Meanings
- informaluncountableA characteristic odor caused by the combination of chemicals and materials in a new automobile, including outgassing.
Who would want new car smell when you can have Maggie's gardenias?
2008, Charles Martin, Down Where My Love Lives2 more examples
Does that mean you shouldn't buy a new car? Not at all — although if you're not hung up on new car smell and the virginal feel of a pristine motor car, you might find a used car is a better bargain.
1996, Jack R Nerad, The complete idiot's guide to buying or leasing a carDid you know new car smell can kill you? New cars are filled with new car toxic fumes.
2004, Lindsay Price, Competition Monologues - figurativelyuncountableA perception of freshness or novelty.
"I think the American people, you know, they're going to want – you know, that new car smell. You know, their own – they want to drive something off the lot that doesn't have as much mileage as me," he said.
2014 November 23, Brad Knickerbocker, “Obama says he'd be a dinged-up used car in the 2016 presidential race”, in Christian Science Monitor
Cite this entry
new-car smell. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/new-car%20smell
“new-car smell.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/new-car%20smell. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “new-car smell,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/new-car%20smell.
Source: new-car smell on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.