Staff writer Sabine Heinlein has been a journalist for more than two decades. Her desire to spoil her menagerie of rabbits and cats continuously challenges her ambition to maintain a spotless house. She obsesses over how different types of fur adhere to upholstery and how best to remove hair balls from it.

Made for spontaneous cleanup and tight spaces, a good car vacuum is lightweight and versatile. It helps you tackle your car’s storage compartments and upholstery and runs long enough to give your car a once-over. If your car needs frequent attention, it can be stored in the trunk without taking up a whole lot of space.

You may already own what you need. Most good cordless stick vacuums easily transform into handheld units that can be used in the car. For longer, deep cleaning sessions, an upright or canister vacuum or shop vac with hose attachments can work if you have access to an outlet. One type we don’t recommend: car vacuums designed to plug into a car’s 12-volt cigarette lighter, which don’t draw enough power to be effective and keep you leashed to a short cord.

What the Ryobi 18V One+ Performance Hand Vacuum Kit lacks in aesthetic appeal, it makes up for in superior suction power, an extra-large bin, and versatile attachments.

It’s our favorite overall cleaner. We tried this Ryobi model on and between car seats and in storage compartments, and it did an excellent job picking up all kinds of debris, including Cheerios, sand, and dust. It comes with a crevice tool and a brush tool that pivots 360 degrees, which makes it ideal for spots with awkward angles, such as your car’s cup holders.

It has a large dustbin. Holding 22 ounces of debris—twice the capacity of most other handheld vacuums we tested—the Ryobi 18V One+ Performance Hand Vacuum’s dustbin saves you a run to the trash can mid-clean.

It runs long and charges quickly. This Ryobi model ran for a full 18 minutes on its highest setting, plenty of time to give your car some much-needed attention. It charges in about an hour; other handheld models take three to four.

It has a generous warranty and replaceable parts. The Ryobi 18V One+ Performance Hand Vacuum has a three-year warranty (one of the longest we’ve seen), and its battery is replaceable, as are most of its parts and accessories. (You can also use the battery in many other cordless Ryobi tools.)

Flaws but not dealbreakers

• The Ryobi 18V One+ Performance Hand Vacuum’s bulky design makes it hard to maneuver in a car’s tight spaces. Low, deep areas, like the space under your car seats, can be hard to reach.
• It’s less comfortable to use than some other models, especially if you have hand or arm issues. Although this vacuum is a lightweight 2.3 pounds (one of the lightest high-performing vacuums we’ve tested), the battery, which is located directly below the handle, makes up a large part of the vacuum’s weight and may strain your hand and wrist.

If your copilot is a dog, the Black+Decker 20V Max Dustbuster AdvancedClean+ Pet Hand Vacuum HHVK515JP07 is uniquely designed to help you fight the fur battle, both at home and in the car.

It’s a top-notch cleaner for pet fur (and great at other messes, too). The Black+Decker HHVK515JP07 picked up fur better than any model we tried, thanks to its motorized brush with rubber bristles. The only area where it struggled was removing fur from the grippy car floor and trunk upholstery. (All the vacuums we tested performed poorly at this. Instead, try the Uproot Cleaner Pro.)

This model effortlessly sucks up other kinds of debris, too, including glitter, crumbs, and dust. Although it has two suction modes, we found the low mode to be strong enough for most cleaning scenarios.

It has an extra-large dustbin. The Black+Decker HHVK515JP07’s 25-ounce capacity dustbin is the largest of any hand vacuum we tested. This comes in handy when vacuuming lots of pet fur, which can quickly clog smaller dustbins.

It has a long runtime for deep cleaning. This model has an impressive runtime of 24 minutes on low suction mode, sufficient for most furry car situations. It charges in about three hours.

It’s sturdy and reliable. The Black+Decker HHVK515JP07 comes with a two-year warranty (average for handheld vacuums). Guide author Sabine Heinlein has used hers daily for almost four years. The suction hasn’t diminished, and the vacuum has withstood being dropped and knocked over. Many of its parts, including its washable filters, belt, and charger are replaceable. The battery is not.

But it can be awkward in tight spaces and tricky to empty. The vacuum’s built-in, extendable crevice tool lets you get into most car storage compartments. But the tool is too large and stiff to fit into extra-tight spots and often slides back into place. The filters sometimes slip out when emptying the bin.

