These can make your vehicle smell like a flower garden. Then again, beautiful aromas are in the nose of the beholder.
Amazon, drift
The nose knows. Our olfactory sense is so strong that some believe it plays a big part in whom you choose as a romantic partner. Mothers revel in the scent of their infants, and food has to smell enticing or you won’t take that first bite. The world is filled with products aimed at making things smell better, whether it’s your laundry, your home, your pets, your breath, or your underarms. Why should cars be exempt from this onslaught of scent improvers?
They’re not, of course. Ever since the first cheesy Christmas-tree-shaped car air freshener ever hung on a rearview mirror, making cars smell more like, well, anything other than a car has been an ongoing effort. Today several vehicle manufacturers even offer onboard aromatherapy systems.
We’re here to help you sort through the options. We’ve assembled a bevy of car air fresheners for you to consider if you want a new aroma circulating inside your vehicle’s cabin. And on this subject, we’ve gone the crowdsourcing route in the hope of finding a good selection of in-car fragrances.
How We Chose These Car Fragrances
It’s complicated. We picked these car scents and air fresheners based on several factors, including their average Amazon review score, the number of positive Amazon reviews, and recommendations from trustworthy automotive-detailing sites. For the sake of variety, we included several types of car air fresheners. We even researched automotive-branded colognes and perfumes. All we can say for sure about this varied group of car scents is: no hanging Christmas trees!
Drift Wood Freshener
$8 AT DRIFT.CODrift offers a variety of car fragrances, including Amber and Coffee. These car scents come in the form of thin credit-card-sized wooden planks infused with the aroma of choice. The plank affixes to a well-made metal visor clip. If wood isn’t your cup of tea, the products also come in metal and stone form.
Elon’s Musk Air Freshener (3-pack)
$20 AT AMAZONCareful, this air freshener might inspire you to build a rocket. The scent is described as “high notes of vegan leather and low notes of rocket fuel.” Bonus points if you drive a Tesla.
Anzazo Car Essential-Oil Diffuser
$30 AT AMAZONThis miniature car scent diffuser takes a different approach to making your ride a nose-friendly space. It’s a small, magnetized stainless-steel locket containing an absorbent pad designed to hold a few drops of the essential oil of your choice (you supply the oil). The diffuser mounts to an air vent and disperses its aroma as the climate control wafts air through the vent. Choosing your own scent guarantees one thing: At least you’ll like it.
Charcoal Bags Odor Absorber (4 Pack)
Now 20% off
$20 AT AMAZON
These four simple bags use an unusual process to eliminate odors. Each woven fabric sack is filled with 200 grams of purifying active charcoal. The maker claims that they act as an air freshener by sucking airborne contaminants out of the cabin, neutralizing odor without adding fragrance. They can be used for up to two years and are recharged by exposure to sunlight.
Yankee Candle Car Jar
$5 AT AMAZONNew England’s famous Yankee Candle will fill your car with a safe, flame-free fragrance. The hanging Car Jars mimic the shape of the company’s glass candleholders. If you miss mall kiosks, try the charm bracelet with refillable pads.
Febreze Car-Vent Air Freshener (4-Pack)
$18 AT AMAZONThese little car scent pods are perfect if you already use Febreze in the house and have a fragrance you know and like. The Febreze car air fresheners are available in some of the same scents as the home sprays. The pods clip to an air vent and circulate fresh scent throughout the cabin when air is passing through them. You can adjust how much scent is released via a simple control mechanism.
Turtle Wax Odor-X Whole Car Blast (2-Pack)
$38 AT AMAZONThis aerosol scent bomb is a one-shot air-freshening regimen. It’s designed to be activated in a closed car with the A/C blasting for 15 minutes while it expels all its contents into the cabin. (You must exit the cabin after setting it off.) The Turtle fog circulates throughout your car’s interior and HVAC system and supposedly leaves your ride with a clean, fresh smell. Be careful to set it off low down in the interior—the accompanying video suggests a front-console cupholder—to avoid spraying the stuff all over your headliner.
Wakaba Young Leaf JDM Style
$32 AT AMAZONThe shoshinsha mark started as a designation for new drivers in Japan, and it has since grown into a symbol for the JDM community. The iconic shape is perfect for a tuner and will keep your vehicle smelling fresh with its new-car scent.
Happy Wax Air Freshener
$12 AT AMAZONThis is as close as we’ll get to the dreaded hanging Christmas-tree car air-freshener thingies of the past. Yes, these cute little car-fragrance bears do hang from the rearview mirror. They are infused with essential oils in scents such as Calming Lavender, Citron Mandarin, and Coastal Tide. That, we hope, means the aromas are free of nasty chemicals and delicate rather than overpowering.
Blue Magic Pure Citrus Air Freshener Orange (6-Pack)
$39 AT AMAZONIt’s hard to tell what’s so special about this unassuming spray-can car air freshener, but reviewers rave about it. Made with fragrant citrus oils and nonaerosol propellants, it’s so effective that 412 Amazon customers have ordered a six-pack of the stuff and then given it a five-star review. That’s as good an endorsement as we can find in the world of car air fresheners.
From: Car and Driver
Keyword: Best Car Air Fresheners: Top-Rated Scents, Sprays, and Diffusers