OK, now I try not to start any stupid threads and I know I should search if this has been said and I'll try not to get political but I am mad as hell.

I talked to my MA and he said that my MINI (currently at sea on the Resolve) will be delivered with that STUPID, typical American, absolutely anti-MINI, uglier than a hedge fence, in the friggen way, cheap ***, POS, super-size, Big-Gulp, cup holder.

Now, he says it’s easy to remove, but the thought of driving home (12 miles) looking at that…. It’s driving me crazy and, at this point, it really not a drive but rather a putt.

Am I alone here? I am buying a MINI because I don’t think I am a typical American. Yet that THING screams out excessiveness.

It’s the SUV of cup holders.

….PANT….PANT….PANT….

Elizabeth,,,,,,, I’m coming to join you……..

Moan……………….

Ok, calm down……………

Relax.........

I’m feeling better now….. really.:smile:

 

I like my cupholder, thank you very much. It was designed and made in Germany and looks better integrated than the old MINIFINI one.

If you don't like your "amerikan" cupholder, bring a Torx screwdriver and problem solved.

 

Your dealer can't remove the cupholder for you?

 

My MCS is for driving only. Being my only car that is all I use it for. Whether it’s daily driving, auto-x, track racing or trips to far away places as the Dragon to do all of the mentioned at one time.

A small bottle of water in the one small cup holder behind the two seats for a long trip is the only thing I may ever have in my MINI.

Cup holders… Cup holders… We don’t need no stink’n cup holders.

 

I have on 05 with the cup holder and thought it was kinda ugly when I first got the car. But since have changed my opinion. It holds various size drinks well and keeps them put when moving through the turns at a fast clip. Inaddition to holding drinks it hold my Ipod and Blackberry. Like the other posters said if you don't like it it removes in less than five minutes with a torx, I'm sure the dealer would do it for you

 

I'm right there with you old man. Not only do I hate this afterthought of a contraption, but if I had my druthers, it would be flung over the side of the Verrazano, like so many cement shoe toting mafioso before it.


However, my wife likes it, so what can you do? WHAT CAN YOU DO???

 

In case you forgot, the MINI is a quirky, flukie, sorta wierd, very novel, and completely spell-binding car.

Think of the cup holder as Cindy Crawford's beauty mole. If she didn't have that mole, she would be just one super-hot chick lost in an endless sea of super hot chicks, and if you saw her on the beach with 100 other hotties, you wouldn't be able to tell her apart.

But, you always remember her because of, and associate her with, her beauty mark.

Sure, the MINI Cooper could have been designed anesthetically "proper" with perfect symetry, balance, and everything just as it is 'supposed' to be, nothing 'unexpected' or 'out of place,' and everything well, pretty much SAFE and BORING. But wouldn't that be...BORING?

In an otherwise perfect cockpit...there's the cup holder! It's the beauty mark! It's the one bewitching, perplexing, vexing, fascinating thing, that makes you wrestle back & forth...you KNOW you can take it off in a second...BUT! the car wouldn't be the same somehow without it...too 'plain', too 'safe', too much what your eyes 'expect' to see.

Then on top of it all, it is ABSOLUTELY fantastic in its function! It truly is designed well--can only fit one car in the universe, swivels, has a quality chrome finish, rubber caps and coating, 'fingers' to hold your stuff steady, and does a great job as a cup holder!

I don't care who considers it 'indulgent,' but having a drink in the car no way compromises the 'driving' experience.

Go ahead and take off your cup holder. You will probably love the perfect symetry of your dash layout, and everything will be just like you expect it to be.

Oh, and if you ever marry Cindy Crawford, ask her to get that mole looked at...

 

I would try decaf

 

Put me down as anti-cupholder. Don't need it, don't want it. It's ugly and my car is not! Now... my MINI is an '02 and is pre-add-on-cup-holder, so I learned to function in my car without it.

I am certain that any dealership worth its weight in window stickers would agree to remove the cup holder before you see the car. Just show them this thread.

