Usefulness of cup holders

[barrysharp]

If you vote Yes -- But not for cups please indicate what you use them for.

Maybe candy holders for the kids, doggy biscuits for the pets, placeholder for glasses, coins, circular cup diameter tissue box (that would be cool if they made them http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif ), etc.

[budrichard]

Used to hold cans. -Dick

[ifnt420]

most of the time it holds my cell phone, it only serves as intended when I go thru Mac D's drive-thru.  http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[littlewaywelt]

The in-dash cup holder is a great idea.  It's too bad that whatever the spring mechanism that holds the clamps together is made from tissue paper.  I went through three replacements at the dealer in the first two years before I finally gave up and decided to live with it in a non-ratcheting mode.  In non ratchet mode it only works for big cups or regular cups on the highway where straight driving won't cause the cup to fall or spill.

Anyone else find this cupholder to be poorly made?

All the above said, I still prefer it to a cubby.  There is definately enough storage space in the 70.

[slender]

Same as budrichard - cans and 500ml bottles. Very useful.

[Hiro's XC]

The dealers are making the cupholder no longer available very soon. With people going through 3-4 of them and the 45 minutes it takes for the shop to pull the radio to fix/replace it. They will however put in the bin for holding stuff free of charge. Or you can fix it yourself as I have done 2 times now. Just don't disconnect the climate control wires without disconnecting the battery first. You will trip the air bag warning light. That makes for a trip to the dealer and a $35 connection to the Vadis system to reset it.

jason

[littlewaywelt]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Hiro&#39;s XC @ April 22 2003,13:24)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Or you can fix it yourself as I have done 2 times now.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Do you have pictures or can you provided detailed diy instructions for ...well I&#39;m sort of an idiot when it comes to this kind of thing.

Have you replaced the holder twice or fixed it twice?

[purush]

I thought the in-dash cup-holder was an option. &nbsp;I didn&#39;t get it with my OSD purchase. &nbsp; &nbsp;If you guys can confirm that an in-dash cup-holder is standard then I will my dealer.

sincerely
Purush

[barrysharp]

In my XC70 MY2003 the in-dash cup holder wasn&#39;t avail by default and probably this decision was made because of the problems that Jason(Hiro&#39;s XC) cites.

Personally, I would prefer for the cup holders to be at least optional. My wife and I have not found them to be useful at all as we refrain from and really have no desire to eat or drink in our cars -- well maybe the odd sweetie or biscuit for the dogs http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif Just looking at their integrated design makes me think of the added cost of manufacture and increased usage of plastic material. They also harbour crud and I find them awkward to clean out. Give me clean surfaces and not ones with big pot holes in them. If I recall correctly, there&#39;s SIX pot holes in my XC70 -- two up front in center console, two in the armrest flap when opened and two in the top front surface of my integrated Thermal Cooler box.

In my S80 with one exception the cup holders are hidden removable frames and when removed provide useful cubby holes with flush lids -- a useful compromise. The one exception is a stupid spring loaded device that continually pops open at the slightest touch, obstructs my hand when handling the Geartronic stick and if one of my Fox Terriers ventures onto the center console between the front seats will always trigger the pop up lid and gets his/her foot stuck in it. It amazes me that it hasn&#39;t broken off by now.

I apologise if all this sounds so unAmerican and no doubt I&#39;ll get beatup over expressing my view. http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

The cup holder is a fad and will surely go the way of the fag lighter and ash tray -- and THEY ARE optional, right ?

