Cupholders

You wouldn't think that cupholders would be a great source of controversy, but in the BMW world they have been for years. Long after American auto makers were putting useful cupholders in cars, BMW either omitted them, or made them so inconvenient to use that you might as well not have them. Legend has it that when asked, BMW engineers would disdainfully say things like, "You Americans and your beverages. Don't drink - drive!"

Even as late as 2005, BMW was still making cupholders that held only small cups, and somehow managed to work poorly while still being masterpieces of German over-engineering. The left photo below shows the driver's side cupholder in the Z4 in the closed position, and the right photo when open:

Hard to tell from a photo, but the bottom piece that holds the cup is spring loaded, and folds down when you put the cup in. And... if it's a Styrofoam cup with just a little left, hitting a bump will trigger the spring, and send the cup with its remaining contents flying into your lap. Just amazing.

They are fragile too - look at the difference between the driver's and passenger's cupholders in my car - it was that way when I bought it:

That little curved arm that's missing on the right is actually more over-engineering - it has several ratcheting stops to allow you to hold the cup tightly. My guess is if you push on the holder as if to close it while there's still a cup in it, the arm breaks right off.

So, I went looking for another solution, and found the aptly-named Ultimate Cupholders website. They make a very clever design out of spring steel, that fits close to the floor under your knee. I ordered a pair, and when they arrived I found them to be of very high quality:

Easy to install, too - the springy top arm just slips under the edge of the console. It holds tightly enough that I find them to be very secure. A great solution - they hold soda cans, drive-thru cups and even cups with handles.

But I was still bugged by that broken cupholder on the passenger side, so I looked it up in the parts system, and found it to be $49. Hmmm. I tried eBay looking for a used one, but only found new, most priced over $50. However, there was one place on eBay that had it a good bit cheaper - $41. I opened the auction, and found that they were here in Lancaster! I emailed, and sure enough, it was Faulkner BMW, but with a big difference. Turns out they have an online parts business that sells at close to 20% off. 

You can only get that price by doing the research yourself, ordering online, and specifying a pickup (or, of course, having it shipped, since Faulkner is shipping worldwide through this business). If you go to the parts window to buy, even if you already know the part number (which I typically do) you pay full price.

Even better, they have a website that avoids the eBay fees, and is therefore even a bit cheaper than the eBay prices. Check it out at http://bmwpartssource.com.

I bought the part, and it was available for pickup the same day. It was an easy fix. You have to remove the air vent and cupholder as a unit.  Only two screws (one under a little cap you have to pry off). Here's the new one sitting next to the old assembly on the bench:

One more screw on the bottom, and then here's the trick: you have to latch the cupholder closed to get the old one out and the new one in. Then.... TA-DA!

This has to be BMW cupholder Nirvana - a two-seat car with four cupholders!