Can anyone recommend a good steam or shampoo vacuum for the interior? I picked up the bissell little green but took it back before I got too far as it didn't seem to pick up the water. Maybe a steam vac is better?

Thanks. -Harv

I'm surprised the Little Green didn't get your water up. Is it one of the new ones?

I have one that is several years old. The pump for the wash water seems to keep going out, but it sucks like a Hoover. I've never had a problem cleaning interiors with it.

I used to have a special edition VW GTI with cloth seats. I put a little Woolite Black in the wash water and it cleaned them up new!

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Yeah, the Bissell Little Green just didn't seem to have the power to extract the water back out. I tried to be fairly conservative on the amount of water I applied, and used several strokes to extract the water back out (various angles trying to get the optimal suction angle) but after having used about half a canister of water, it had only pulled out a few ounces of water. I ran down to the grocery store and rented a commercial cleaner and it sucked almost all of the remaining water out.

Seems like there should be something more powerful for home non-professional use. After searching the web, I see a great deal of these $1,000+ systems but I'm looking at $250 or less.

If anyone has any other ideas, please let me know. Thanks

Every now and then you can find one on fleabay. You're looking for what's called a spot extractor, upholstery cleaner or portable extractor.

If you have a good shopvac you could use it with an upholstery tool.

http://cgi.ebay.com/upholstery-tool-detailer_W0QQitemZ260542154975QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ca985c8df

Then get a hand pump garden sprayer and attach it to the upholstery tool / detailer. The carpet cleaning solution actually goes in the sprayer.

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I picked up a Bissell Big Green Machine at the local Dumpster. The floor tool was broken but the machine worked fine. I bought the upholstery attachment on Ebay for $9 and it is a pretty good interior cleaner. The wand is a little large and clumsy for car interiors, but it works.
A cheap alternative: use any old wet-dry vacuum; mist on enough warm-to-hot water plus detergent and scrub some to loosen soil, then suck it up with your vac. Repeat until clean.
One of the secrets to interior cleaning is multiple passes. The repeated wetting, scrubbing action, and suction of the water with the dirt suspended in it by the detergent, will get most things pretty clean. You'll really know it when you hit the spot where the Coca-Cola was spilled.