Re: 2007 Cupholder Designs

> I was at the San Jose Auto Show yesterday, and one thing I looked at in

>> all the cars was the cup holder designs, and how they accompany different >> size cups. >> >> I had along a Contigo Extreme insulated mug for testing >>

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"), >> since any car I buy will have to be able to accompany a mug with this >> diameter base. My current 4Runner will work with it well, while my wife's >> older Camry (1996) has cup holders that are too small.>>

> Almost all new cars have larger cup holders than previous generations, >> there were only a few vehicles with tiny cup holders. >> >> Different designs >> >> Single size: You have to buy a cup that will fit properly and snugly. >> This may actually be the best design, least likely to ever break, though >> the single size cup holders are too large for holding a soda can or a >> smaller bottle of water securely. You could insert a foam insulator for >> use with smaller diameter containers. >> >> Laddered: a small circle at the bottom, so the cup stops when it's at the >> smallest circle that the base will fit in. This is fairly unstable since >> you don't get much side support at any of the levels, though you could >> add some foam to make it more secure. >> >> Rubber flaps: A large diameter cup holder with some flimsy rubber flaps >> that are intended to hold the smaller cups in place. These don't work >> well as the flaps are too flimsy to do much of anything. Once they fall >> off, you could add some foam. >> >> Swing arm: This type was in a Dodge RAM truck. It was big diameter cup >> holder with a strong plastic arm that swings over to match the cup >> diameter. Did not appear flimsy. A simple, straight-forward design, but >> you need to manually adjust the size. I liked this truck, which was a >> crew cab that seated six. When was the last time you saw a vehicle that >> seated three people in the front seat? >> >> Plastic flip: This was a spring loaded plastic flap that flips up or down >> to fit different cup diameters. It was very flimsy, and one of the two >> was already broken on the 2007 Camry that was on the show floor. The >> Camry may be a great car, but the engineers clearly missed the class on >> cup-holder design. >> >> Three spring loaded fingers: This was a good adjustable type. Three solid >> plastic fingers with springs behind them push against the base of the >> cup. These held the cup pretty securely, and appeared as if they wouldn't >> break easily. No manual adjustment was necessary. It took a little bit of >> a push to seat the cup into the cup holder, and a good pull to remove it. >> This type requires a larger console, since the spring -loaded fingers >> need to retract into the console. Only issue might be that eventually the >> springs will fatigue. >> >> Three foam fingers: These fingers were vinyl covered foam. The cup >> compresses these fingers as you slide it in. They worked fine, but they >> won't last, the vinyl will peel off after moderate use and exposure to >> the elements. The advantage to the manufacturer is that these fingers >> don't have to retract so a smaller console can be used. >> >> I didn't see any of the super-flimsy slide-out or pop-up cup-holders that >> tend to break very quickly. The only broken cup-holder I saw was in the >> 2007 Camry. >> >> Research shows that cup-holder design, while not a primary selection >> factor in a vehicle, often is a secondary and deciding factor in >> narrowing down the final choice of vehicle. > The cup holders in my car and pickup are used to hold cat food for the > dogs. I'm serious, the same cat food in the house that they don't touch, > they eat out of the cup holders like they were starving. They are small > dogs and love to ride.

DOGS should eat DOG food. Cats, CAT food. People like you shouldn't be on the road.

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sharx35
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