How Clean Do You Keep the Interior of Your Cars?

Since I ride a scooter around most of the time, my car gets very little use. The interior is small (Miata) so clutter gets in the way fast. One thing I did figure out was to keep a small rag somewhere like under the seat or in a pocket behind the passenger seat, and wipe off the dash and instruments, and anything I can reach, while I’m waiting for a traffic light.

I do that too, along with a spray bottle of window cleaner. Not so much for a clean dash, but to keep the interior surface of the window clean, better visibility, safer driving, especially at night. Even 30 years on the Corolla’s plastics still sublime, form a optical-blurry film on the interior glass.

I keep everything in its place and out of sight except for face masks. I typically have three of them lying in the console. I wipe particles off the speedo and entertainment screens regularly, as well as the hard surfaces on the console. I even bought a basic set of interior detailing tools to keep the interior clean. I also treat the leather every two years.

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I have one as well, worth it’s weight in gold between the cars, couches, etc.

He and I would get along fine. I let people drink lidded drinks, usually. Unless I know they’re klutzes, then the most they’ll get is water.

But absolutely no eating of any kind unless it’s just a breath mint. Even the neatest car eater will get crumbs in the car, and you’ll never get 'em all out even if you get it detailed. Eventually you get enough in varying stages of decay that it starts to smell like an old car. I don’t even carry leftovers home from a restaurant in the passenger cabin. They go in the trunk, on a Weathertech mat. People think I’m slightly nuts, but hey. My car can be a decade old and still appear nearly new. Not too many can say that.

When I sold my 12 year old Acura, you could still smell that new-leather-interior smell in it because I’d always kept anything that would cause bad smells out of it.

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+1
Except for me, of course. :wink:
On long drives, I sometimes munch on a granola bar, but with that exception, no food is allowed in my car. Water bottles are allowed for everyone onboard.

I am careful to remove all litter from the car a few times each week, and I use a Swiffer Duster once or twice a month to remove dust from the dashboard, the seats, and the center console. A few times per year, I vacuum the carpet and the cargo area.

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Remember as a kid buds dad had the plastic seat covers in the car he loved.

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My car was my home pretty much. I used to eat in the dark while driving. I loved Hershey bars. Then one day I bought one out of the vending machine and when I happened to look at it, little worms. Yeah sure, distributor and vendor was in trouble, but after that I always liked to inspect in the light of day what I was going to eat.

As far as vacuums go though, I have a pretty good sized shop vac hanging on the wall in the garage. Very powerful and has a hose long enough to reach both cars. No little vac for me.

Clear plastic seat covers were more or less the norm in the '50s & '60s, due to the fragility of car upholstery in “the Good Old Days”. (You know… when “everything was better”. :smirk:)

The very obvious problem with those plastic seat covers involved sitting on them on a very hot summer day.
Ouch!
:flushed:

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Yeah had those little puffs all over them. Everyone had them at least on the front seat. Outfit in Minnesota (St. Cloud I think) sold them. Name escapes me right now. I think went belly up then reorganized. Last I looked a couple years ago they were operating like a “buy here pay here” operation. Buy something for $100 and make payments at exorbitant rates.

Edit: Fingerhut

We lived outside ST. Louis at the time, Don’t remember the scorch, but certainly have experienced it in other cars! The plastic was clear with little bumps.

Some were smooth, and the so-called “premium” clear plastic seat covers had little bumps.
Thankfully, my parents never succumbed to the temptation of clear plastic seat covers for the car, but I did have to sit on them (OUCH!) in the cars belonging to some of my friends’ parents.

And, some folks had these infernal accessories covering their living room furniture!
You know… cover your living room upholstery, the seats of your dining room chairs, and even the lamp shades, with clear plastic. I guess it’s easier than actually keeping one’s car and one’s home clean…
:roll_eyes:

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I like a car to be tidy inside, but after all it is an appliance, a tool to be used to improve your life. Keeping it spotlessly clean and like new elevates it to a goal of your life rather than a means to goals, and I’m not interested in that.

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I keep thinking trade in time, the engine is shot, the trans is shot, the rust is hell, but the seats look great!

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This was one of the vanishingly few areas where my dad “splurged.” He’d get those sheepskin seat covers. Kinda nice to sit on compared to the vinyl underneath them, but they weren’t exactly the height of fashion, and they absorb any odor they’re exposed to so after awhile they’re not all that pleasant.

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I think that’s one of the things that keeps me out of a new car (for myself). There’s also the fact that I’m cheap and new vehicles are way overpriced right now, in my opinion. But let’s ignore those two facts for a moment :laughing:.

I can make a used car or truck cleaner and nicer than it was when I bought it. A new one, I can’t really improve on it. Eventually it’ll look worse than it did when new. Kind of makes enjoying a new vehicle difficult for me. I bought a new truck back in 2013, but I traded it in for my wife’s Highlander before a year had passed. My wife actually stated that I couldn’t seem to enjoy it anyway. It’s probably a psychological disorder. I hope no one else is affected.

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New cars seem to attract dents and accidents.

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Thumbs up for those floor mats. (That’s my alma mater.)

I’m somewhere in the middle on this - back in high school, I had a girlfriend whose car was a dump, to the point that on the one occasion I drove it, I actually had to kick trash out of the way of the pedals. I couldn’t imagine living like that.

In my own cars, I regularly pick up trash, keep the interior storage organized, and clean and condition the leather twice a year, though I must admit the carpets usually could use a vacuuming. (I live on a dirt road, so between that and the road salt, it’s hard to keep carpet looking nice. I’m thinking about getting a set of Weathertech rubber mats.)

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The OEM Acura winter mats are similar to the Weathertech and are highly recommended by me for containing the winter mess on the carpets. Unlike regular floor mats they go up the sides a little to contain all the slush and mess. Clean them in the spring and put the regular carpet mats in.

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That’d be nice… the Jeep OEM slush mats are just flat with short lips around the edges, and they don’t cover all the carpet in the footwell like that. I only have the carpeted floor mats now, but they get dirty in the summer too from all the mud in our area.