It’s that time of the year again when the J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey results roll out, a compilation of things new car buyers don’t notice on test drives. From steep software learning curves to plug-in hybrid problems, this occasionally mocked and frequently misunderstood study contains many of the usual suspects. However, among the litany of tech-related grievances sits an unusual trend: a rise in complaints around cupholders.
Hang on, haven’t the god-awful cupholders of old disappeared? For the most part, yes. Flimsy affairs that slide out of the dashboard and vague recesses prone to launching empty fast food cups like they’re Scud missiles have gone the way of smoking sections on airplanes. But even though most manufacturers have solved for existing problems, consumers are busy cooking up new ones. It turns out that oversized reusable cups are to blame for the bulk of new cupholder complaints, as Automotive News reports.
“A lot of people are becoming more eco-conscious with this type of stuff, so we’re all using the Stanley cups and the Yetis and bringing those into the car,” [J.D. Power senior director of auto benchmarking Frank] Hanley told Automotive News. “So OEMs are having to figure out, ‘How do I accommodate those giant cups?’ It’s really a customer-driven change that has to take effect because of those different cups.”
If customers are bringing their own cartoonishly large mugs, maybe the answer is to just make big-ass cupholders, right? Not so fast. Simply enlarging cupholders in every direction without accounting for diameter adjustment and depth would be an overcorrection. Sure, it would keep giant travel mug owners happy, but those who stick to smaller cups could be upset if their beverages flop around or are tricky to retrieve.
Admittedly, part of me wants to be elitist here and scoff at the prospect of someone toting around a tumbler multiple times the size of their bladder, but before you call me a dehydrated bitch, I’m not saying leave any sort of beverage container at home. Unless you’re going on a long hike or a camping trip, using a smaller bottle but refilling it more often is less cumbersome, doesn’t make the user look like an overgrown Cub Scout, and won’t block nearly as much of your vision should you choose to take a sip while driving. However, these comically large mugs are quite popular, and door storage isn’t always a practical option, like it is in the Ford Maverick pictured above.
My take on what makes a cupholder good is simple: It has to securely accommodate a takeaway ice cream sundae, an eight-ounce small coffee, a slim 8.3-ounce Red Bull can, and a 40-oz vacuum-insulated tumbler without blocking any controls, and let you easily grasp these items for retrieval. No crushing your sundae and spilling it, no ripping the lid off a small coffee trying to pick it up, no having your energy drink come loose, and still enough room for all but the biggest of vacuum mugs. Ideally, these cup holders would be positioned either ahead of a console-mounted shifter if one’s installed or on the dashboard like in an E90 3 Series, feature a spring-loaded door or prongs to maintain tension against the beverage, be shallow enough to allow for easy retrieval of small cups, and be easy to clean.
So far, cupholders following that design brief are few and far between, likely because spacers at the bottom add cost and shipping logistic complexity, but some manufacturers are definitely better at cupholders than others. The Nissan Z has a cupholder that puts your beverage in the way of your arm when shifting into reverse, the newest Kia cupholders with the rotating rings look cool but don’t hug onto smaller cups, and BMW’s decision to put USB ports on horizontal surfaces right next to cupholders seems perilous. Still, the industry can improve, and cupholders are one of the few relatively cheap things that can really change a customer’s life for the better.
Top graphic image: Thomas Hundal
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My daughters have these handled water bombs and sure they are convenient even though I, as a 57 y/o male never carried water around their age… anyway her Stanley fits perfects in all of our cup holders. My 7 y/o has an Owala and it’s an awesome design, except it’s fits is NO CUPHOLDER ANYWHERE! and Laura on the seat to leak because she never closes the top. Errr.
When we first sat in the front seat of our Odyssey in 2014, we found out the front two cupholder (only) would accommodate 32oz Nalgene bottles. That almost sealed the deal.
“Cupholder count” is the butt of a lot of jokes, but in reality most of them are using otherwise meaningless space like door map pockets, armrests, etc.
I see the proliferation of cupholder as a net positive because they’ve forced designers to make good use of the space. Don’t want a cup there? Fine! Mobile phone, trash receptacle, receipts, you name it. I am 100% in favor of practical storage solutions…especially after most of my driving life resorting to really ghetto solutions for everything I needed.
Addendum: F*ck your trendy “bottle of the week.” Nobody should have to kowtow to nonstandard designs. At least most of them taper the base for this reason.
Luckily we have Zack testing the cup holders with his “Big Friggin Bottle” test.
Shooting Cars – YouTube
The point of a cupholder is to securely hold drinks with meh lids. An insulated stainless tumbler should have a very durable spill proof lid.
Take your oversized pacifiers and sit in the back seat with the rest of the babies.
“Won’t someone please think of the dehydrated children!!”