[littlewaywelt]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (barrysharp @ April 22 2003,13:58)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I apologise if all this sounds so unAmerican and no doubt I&#39;ll get beatup over expressing my view. http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

The cup holder is a fad and will surely go the way of the fag lighter and ash tray -- and THEY ARE optional, right ?[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Ok, I&#39;ll step up to the plate. Barry, I believe that you have voiced positive comments about Peugeut. These comments combined with your statements above lend themselves to only one interpretation. You&#39;re French, aren&#39;t you. http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sly.gif I personally can&#39;t live without cup holders for my coffee which is as mandatory as gasoline for errands and roadtrips. It&#39;s not unusual for my wife and I to full all three front cupholders at the same time, though the two in the rear armrest have as of yet gone unused due to child seat obstruction of the armrest. Once the kids are in the booster seats in a few years, I have no doubt that the rear cup holders will come into play. &nbsp;Perhaps you can get the cupholders removed and have an integral safety hammer holder.
Optional? ...perhaps in France. http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[1Lieutenant]

Use the cup holders all the time&#33;

The one in the dash will hold a 1 liter bottle but the racheting mechanism is delicate. &nbsp;I have gone through 3 of them so far&#33; &nbsp;I asked the dealer if they would replace it with a cubby but would only do it if I paid to have it done. Amazing&#33;

When doing &#39;spirited&#39; driving, I never have a drink with me. (Who drives spiritedly in an XC) &nbsp;Otherwise I like to have my coffee or water on the commute.

Steve

[kersti]

Sorry Barry, I have to vote for the cups also. I need the cup of coffee in the morning to tolerate the hour drive to work. Will also be awfully nice on the long trips we plan to take in the new XC.

But I do appreciate that this will be my first car without ash trays and cig lighter, they were definitely useless.

Kersti

[Hiro's XC]

Can I provide the detailed instructions? Well....Maybe. Depends on if I sell the car before the satalite install. It&#39;s real hard to explain without photos. It is sort of difficult, as you feel you are going to break the parts off in the process of taking it apart. Give me a week or two.

Jason

[pico de luuks]

I only have the two cupholders in the centre console and they&#39;re fine. Personally no need for a third one and I like the storage space (will be the integrated phone once back in Europe). Like littlewaywelt no need for the rear ones yet, but since I have the 40/20/40 seats chances are the cooler (with two cupholders) will make it into my car http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/thumbs-up.gif

http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/pico.gif

[Gundo]

Cupholders are a here to stay frenchie&#33;

And ooh, they use so much extra plastic material as to be an environmental scourge?

This is crazy talk. &nbsp;Sounds like french to me

[mrb]

I&#39;m a &quot;coffeeholic&quot;-this is &quot;way up there with wooden steering wheel.

[xclogan]

OK I do have two put in my 2 cents worth here:

I do use the cupholders (the flimsy 1999 one in the front armrest). They are great for cans and the new large cups from Burger King and Jack-In-The-Box.

Now...the cigarette lighter is something that I can not live with out and wish I had 1 or 2 more of them. No I do not smoke, nor is smoking allowed in my car. But I do have a power inverter that plugs into the cigarette lighter which is connected to a power strip that allows household current for:

1-battery charger (AA)
2-electric cooler
3-laptop computer
4-PDA with integrated GPS
5-2 cell phone chargers (for 2 cell phones)

-ALL AT THE SAME TIME- &nbsp;This is my usual standard road-trip equipment.

I also have a 1 million watt handheld spot light that uses the current from the cigarette lighter as well

[littlewaywelt]

I also have a power inverter, though mine only makes its appearance for tailgating at Jimmy Buffett shows when it powers the blender. &nbsp;I have plenty of 12 volt outlets, up front, in the back of the center console and in the rear of the vehicle. &nbsp;I try to have most of my stuff (radar &amp; gps) wired directly into the fuse box, so the only thing that gets plugged in is the phone charger.

[mrb]

Did not know about no ashtrays or cigarette lighter--no ashtrays good--but no cigarette lighter--what do I need to order in a hurry to be able to plug in my cell phone? &nbsp;merv

[littlewaywelt]

There is a round hole for a cigarette lighter so you can plug devices like chargers in, but there is no actual cigarette lighter that would pop out to light your cigarette with. &nbsp;Does that make sense?

