Written by Chris WilliamsPublished: 31 August 2022Updated: 31 August 2022
The state of a vehicle’s footwell is the equivalent of a property’s lawn. Whether or not it’s tidy makes a massive difference to the overall appearance of the area.
A car’s footwell gets dirty as inevitably as grass grows. But in the same way that a motorised lawnmower makes light work of a patch of grass, floor mats make cleaning the footwell of a car much easier. Instead of having to reach into the footwell with a vacuum cleaner, floor mats can be lifted out and shaken clean or rinsed with a hose or pressure washer.
Floor mats protect the car’s carpet too, which is important when it comes to selling the car. It may not make much difference to the overall resale value of the car but it’ll help to make it an easier sell because it helps to show the car has been well looked after and maintained.
Luckily, you can get great value car floor mats that offer great protection. And value-for-money floor mats are what we are focussing on here.
Rubber or carpet?
We would recommend rubber floor mats. This is simply because they are more durable, almost impossible to stain and do a better job of protecting the carpet beneath. However, carpet mats are more aesthetically pleasing and still easy to clean.
The best car floor mats
JVL Linear Luxury Rubber Car Mat Set
Editor’s pick
7
Price: £14.25 |VIEWOFFER
This set of four rubber mats from UK-based company JVL tick all of the practical boxes. First and foremost in peoples’ minds is value and this set of floor mats delivers on this, but they perform very well too.
They are heavy-duty and hard-wearing with a good tread that traps dirt and debris very well. Due to the fact you can trim these to size, they are a truly universal fit.
Safe Travel Universal Car Mats
Best carpet mats
7
Price: £18.44 |VIEWOFFER
If you do want carpet mats, we recommend this set. It’s made in the UK and in a reasonably universal fit, though of course, you canu2019t trim them to size, so make sure the 43 x 62cm (front pair) and 40.5 x 26.5cm (rear pair) dimensions are appropriate for your car.
The carpet isn’t particularly thick but more importantly, it’s durable with the heel pads being cleverly made from rubber. This set has good anti-slip backing too, so they won’t move too easily.
Xtremeauto Universal Rubber Car Mats
Best value rubber mats
7
Price: £10.99 |VIEWOFFER
In the pursuit of saving as much money as possible, we direct you to this set from Xtremeauto. It’s a similar set to the JVL mats and can also be trimmed to size.
We think the tread pattern of the JVL mats is more effective at trapping dirt but other than that the differences are negligible.
Carsio Universal Car Floor Mats
Best value carpet mats
7
Price: £8.99 |VIEWOFFER
For the best value carpet mats, we turn to Yorkshire. Leeds, specifically. Carsio’s carpet floor mats are thicker than the Safe Travel mats (400g/m2) and about the same size (59 x 44 cm front, 39 x 26 cm rear).
They aren’t quite as durable, even with the double-thickness driver’s heel pad, but for the price they will last a reasonable amount of time.
Amazon Basics Heavy Duty All Weather Protection Floor Mats
Best full set
7
Price: £41 |VIEWOFFER
The rubber mats above cover all the footwells but protecting the carpet lining the boot is also important, which is where this set comes in.
As with the other rubber mats here you can trim these to size and they offer durable and effective protection. The only drawback is that you can get better value for money by buying the Sakura boot mat below and pairing it with the JVL rubber mats above.
Dimensions: front 78.7 x 54 cm; rear 146 x 47.7 cm; boot liner 80 x 119.8 cm.
Sakura Black Rubber Boot Mat
Best universal boot liner
7
Price: £8.90 |VIEWOFFER
This is our favourite trim-to-size boot mat because it’s a very effective pick and great value. Original, untrimmed size is 120 x 80cm.
Custom mats
If you want mats that fit exactly then by all means go for model-specific ones. In this regard, we suggest going for ones supplied by the car brand themselves (see Volkswagen’s here or Ford’s here, for example) if you can because these will definitely fit properly. They’re a bit more expensive but the whole reason you want model-specific mats is for the Cinderella fit, which isn’t guaranteed with cheap aftermarket custom mats.
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