I remember reading years ago in one of the car mags, a column on cupholders, and it quoted an engineer for a German automaker, who complained that its customers didn’t drink in their cars while driving, so why bother with designing cupholders for their products? Another part of the same column noted that another European automaker would make side trips to convenience stores while in the U.S. just to get the “latest and greatest” cups on the market.
I think it was Dr. Z who once quipped, “Zis car iz not for picnics.”
Maybe it’s just me, but I never understood the cupholders with the cutouts for a coffee mug handle. I don’t see them so much anymore, but did that many people drive around with a mug of hot coffee?
Rented a zero miles Mazda cx70 a couple of weeks back and hit the almost too small cup holder problem. Really liked the car although the transmission at times appeared to get into arguments with itself about which gear it should use.
Sigh. There was once a vigorous discussion on the 944 boards and general agreement that a roll of duck tape was a more than acceptable cup holder. And now this.
Don’t forget the Honda Cupholder – that perfect slice of space between the driver’s seat and the center console where the parking brake is located.
I actually think it would be well suited for the more modern cups.
My mk1 Legacy, too. It had fold out cupholders, but they deployed above the stereo (aftermarket, but same location as OEM), held a 12oz can loosely, but not big enough for much else (maybe fast food cardboard drinks, but I was never one for those), but the space between seat and brake held a good range of stuff.
For my ‘88 300TE you had to buy the compulsory seat gap cupholder in your choice of blue, gray, or black faux leatherette.
Honestly, kinda cool my FJ doesn’t have this problem. There are rubber inserts in the cupholders for cans and smaller bottles, and you can pop those right out and there’s a big space for these big containers. Excellent foresight, 2007 FJ Cruiser designers!
My otherwise completely (wonderfully) dated ’02 Mustang has the same setup. A weird little bit of forward thinking on an otherwise backward looking car.
I use a 30oz Yeti Tumbler and a 20oz Yeti Tumbler on the regular. I also drive German cars. I have not had issues in particular that I couldn’t live with. The 30oz has a narrowed bottom to fit in most cupholders – and it perfectly fits in my 2011 Cayenne’s door pocket – where I keep it most of the time. The 20oz are a non-issue and I use those for coffee. The real issue is the big boi being too tall, but I chalk that up to me wanting a big ass cup of water rather than the car being flawed. I keep that one out of the normal cup holders in the Cayenne because it does hit my elbow when I try to use the transmission lever.
My previous car – a 2018 Audi A4 allroad – had some pretty decent cupholders provided the actual cup wasn’t too tall. In the case of my Yeti 30oz, it would block a good bit of the HVAC controls and only fit on the left side of the pair of cupholders. It also required a certain finesse to get the cup in and out without bashing the trim. I figured it out, but damn if my wife used her Stanley in there it would block 100% of the controls.
You know what is cheaper than getting a new car because the cupholders suck? Getting a new cup that fits the cup holders.
Just give us adjustable inserts for different size cups and bottle without charging us a subscription to use them.
I hate those big Stanley cups. my wife insists on taking it even for a 5 min drive to the store. she never drinks out of it during this time and forgets about it when leaving the car. but I get the stink eye if I even suggest going without it.
I feel the same about the 30oz Yeti monstrosities. Why do we need this for a 30 min drive to a friend’s house?
I have a 20oz Yeti and it is perfect in most every way. Could you not use one of these just for the car?!?
Apparently the answer is no.
It wasn’t a Stanley, but one of my exes used to carry a massive thermos thing everywhere and, big surprise, she was constantly having to find a restroom, then she’d give me shit for “not being hydrated enough” because I didn’t follow the same routine.
This is the only Stanley Cup that matters:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stanley_Cup,_2015.jpg
My wife has one that is like a 128-ouncer or something. It is 8 inches across at the base. I call it “Fat Man…”
I would prefer a return to the German standard of the ’80s – don’t drink in the damned car.
Last I checked, water was essential to human life, and generally doesn’t stain.
Edit: sorry, that came off assholish. I just mean, even for things like water?
The world has finally realized that we spent hundreds of years semi-dehydrated, and now we realize the error.
Failing to put good cupholders in a car might as well be like including some brass knuckles with a sign saying “In case you wife gets mouthy” 🙂
All I’m saying is times change. It’s not about Fat Americans, it’s about basic health.
Before I got a new car I would have told you you were wrong.
After I got a new car I’m hesitant to carry any drink with a not so secure lid, like most to go cups.
That being said I think a tumbler is fine, and said tumbler should come with a durable spill proof lid, mostly negating the need for a cup holder for it in the first place.
Yep. My Porsche has this wonderfully Bauhaus-ian view that cars are for driving, and should you wish to be refreshed, you could use it to go some place that specializes in that.
Absolutely! Save that for the bierhaus!