[mrb]

Fantastic---solves my worry about cell phone--good thing we have this forum and all this help---thanks once again--- http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif merv

[xcny]

My cupholders hold loose change for the meters, and my cellphone. Occasional soda cans or water bottles make there way into the cupholders as well. The in-dash cupholder was used last summer for Dunkin&#39; Donuts Coolatas which were pretty big. Thats when it broke. I think the Coolatas will come back this summer, hence the cupholder will break again. http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/unhappy.gif

On a different note, lots of my friends are amused by the in-dash cup holder. One of them said someone from NASA must have designed it. So the cup holder acts as entertainment as well sometimes.

[tkirwan]

We purchased the optional in-dash cupholder (merely ridiculous price) shortly after buying our 2002 xc last fall. It has broken already, and we have one on order for replacement. It sounds like this will be a feature http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif &nbsp;of that option. We use the in-dash and front console cupholders often. They seem to work well, with the exception noted above.

[Big]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (xclogan @ April 22 2003,20:50)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I do use the cupholders (the flimsy 1999 one in the front armrest). They are great for cans and the new large cups from Burger King and Jack-In-The-Box.

Now...the cigarette lighter is something that I can not live with out and wish I had 1 or 2 more of them.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
The perpetual cupholder topic&#33; Volvo put some thought into the XC90 cupholders--not saying they were successful--but the ones on the older XC simply suck. The XC70 ones don&#39;t look much better.

The cupholders are shallow and flimsy, to the point that I consider them a minor safety hazard. We take long trips and need lots of water &amp; coffee. None of the cupholders in the front or back will support a pint or more of beverage without risk of tipping. We dump something nearly every trip; if lucky, it&#39;s only water.

It&#39;s time for Volvo to rethink the power grid, too. With a GPS receiver and radar detector, we use up the available power outlets and are constantly misplacing those silly plug covers. At times we want to plug in a phone or laptop computer but that means unplugging something else.

[littlewaywelt]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Big @ April 24 2003,12:51)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">It&#39;s time for Volvo to rethink the power grid, too. With a GPS receiver and radar detector, we use up the available power outlets and are constantly misplacing those silly plug covers. At times we want to plug in a phone or laptop computer but that means unplugging something else.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Have you considered one of the many aftermarket power doubler y thingies? &nbsp;You can purchase an extra power cord for your radar detector so you have one for another vehicle and have one wired directly into your fusebox? &nbsp;This option frees you from wires hanging all over the dash and in general makes for a cleaner vehicle.

[wiz]

http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Low Tide]

Look- The RDS on the HU-803 works&#33; &nbsp;Great photo Wiz. &nbsp;No Ketchup?

[barrysharp]

Great pic wiz http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif &nbsp;...and shame on you as you&#39;ve not got the ACC in &quot;AUTO&quot; mode http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

Now when that gadget breaks off do you shove those chips into the cubby hole that remains.

Thanks for the fun posting. &nbsp;http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[mrb]

Thanks for the picture--I now see what Littlewaywelt meant about where the cell phone plugs in http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/happy.gif

[Big]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (littlewaywelt @ April 24 2003,10:50)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Have you considered one of the many aftermarket power doubler y thingies? You can purchase an extra power cord for your radar detector so you have one for another vehicle and have one wired directly into your fusebox? This option frees you from wires hanging all over the dash and in general makes for a cleaner vehicle.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Yes, a Y-adaptor would work but it&#39;s another item to fuss with and have to store when not in use. Tapping into the fuse box is another option but I don&#39;t like messing around with the wiring. With so many electronic gadgets around it seems that a premium auto designer would provide power options. There are 17 cupholders in the newest Volvo, so how about several power outlets up front?

[xclogan]

I am very happy with the lighter plug-in power inverter. You can get a 400 watt one for uner &#036;50 now, and with a power strip plugged into it. You can power all your accessories.

Here you see the XM reciever in the lower left and the PDA/GPS in the upper right. The XM uses the front power socket. The inverter is under the passenger seat with the power strip and battery charger. The cell phone charger lines run up between the front seats and are loose and ready for connecting when needed.

