Here Are 7 Accessories to Make Your Car Feel Cutting-Edge

Here Are 7 Accessories to Make Your Car Feel Cutting-Edge
Contributor: Isabella Noyes, Chris Neill
At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

While most new cars these days come with Bluetooth, a reversing camera and a built-in GPS, if you’re riding in anything pre-2010, you’re probably quite envious and a bit out of the loop. While it’s nice to have all of those car gadgets pre-installed, it turns out you don’t need to buy a brand new car to enjoy them as well.

If you want to make your ride feel less like a musty old Corolla and more like a shiny new Mazda, here’s all of the must-have accessories you need that will bring your car to the 21st century.

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What car accessories do you need?

Replacement parts

car accessories
Image: iStock/dreamnikon

Are you a bit of a gearhead who can dismantle and resemble your car’s engine while blindfolded? Is your pride and joy an older car that you’ve kept in great knick? If so, when it comes to replacing parts for your old ride, it can be a lot easier said than done.

You can save yourself a trip to the scrapyard or auto-wreckers by tracking down specific car parts online. If you head on over to eBay, you can currently snag up to $120 off select car parts and accessories when you use the code CARSAV.

A Bluetooth car adapter

car accessories
Image: Lencent

Bluetooth is a total game changer when it comes to wirelessly pairing your device in a jiffy. We use it to connect our phones to TVs, headphones, gaming consoles, and even our cars.

If you’re driving an older car, it’s likely you don’t have that luxury. Or, for whatever reason, you have to rely on plugging your phone into one of its USB sockets.

Of course, if your phone’s USB charging port is acting a bit dodgy, you might want to consider getting this Bluetooth transmitter as one of your next car accessories.

This car adapter by Lencent is handy because it doubles as a USB charger and Bluetooth transmitter. It includes two USB-A ports, along with a USB-C port for fast charging, and can transmit your music as an FM signal (with added bass boosting, if that’s your vibe). It even allows you to take calls with its built-in call button, featuring a high sensitivity microphone and CVC noise cancellation.

Just plug this Bluetooth car adapter into your cigarette lighter socket (because who uses that these days anyway?) and off you go.

Shop the Lencent Bluetooth car adapter here for $40.94. You can also roll with this Bluetooth transmitter for $18.99.

Overhead display

If you want your car to feel like a higher-end model, then you might want to try an overhead display. Overhead displays are used to show your speed limit above your steering wheel. Rather than taking your gaze off the road to check your speed, this heads-up display will make it easier for you to keep your eyes on the road.

It’s especially handy when you’re coasting close to a speed camera because you don’t need to fret whether you were two or more kilometres over. Because the number on the display is digitalised, you’ll always know the precise speed you’re travelling at.

You can grab this heads-up display here for $38.59.

Dash cam

car accessories
Image: TOGUARD

It’s likely that you may have witnessed a nasty car accident or two in your lifetime. You can never be too careful while driving and even if you’re the most responsible driver, there are plenty of terrible ones out there.

For your own safety (and potential insurance claim), having a dash cam is one of those car accessories that will give you both peace of mind and hard evidence if you ever need to make a case.

This dash cam by TOGUARD includes easy-to-setup front and rear cameras with 1080p HD resolution and a wide 170-degree viewing angle. Its G-Sensor will also trigger if it senses any sudden collisions and lock the video, so you won’t have to worry about anything important being deleted.

You can pick up the TOGUARD Dual Lens dash cam here for $99.99.

Car phone mount

Image: Baseus

If your car doesn’t sport a fancy built-in GPS system, then navigating on a road trip or through a new city can be extremely difficult (and dangerous) if you’re constantly looking down at your lap to see where you’re headed.

Rather than dropping $150 or more on a GPS, just grab a much more affordable car phone mount. Considering that your smartphone probably cost you about a grand, we don’t see why you’d want to spend any more than what you need.

You can grab a car air vent phone mount here. Or you can grab this magnetic one here for $17.99.

Car vacuum cleaner

If you’re guilty of bringing back half of the beach in the car, or perhaps you’ve got a messy dog, it’s handy to keep a lightweight vacuum cleaner in the trunk.

There’s nothing we hate more than having to lug the industrial-sized one at home into the garage and detangle its cables. It’s even a good idea if you need to clean up your van while on a road trip, or before you pick up your hot date.

This portable vacuum cleaner will help you get in between all those dark crevices where a hot chip or two is lurking. It also comes with a couple of all-purpose nozzles that are the right size to slide into your car’s side pockets.

You can grab our top car vacuum cleaner pick here for $32.95.

Universal car headrest mount holder

Image: TFY

So what if Tesla owners can stream Game of Thrones in their car? You can do that too, or at least your backseat passengers can.

With a headrest tablet mount, your friends or young children can enjoy a movie in the backseat while on a weekend road trip. If you travel with someone who gets car sick easily, a headrest mount is good for keeping their eyes up, which helps them stand a better chance of dodging motion sickness.

You can shop this universal headrest mount here for just $27.48.


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At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.