I've used these BMW cupholders ( available on Ebay) in another vehicle I own (SSR), and thought they might work in the XK8. Here's a mockup of how two might look. You could use just one if you like. They should be easy to attach, although it will put a couple of holes in the side of the console ( unless I come up with another solution!). The cupholders can be pulled out of their clips by just pulling up. A little chrome covers snaps into place over the opening. The bracket and cover could be painted the same color as the interior, although there are other parts that are already black on the console.

Let me know what you think. If there is interest, I will do a complete DIY with more pictures.



With cupholders snapped out of their holders.

Here's what it looks like in my SSR. Been installed now for a couple of years.

 

The obsession about cup holders fascinates me. Yes , I admit that the ones in the X100s are not great but does it really matter that much ? I guess I'm just an old fart but I cannot remember the last time I drank a beverage in a vehicle while driving

 

I can. Every day when I head home from the gym I stick my water bottle in between the door and the driver's seat. If that day I happened to take my post workout shaker bottle with protein shake, I better drink that before I leave the gym because that will not survive a trip home with those cup holders.

 

Gents (and Ladies),

I think it would be fair to say that the X100 cup holders in the central arm rest is a known design weakness of the car. It's overly complicated and breaks easily esp. annoying if it's stuck in the open position as you can't use the arm rest. It doesn't even hold a drink as I found a cup flies out when you take a corner. Don't accelerate too hard, otherwise your drink ends up in the rear seat.

Then there's the bad design choice of its position. If you have a drink in it, you can't use the gear stick ie try reversing/maneuvering in a car park when there's a hot coffee in the cup holder.

I've seen some fab fixes here on the forum with after market mechanisms, with differing levels of complexity/beauty. One even used a old road sign with holes drilled in it, jammed under the Nav/3 gauge fascia and the Climate Control console. None of them remodeled the old unit. Some just binned it and made it back to a 100% arm rest.

I went with a off the shelf petrol station forecourt cheap thing, which I pop in/out when needed. But doesn't really work if I have a passenger who is on the larger scale.




Darbysan's proposed design is a lovely more elegant solution and allows a choice of one or two cups as required.

 

Must be nice to have that much room lol 😁! I'd never fit in with cup holders on the side like that. Smh. Doesn't look bad though, for those of normal proportions! Lol 😁

 

Didn't mean for this to be a debate about the virtues of a cupholder. Just trying to come up with a better design for those that feel the need, and looking for any thoughts on how I should change my approach, if any.

Here in the desert we never leave the house without a bottle of water or a drink of some kind. 110+ OAT and 5% humidity can dry you out in a hurry. Don't want to be waiting for AAA at the side of the road for an hour in this heat without fluid

As for room, I'm 6', 220. When I sit in the passenger seat, the "new" cupholders are just slightly above my thigh, so no real interference. My wife likes to use one of those huge starbucks drink cups ( 32oz), and these hold those with no issue.

 

That's good info that you fit next to them. Thanks for posting the idea.

John

 

My centre arm rest cup holder works fine but never needed to use it,definitely no drinking, smoking or eating in my jag,as for anything else well just use your imagination 😉😊after all the looks of the xk8 xkrs are a puller and I don't mean for toeing bmws😂

 

I'm 6'6ish and 355 lol 😁. I have a little less room lol 😁

 

Last month I sold my Chevy SSR to a guy that was 6'3", 300. When he showed up to drive it home, he couldn't fit in it. Had to cancel the sale

 

Yeah the wife and I drove 3hrs to "look" at my xk8. She asked if I was going to get rid of my XJS if I got it, to which I told her that I didn't even know if I'd be able to get in it. I also said that I hadn't even gotten to drive my XJS since I was working on it. I said "who knows. I may not be able to drive it either". Like I've said before "I have no false pretenses that I look anything but awkward getting in and out, but I sure feel good when I'm inside". Not many vehicles that are "really" intended for a guy my size.

 

It's certainly easier than the Fiero I had before. That was a challenge!

 

POs of my XK8 coupe must have attempted to use the (now broken) factory cupholders for coffee or perhaps Coke as there is a big permanent stain on the carpet, down the passenger side of the console, where the driver's elbow must have knocked the drink kaflooey. After my purchase, I quickly realized that there is no room for my elbow to operate in turns with any drink in one of the holders. I immediately nixed all drinks in the car except small water bottles and found that those for unobtrusively and handily tucked behind the seatbelts buckles, against the console.

I might eventually redo the cubby box cover, eliminating the cupholders, DB7 style.

 

If you remove your seats, you can clean your carpets very effectively. The first repair I did on my wife's 2006 XK8 after purchasing it in February 2012 was the headrest motor cable repair. While I had the seats out for the repair, I vacuumed the carpets thoroughly and then scrubbed them down with a commercial-grade carpet cleaner foam and some hot water. The previous owner had also spilled coffee down the gap between the drivers seat and the console. The only way to effectively clean the residual stains was to remove the seats. I remember finding a $20 bill, some coins, and some Beverly Hills parking receipts and Rodeo Drive shopping receipts under the seats as well (the car was originally sold by Hornburg Jaguar in Santa Monica, CA)....

 

When I removed the seats to fix broken seat diaphragm was a coffee stained condom wrapper.....

 

^^ Uh oh, I hope you broke out the industrial-strength germicide and rubber gloves....