Sorry... I forgot to rotate it before I uploaded&#33;&#33;&#33;

http://www.xc70.com/pics/displayimage.php?album=2&amp;pid=852 (http://www.xc70.com/pics/displayimage.php?album=2&pid=852)

[Tedmom]

Did I get ripped off?? I only have an odd shaped empty space to the left of my radio console and no cup (or french fry) holder there. I usually use that space to store my sunglasses. I do have two cup holders in the center console that I find to be somewhat inconvenient as it is difficult to reinsert a cupful of hot java into that spot while on the road. However, the worst part of the cupholder configuration in my 2003 XC, in my humble opinion, is the fact that the center armrest must be sacrificed to become rear seat cupholders for the kids and then I have no place upon which to rest my weary right elbow http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blush.gif

[barrysharp]

My MY2003 XC70 does not have the dash cup holder (thank goodness). I&#39;d like to see that hole have a slider door as is provided on the S80 model. I like to have things out of sight http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[wiz]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tedmom @ May 02 2003,17:18)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Did I get ripped off??[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Absolutely not. We have never used the dash cup holder since we got the car, even though it was one of the few things my wife knew about the car before the purchase. I much prefer the center console cup holders that you don&#39;t like. http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[littlewaywelt]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tedmom @ May 02 2003,22:18)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">the center armrest must be sacrificed to become rear seat cupholders for the kids and then I have no place upon which to rest my weary right elbow http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blush.gif[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Don&#39;t you have cup holders in the rear seat armrest?

[Tedmom]

I have to profess my ignorance here. I was not aware that there is a rear center armrest in our 2003 XC. http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blush.gif I&#39;ll have to check it out. That would be great if there was a cupholder back there for the kiddos instead of the flip over one in the center armrest.

[wiz]

Tedmom I&#39;m sure you don&#39;t have it. littlewaywelt&#39;s car is a MY2001 with 60/40 back seats, and I believe that arrangement has a center armrest. You have a MY2003 with 40/20/40 rear seat type with no center armrest.

[littlewaywelt]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tedmom @ May 08 2003,12:26)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I have to profess my ignorance here. I was not aware that there is a rear center armrest in our 2003 XC. http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blush.gif I&#39;ll have to check it out. That would be great if there was a cupholder back there for the kiddos instead of the flip over one in the center armrest.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Do you have the 40-20-40 layout? &nbsp;If so, there might not be a rear center armrest and subsequent cup holder. &nbsp;Ihave the 60-40 rear seat.

[lavrgs]

When there is only room for a yes vote it appears that 100% of the voters vote yes - what;s the point?

[ksmif]

When there are 3 cup holders in the front and 1 large bottle holder for the back seat... its less than ideal for a family taking a long trip. The "flip-over" cup holder from the console to the back seat area is not available as an aftermarket addition (so I am told by my dealer). The other option is to install a drink cooler that has the cup holders on top, however that option removes a seat. I know there is the table option as well, but this seems less stable... I could be wrong though.

Why have a poll with only one question?

ksmif
2001 v70 x-c

[RedXC]

I use mine to hold the mobile phone, sometimes a bottle of water or drink! Mostly is just empty.

[solentlife]

The dash cupholder is too big IMHO and anything put in it slops ... So only used to hold my odd Hot Dog !!

The centre console bit with 2 cupholders is good except that one has wifes Ashtray "pot" in it ... nicked from a Renault with same arrangement. Luckily no Renault logo .. so matches our car ok.

The cupholder bit reminds of a question ... my previous S70 had ashtrays - but no ciggy lighters - only plastic dummys.
This XC has ciggy lighters but no ashtrays .... Are the Swedish playing a sort of strange joke ??

[water2xu]

yes, it's good for me to locate my GPS

[Mink]

Tedmom I'm sure you don't have it. *littlewaywelt's car is a MY2001 with 60/40 back seats, and I believe that arrangement has a center armrest. *You have a MY2003 with 40/20/40 rear seat type with no center armrest.

Although, if your car is like mine, you can detach the middle part of your 40/20/40 seat (use the handle on the back, lift it up), twist it around and re-attach it so that the "hard" side is facing forward, then tip it forward so the padded side makes a nice wide central armrest. No cupholders, though.