To find the best car vacuum you can buy, we test how well each model can clean up a range of dirt and debris from different areas of a car, using crushed digestive biscuits for our finer dirt test, and oats for the larger one.

These smaller, more compact vacuums for cars may not have quite the suction of the best upright vacuums, which do an excellent job of keeping your home spotless, but they’re more than enough for their intended purpose. Plus, they’re much easier to use on a car as they’re smaller and easier to use, not to mention you won’t need an extension cord. Its one power setting means one pass may not be enough for really set-in dirt - and it can struggle with the most stubborn of pet hair too - but overall the single power setting copes well with most tasks. We found you’ll get around 15 minutes of battery life, 50% more than its quoted 10 minutes and more than enough to do a good clean of your whole car.While car vacuums have not always been seen as all that powerful, that’s changing a little now that portable handheld vacuums are becoming more popular. Of course, it helps that the companies making some of the best vacuum cleaners out there have some models on offer. Considering its low price, this Shark handheld offers tremendous value and is perfect for busy families. That's not to mention a great option if you're dealing with pet hair on a daily basis. The HomeVac H20 offers two suction modes – Eco and Max –that you select by pushing a button on the main unit, beneath the power button. Between the two buttons sits a battery indicator light, which is useful for offering guidance on the level of power remaining. We were grateful that the HomeVac H20 could be charged from inside the car using the in-car charger; on a few occasions, we had to resort to using it to gather enough juice to finish the job.

It offers two levels of suction - Eco and Max - with the former giving you up to 20 minutes of vacuuming. We found we regularly had to nudge it up to Max for the best results though, and even then, it didn’t quite manage the same cleaning performance as the very best. verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ If you’re in the market for a car vacuum, there are a few things you should think about. One of the first questions could be — do you actually need one? If you own something like the Dyson V8, it can shapeshift into a form factor that can work very well to clean cars with and comes with all the power, bin size and additional tools of a fully-fledged vacuum cleaner for great performance. Of course, this comes at a considerably higher cost than a dedicated car vacuum and can be heavier too. As well as evaluating its cleaning performance, we also consider the other things that would be important when making a buying decision, including how long the battery lasts compared to the manufacturer’s claims (or how long the wire is for corded vacs), how loud it is in use and the usefulness of any included tools for different jobs. We also consider the weight and ergonomics, to understand if people are going to be able to use it comfortably to clean the whole car and if the bin capacity it has will make that possible. Overall, this is a handy car vac for those who need something that’s both budget and lightweight to use and who clean little and often. If you need something more heavy duty you should look elsewhere.