Justin Hynes selects Christmas motoring gifts for the car buff in your life
Heaven help us, it's almost Christmas time. The scary broomsticks and rubber spiders have barely been lobbed back into storage and some youngster is howling up into the attic that you might as well get the Christmas decorations down while you're at it.
Have no fear, though, for the car obsessed person in your life, Motors is here to help, with a handy guide to some stuff to stuff the stocking with this yuletide.
1. Easy one first. A voucher.
Ireland Xtreme will, for the princely sum of €236, fit out your motornut with a full day's 4x4 experience. The 4x4 course will take drivers through such delights as The Boulder Field, Hell's Kitchen and Summit Pass in specially prepared Land Rovers. Instructors guide you through the whole process and there are even vehicles with automatic transmissions available.
Anyone over the age of 17 with a provisional or full drivers' licence can have a go.
Ireland Xtreme, Collinstowm Business Park, Airport Road, Cloghran, Co Dublin. Tel: 01-862 2000 or www.irelandxtreme.ie.
2. GPS System.
Confused by road signs in Dublin that read more like a tax certificate than an adequate set of directions: J13, Q645, P45? Then splash out on a top line GPS system that plugs into your car's cigarette lighter and sits on top of the dash, telling you in dulcet female tones to "turn right in 100 metres, make a u-turn, make a u-turn, MAKE A U-TURN!" There are a host of them out there, but there's a couple we like a lot. The Magellan eXplorist XL Sat Nav system can be plugged into your car's cigarette lighter but is also battery powered so you can leave your car, wander into the woods and still find your vehicle weeks later when you emerge bearded, filthy and raving.
It has a 3.5in colour screen, 30MB of mapping memory, three-metre accuracy and a tough waterproof case. It's brand new but should retail for about €590. Dealers in Ireland include Halfords in Blanchardstown and Liffey Valley, and Autronix in Knocklyon, D16.
If you want to go truly bling though wait for Garmin's StreetPilot 7500. It's designed for large vehicles so if you've got an eco-destroyer 4x4 and desperately need to know how to manage the journey between school run and Tesco then the 7500's huge 7-inch touch-screen display means you'll always see where you're going - from anywhere in your enormous vehicle.
No word of a price yet but one of Garmin's standard models, the 2610, is €929 on Expansys.ie so expect the 7500 to come with a 4x4 price.
3. Waterless carwash.
Want something off the wall to surprise the car buff with a penchant for buffing? How about the Ultra-ion waterless car wash, which, says the company, responsibly replaces the process of washing (water, shampoo, drying) and waxing (polish, protecting) into a simple "spray-wipe-buff" application.
Apparently as you spray the stuff onto your car, dirt and grime are broken down and suspended in microscopic capsules (this, they say, prevents scratching). As you wipe these away, you leave a shine and protective barrier. Science at work!
The Starter Kit, at £7.74, has a 200ml bottle of the stuff, a dispenser and two cotton cloths. Or you could opt for the Pro-Valet Kit at £23.45, which has a 500ml bottle, dispenser, cotton cloths plus bug remover and brush.
See www.go-waterless.co.uk.
4. iPod adaptors.
Of all the toys you could buy the gadget freak who has everything this Christmas we believe these might be the coolest: iPod adaptors for your car. Face it, we're all umbilically tied to our iPods but to get it into your car requires you to have an old car with (oh dear) a cassette deck into which you stuff one of those clunky adaptors. How lo-tech.
What you need is a proper system and the Dension IceLink system could be just what you need. It all connects to your CD changer system, charges your iPod, has line in audio, the same as your CD changer, and will respond to controls from the head unit of your car's stereo system. Wicked! They're available for most makes of car and cost around €200 depending on the make and model. Log on to www.besecure2000.ie
There is an upcoming alternative to this though, which looks very cool. Harmon Kardon, the people who usually do speakers and suchlike for computers, have come up with something called Drive+Play, which has its own screen and controls so your iPod can sit in the glove compartment and a big screen sits on your dashboard. At your fingertips somewhere on the centre console is a jog-wheel which mirrors your-iPod's controls.
It costs around $199 in the US so should be around the same price here, should HK import it.
5. Playing cards.
What better way to while away idle hours waiting in the city's gridlock than a nice game of cards. Crap Trumps (£7.99 from www.iwantoneofthose.com) is a neat little spin on the old Top Trumps game of comparing the stats of supercars. Instead of wondering whether the 500+bhp of your Ferrari will beat that Aston, here you get the stats for 131 Mirafioris, Ford Cortinas and Morris Marinas. Rust-tastic!
6. A chopper.
Not strictly car-related, but it's just so cool. The Mustang Electric Chopper Bike (Cahill Cycles, Fishery Lane, Naas, Co Kildare. Tel: 045 881585 or www.sbsb.co.uk). It's a hog of a bike, straight out of Easy Rider, and it's electric and will do a staggering 25kph!
It's suitable for riders 5ft 5in and over, has a chopper-style frame, a big fat rear tyre, nifty chrome handlebars, a high back seat and is seven feet long. It costs around €850.
7. A mobile seat
Know someone who drives a lot for work? Then the LongRest Mobile Seat might be a good gift idea. LongHaul Technologies is a specialist in longhaul airline seats.
According to the company regular seats develop "pressure points" which reduce blood flow to the soft tissues (presumably your bottom).
Its portable seat distributes the driver's bodyweight more efficiently across the seat, so improving bloodflow to the bottom and thighs.
It costs €49.50 from LongHaul at www.longhaultech.com