My car's a tip. I'm not proud of it, but nor am I ashamed of it. I have tried a number of times to keep it clean and tidy and I just have to resign myself to the fact that I gather mess better than anyone else I know. It's as if I blink and it's there.

But of course there are limits - mess is one thing but I have kids, and I have to maintain an environment that is healthy for them, despite the amount of mess they seem to make getting desperately close to mine. Sometimes, it's just too much of a hassle to pick everything up and try to restrict things like crumbs and sand and the like getting everywhere, so the easy answer is to hoover the car.

Where we live, it's just not feasible to run a cable back into the house and bring our Dyson out to the car. The only answer then is to get something small and portable to clean the car. This particular hoover seemed to be just right - it wasn't going to break the bank but would get the job done. I've read a number of different reviews that say it gets the majority of the dirt and mess up, but obviously won't cope with the bigger things and isn't so hot on getting the very smallest and fine bits such as all sand out.

I figured this was okay and got one, and it wasn't long before I'd put it to use. Quite practically, it is powered by plugging it into the cigarette lighter unit in the car, and the power generated from the car is substantial enough to get the machine going. Working it around the front of the car is easy enough, and the nozzle has two extra attachments as a normal hoover would. The brush is pretty good for getting the more stubborn bits that can be stuck on, and for dislodging bits of dirt in grooves, and while the bit for the edges is angled just right.

There are those bits down the side of the front seats that you can just never get to unless you have the thinnest toothbrush in the world, but once you're in the back, again there's no real issue with cleaning. I find that as you clean the back seats the cable is getting to the end of its reach, as it's no where near as long as a standard hoover. I guess this is partly to reduce the amount of cable to have to contain, but also because the longer the cable then the further the power has to go and the weaker the vaccuum at the end. Either way, I find this restrictive as it basically means I can't clean my boot, and this is often the grubbiest bit.

I recently took our christmas tree to the dump, and there are bits of its needles that are everywhere. I'm resigned to either picking them up by hand or driving over to my folks' house and using their hoover out through the front door - just not practical if I'm honest. It's okay that the front and back seats are clean, as are the footwells, but it just doesn't reach far enough to do the boot as well.

But I can live with this. The device is very simple to activate, comfortable to hold and easy to empty. It doesn't hold a great deal but then if you're only doing your car and can do this on a regular basis then it's no chore. You'll notice when it gets a bit too full as it just won't pick up so well. The end result is that the only mess in my car is the bigger stuff, and as long as I try to hoover regularly then this is the easy stuff to pick up and bundle into a rubbish bag or a bag to take back into the house.

The hoover isn't much to look at, basically a plain white with a pale green end bit; and it won't cost you much, in the region of £15 or so. Its price reflects what you get, so it's decent value for the money. I'd recommend it, but beware that the power isn't very strong, just enough to do a decent job, and the cable won't stretch to the boot. Other than that, worth a go.