The Black+Decker 20V Max Flex Handheld Vacuum BDH2020FL lags behind the Ryobi 18V One+ Performance Hand Vacuum Kit and the Black+Decker HHVK515JP07 in terms of suction and runtime, but it is the best option if you need a hand vac that’s lightweight and comfortable to use.

It’s versatile and convenient in tight spaces. You can set down this model’s coffee-can-size motor and use its expandable hose with one hand. The whole machine weighs just over 3 pounds and, thanks to its handle, is comfortable to carry. This makes it particularly helpful for people with hand and wrist issues or for those who clean their car often.

The hand vac’s hose makes it easy to clean the low, deep areas in your car (like the space under the seats and behind the pedals) that regular hand vacs typically struggle with.

The narrow crevice tool comes in handy for the small car-door storage compartments and the tight area around the parking brake and steering wheel. Unfortunately, the crevice tool is too slender for large crumbs and cereal.

The rubber-nubbed pet-hair attachment works well for fur and debris on car seats, but it is useless on the clingy upholstery that covers the trunk and floors. (We recommend the Uproot Cleaner Pro for those cleanups.)

It has weaker suction. A hose restricts airflow, which is what keeps debris moving. It performed fine in our tests, picking up different kinds of debris, though not as well as the Black+Decker HHVK515JP07 or the Ryobi model. (Its dust bin holds 17 ounces of debris—ample, but less than the Ryobi vacuum and the Black+Decker HHVK515JP07.)

It has a short runtime and is slow to recharge. The Black+Decker BDH2020FL charges in four hours and has a runtime of 12 minutes, enough to give your car a quick once-over but not a deep clean. We also found that wrapping the hose back around the machine after using it requires some fiddling.

It has a decent warranty, but the battery isn’t replaceable. The Black+Decker BDH2020FL’s two-year warranty is standard for most handheld vacuum cleaners. Because its battery can’t be replaced, the whole machine becomes unworkable when the battery dies.

The Worx 20V Power Share Cordless Cube Vac WX030L is similar to the Black+Decker 20V Max Flex Handheld Vacuum BDH2020FL but with slightly different strengths and weaknesses.

It’s cleverly designed and comfortable to use. The Worx WX030L is compact and beautifully designed, with its tools conveniently stored onboard. At 3 pounds, it weighs a bit less than the Black+Decker BDH2020FL. It has a convenient handle and a long, flexible hose that you can use with one hand after setting down the body of the vacuum. Its narrow crevice tool focuses the suction, and the hose is flexible enough to fit into awkward nooks, like the space behind the car’s steering wheel and the glove compartment.

Its cleaning performance is just okay. The Worx WX030L excelled in picking up dust but struggled with heavier debris such as bird seeds. Its measured airflow and suction lagged behind those of our other three picks. On the plus side, the Worx WX030L’s brush attachment picked up dust on the dashboard, but it was useless when it came to fur on seats. Its 6-ounce dustbin is considerably smaller than that of our other picks.

It has a long runtime and recharges quickly. In our tests, the Worx WX030L ran for a generous 25 minutes on low mode, longer than any other hand vacuum we tested. On the higher suction setting, it runs for about 10 minutes. To maximize runtime, switch between low and high modes depending on how dirty the area you’re cleaning is. Like the Ryobi 18V One+ Performance Hand Vacuum Kit, the Worx WX030L recharges in one hour.

It has a generous warranty and replaceable battery. The Worx WX030L has a three-year warranty, longer than most other handheld vacuums. The battery is replaceable and compatible with other Worx tools.

All the models considered for this guide were first tested for our guide to the best handheld vacuums, where we assessed their suction, battery life, and versatility. We then took the top contenders and used them in a 2008 subcompact Honda Fit covered in crumbs, dirt, and fur. We tackled the interior and trunk of the car, as well as the ridges on floor mats and the crevices between seats.

We looked for attachments such as crevice and brush tools that help you reach inside cup holders and door pockets and effectively clean upholstered surfaces. To remove pet hair and other fuzz that clings to upholstery, we found that a rubber-nubbed tool or motorized brush is helpful.

We considered some car vacuums designed to plug into a vehicle’s 12-volt cigarette lighter, but we don’t recommend them. They’re much, much weaker than the vacuums recommended in this guide and are less versatile and convenient.

For a list of all the car vacuums we’ve tested, see our guide to the best handheld vacuums.

This article was edited by Ingrid Skjong and Courtney Schley.