My car doesn't have cupholders and I got sick of being paranoid when carrying coffees home. But people seem to be pretty rude about the effectiveness and robustness of the factory cupholders, plus it's a drama getting a used console lid in from overseas. So I designed my own one in CAD and had it rapid prototyped at Shapeways. See the attached pictures: it sits in the armrest pocket, replacing the phone, and screws in place through existing holes in the pocket molding. Works pretty well, and I'm pleased with the part quality - not as good as a production plastic part, but would pass for one at a casual glance. Its designed to take 2 12oz cups.

If anyone else wants one I've made the file available for order from Shapeways here. Pricey at $170 (in "black strong and flexible" material, aka dyed nylon), but cheaper than it probably would have been if I'd been able to buy one from jag! No margin for me in that, by the way, that's just what rapid prototyping costs...

 

Hello Dave,
Full marks for ingenuity ;o)
And looks quite effective.
Even though I don't particularly like them...
I ban all food and drink from my car ;o))

 

You made an awesome design, and it's a great idea, but what happens when you hit the brakes and the lid slams closed?

I LOVE 3D printing!

 

I had a gripe with a BS factory cupholder too. So I purchased the armrest from England without it. There is ABSOLUTELY NO EATING/DRINKING/SMOKING in my car. No exceptions. My car - my rules. Wife has X308 too, and she has the same rules. We have W220 AMG as a family car, and the rules appy too. The kid drives the Jeep, and she does whatever she wants in it (and I don't even look at it!!).

This "invention" looks OK, but I agree with the previous comment,....what happens when the lid slams down on the drinks? There are restaurants, caffes, and dinning rooms for eating/drinking,.....my car is for DRIVING,..... fast, comfortable, and smelling like a Jag (not McDonalds, Starbucks, or ashtray).

 

Speaking for my own use, I thought of that but I don't care: this isn't so I can drink in the car (I don't believe in that either) , it's so I can carry a cup home from the cafe or drivethru. I'll just close the lid on top of the cup.

For anyone who wanted to use it for drinking though, it'd be easy enough to file a notch in the lower edge of the lid stay so it would latch open.

 

That's true, and another great idea.

 

Clever invention, nice design acknowledged. But $170! To bring coffee back home? Cold!

Use a flask and keep it hot. They even lie on their sides. And can be reused outside the vehicle.

Or better still, make your own at home. Save the $170 and the premium cost of the drinks and buy a new Jag in 3 years....

 

Thus speaks someone from a non-espresso culture:-). Ask the barista of any decent cafe (by which I don't mean Starbucks) to stick 2 cappuccinos in a flask for you and see how they react!

However the more important issue here is that the wife loves her latte, and bringing the odd one home earns me plenty of marital-peace credits. And as a man whose hobbies involve an old English luxobarge and an even older racecar, I need all the marital-peace credits I can get. $170s a trivial investment in this context....

 

Both the cupholders and the ashtrays in the X308 are a travesty. Not in the fact that they exist, but that they seem to be afterthoughts designed by someone who knows nothing about them. The cupholders are passable if used with care. All of the ashtrays are nothing but tokens. Completely unusable.

My rules:

1. beverages and light snacks are okay if I am also doing the same. dispose of containers at earliest opportunity.

2. passengers may not smoke unless I trust you to find the tiny little ashtray. in that circumstance, I will also refrain from smoking so as to avoid nicotine fits

3. unless rule #2 applies, I smoke whenever the mood hits, which is frequently

4. I refuse to preserve the carpets for the next owner, they are for me to enjoy. This is also the rationale behind all of the above.

ymmv.

 

Distraxi,

Spot on.... the closest I come is a packet mix of the stuff.

But you have hit the nail on the head.... a woman is influencing your decisions and as we all know, there is nothing we men can do about that if we want to keep one for those gaps between work and hobbies. $170 - yes very cheap investment in that context.

 

I like it! Light eating and drinking is fine in my car though. Absolutely no smoking.

I see you're in Auckland, NZ... By far, the best vacation I've taken was to NZ's North Island. There's a Swiss watch store downtown that was :drool:. I bought a Breitling Shadow Flyback. I ate at as many restaurants as I could and drank as much cold beer as possible. I drove to the tip of the North Island, then to the South of the North Island. The entire time, Kiwis told me I needed to stay another two weeks to visit the South Island. I have hundreds of pictures from that vacation. I highly recommend NZ as a vacation destination. It is a beautiful country.

 

I would LOVE to visit NZ.

 

Spent 2 weeks visiting both islands by train boat and car.
Beautiful place so much to see and most gracious people on earth.
Best B&B's , lots to see and do .
Try the lamb its the best

 

Yes, it's a great place to live and a great place to visit. Nothing here you can't see elsewhere, but we have all the good bits crammed into a small country: "Earth's Greatest Hits". Only down side is we're a very long way from anywhere. I travel a lot for work, and I can assure you 12 hours on a plane wears pretty thin after a while....

And mechelement, they were right. Auckland's nice enough, but if you're coming here you need to head south. The South Island's the big leagues when it comes to tourist destinations.