New Car Smell

I spent a couple of hours cleaning up our car yesterday. Being a people carrier it seems to accumulate a huge array of litter, grime, detritus and generally vile smells. I have come to the conclusion that the people that are carried in this vehicle, particularly those in the rear seats are somewhat grotty. Anyway, after clearing away the debris, hoovering, cleaning and generally freshening up the whole thing it is actually a reasonably hospitable place to be in again.

There is another way of overcoming the stench of overly lived in automobile and that is the trusty air freshener. There are a variety of these devices that often come in the shape of a tree or flower. The one in my car actually clips on to the air vent although is no substitute for a “no rotten apple cores” rule. The scents that these come in are sometimes floral or occasionally pine or other fresh outdoorsy fragrances (assuming that the outdoors fragrance isn’t next to the chemical plants in Grangemouth).  There is also one called, intriguingly, “new car smell”.

Now I’ve been in a few new cars. I even owned one once. The smell can actually be rather overpowering but it does carry the connotations of a newly acquired and unblemished luxury item. However, when I have tried the “new car smell” air fresheners I can only assume that what they were aiming for was Toilet Duck. In fact in terms of an actual pleasing car interior the best one I’ve found is actually “vanilla.” I’m not sure whether this is what new cars should smell like but vanilla does seem to create a general sense  olfactory wellbeing.

I think the value of a clean and fragrant car interior shouldn’t be over-estimated. If you have a look through the ads in Autotrader for cars of a slightly older vintage from the more back-street vendors, one of the first things they will mention about a car is it being a “very clean example”. That is, not reliable, well-maintained, or even having the slightest whiff of a chance of passing its MOT but simply the fact that someone has been let loose with a vacuum cleaner and a squeegee.

And I think it works, after cleaning our old MPV I am now far less bothered that its mileage would have taken it over five times around the world, or that the door could do with welding, or that the tailgate is starting to rust or even that the synchro-rings in the gearbox are starting to wear. At the moment, it smells nice.