weasley’s famous 1966 Anglia 105E Deluxe, as seen in the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets film. It features figures of Harry, Ron Weasley, Hedwig and Scabbers, plus a suitcase and wands.
Autoglym Bodywork Wash & Protect
- Price: around £30
- Contact: autoglym.com
Autoglym’s products will be welcomed by any car-proud driver, and the company handily bundles its most popular products into gift packs for Christmas. The Bodywork Wash & Protect kit pairs Foaming Car Wash and Rapid Aqua Wax with two microfibre cloths.
The Foaming Car Wash is pH neutral so it won’t strip away protective coatings from paintwork, and the Rapid Aqua Wax can be applied straight after a wash to bring a shine to paint, plastic, rubber and glass.
Biscuiteers Classic Cars Tin
- Price: around £50
- Contact: biscuiteers.com
Here are some cookies you will definitely want to accept. The Biscuiteers British Classic Cars Tin is filled with gingerbread shapes, iced by hand to resemble British classics. We spotted a Mini, Morris Minor, Lotus Elan and Jaguar E-Type. There are also key rings and speedometers to munch on.
Around £50 might seem a lot for a tin of biscuits, but the attraction of these cookie cars is that they can be speedy – the company will deliver next day.
Rituals Car Perfume Kit
- Price: around £28
- Contact: rituals.com
If you know someone who really loves their car, then a tree-shaped air freshener dangling from the rear-view mirror isn’t going to make scents. Instead, treat them to a proper perfume designed to be used inside vehicles.
The posh Rituals car kit comprises of two parts – a classy wooden holder, which is small enough to fit in a door pocket, and a one of eight perfume dispensers with different scents, including Wild Fig and The Ritual of Mehr. A quick squirt should ward off the after-effects of Brussels sprout dinners.
Drive Dad’s Car Experience
- Price: around £49
- Contact: trackdays.co.uk
Who wouldn’t want an Austin Maestro under the tree? Trackdays.co.uk is offering classic car driving experiences with a difference, and at a budget-friendly price. Rather than supercars, they let you get behind the wheel of models that are likely to be a part of your own car history.
There are 17 British classics to choose from, manufactured between 1935 and 1995, ranging from a Ford Capri to a Morris Minor. £49 buys you a 20-minute drive on a closed road course, plus admission for you and a guest to the Great British Car Journey exhibition in Derbyshire.
Williams F1 Track Top
- Price: around £40
- Contact: crewclothing.co.uk
Your heart might sink when a loved one suggests they want Formula 1-branded merchandise for Christmas, because the genuine articles are almost inevitably pricey. But we were pleased to discover the more reasonable cost of the official kit for the Williams Racing team, created by its supplier, Crew Clothing.
The range covers both men’s and women’s styles and starts at £14.40 for a basic T-Shirt. The Zip Through Track Top is the most expensive item and costs £40. It’s made of 99 per cent ‘supersoft’ cotton and is finished in the Williams Racing team colours.
Autosocks
- Price: from £45
- Contact: autosockdirect.co.uk
It’s traditional to give socks at Christmas, so why not treat your car to some? AutoSocks are a quick alternative to snow chains and are small enough to be kept in the car, taking only a couple of minutes to install, even with freezing fingers. They can be used repeatedly, so could help you get home if we ever have a white Christmas.
There are socks to suit most wheel sizes, with the cheapest dipping below our £50 limit.
Tamiya 1/24 Porsche 911 GT3 RS (992)
- Price: around £36
- Contact: hobbyco.net
Here’s a build-it-yourself model that will keep Porsche fans busy until they go back to school – or work – in the new year. The new Tamiya 1/24 911 GT3 RS is highly detailed, including recreations of the sporty “Weissach package” with the correct wheels, carbon fibre, roll cage, door straps, shift paddles and headrest logos. Separate brake callipers, discs and tyres mean the model can be rolled around too. At £35.99, it costs less than a key fob for the real car.
Hobbycraft Paint Your Own Money Box
- Price: around £2.50
- Contact: hobbycraft.co.uk
The cheapest gift in our list could make a fun stocking filler for anyone saving up for their dream car. Hobbycraft’s ceramic money box includes six paints and a brush, allowing the owner to let their creative juices run wild.
Once finished, it can sit on the shelf and be used to collect spare change. At only £2.50, this is a smashing Christmas gift that won’t break the bank.
Personalised Speedometer Bottle Stopper
- Price: around £20
- Contact: meandmycar.co.uk
Not only is this bottle stopper a good-looking item on its own, but it also has a personalised twist. The classic, cream faced speedometer on top of the chrome cone has odometer numbers that can be set to celebrate a special date – maybe a birthday, anniversary, driving test pass or a wedding day.
The back of the stopper is blank but for an additional £5 it can be engraved with up to 50 characters. Don’t leave it too late, though – the personalisation means it takes four days for delivery.
Driving home for Christmas? Take a look at our Winter car checklist...