 

and if you would back away from the coffee cup and calm down a bit(typical over stated US reaction by the way) and did some research you'd find you can remove that cup holder by removing just a couple of screws. It should take less than a minute to do.

While I do love my country these knee jerk reactions by a lot of folks over here is really getting way outta control.

 

That's hilarious!!! My cup holder has lasted three days now. I find that when I swing it left to open the glove box, it hits the climate controls and throws the fan into high... My MA told me that no new holes were created in the installation of the "beauty mole" cup holder, so removing it won't leave a scar...

Jim D.

 

The car has a cup holder?

 

Best answer I have ever got.

I am not exactly a Cindy Crawford fan, but I get the point.

 

I took delivery of my new '05 on March 1st. I removed the cupholder right there at the dealership, before driving the car even a single foot.

Blech. Anything to discourage food & drink in the car, which will inevitably end up on my seats and my floor.

 

I thought the cup holder was a $50 accessory. I must have built my mini (I don't yet own one) over 50 times. I could swear it was an accessory.

 

I got my car in Dec. 03. The dealer threw in a MINI-FINI style cupholder for free. I took it off first day home. But I kept it, along with a stubby phillips head screwdriver, in the left bin in the boot. On a road trip with one of the boys I would install it for his drink. On the rare occasions when I'm not Motoring but just running to the mall and have a cup'o joe, it goes into the rear holder.
Recently I bought a new style holder strictly to hold my Zen Nomad mp3 player. I only have had it installed for a couple of days, still trying to figure out if I like it or not.
So take a Torx ( I think 20) with you to the dealer. Take out the cupholder. Sell it here or on eBay. I am surprised you don't have offers already.
Enjoy yours!

 

I have an 02 S. Didn't come with a cup holder, and I found that it was a pain for daily driving. I got one of the aftermarkets, that clamp onto the down tube. It's OK. Drinks in it block the toggle switches, which is a pain. But it swings around, so that's kind of nice. I then went to one of the cup holders I bought here, from someone who didn't want thiers, and it's not perfect either. I keep hitting it when I go to the radio every now and then. But it holds a larger range of containers, and does work. The clamp on is less usefull and less intrusive. It's held with one screw. The new one with two. I don't remove them for the track, just take everything out of the car that could rattle around!

To each his (or her) own. If you don't llike it, just take it out and get $25+ here when you sell it. No harm, no foul!

Matt

 

While I do not eat in my car, I do go bring food back to the office for lunch, and am happy to have the big, sturdy cupholder for that reason. My husband laughs at it, though, and curses it everytime he gets in the car. Being 6'5, he needs evry bit of legroom he can get.

And yes, i keep swinging it one way to open the glove box...then the other to get to the climate controls...then back again when I need something in the glove box...then the other way when the car is getting too warm...hey, wait...I HATE THAT DARN CUP HOLDER TOO! Someone get me a screwdriver...


Carol

 

What controversy! One thing you have to say about it, though: You won't see another like it on the market. I'm kinda on the fence about it myself. When I'm out driving, I like to take a liter bottle of water. The other day, I had a scare because I had to hit that brakes kinda hard. The full bottle of water was lying on the center console and it shot forward toward the accelorater. It actually got stuck, and I couldn't operate the pedals! The only thing I could do was coast of the road in neutral and use the hand brake to stop me. So, I don't know, I might just get it.

 

You know I hated it upon seeing it at the car show and thought that I'd remove it when I got my car asap. Well, I've had the car nearly a month and it's still there! The instances where it has been useful have left me apathetic about actually removing it now - when you have passengers sometimes they have a beverage and, as I found with my 3 series that had no cupholders, you can't stop them without being a total jerk just because there is no place to put it. I don't make a habit of drinking or eating in my car, but even I found it useful to carry something I picked up on my way home that wouldn't work in any of the other cupholders.

I don't find it in the way since I mostly use the steering wheel for radio controls, and it does go with the anthracite dash with chromline.... well, we'll see what happens

 

I asked my MA to remove the cupholder before I drove out of the showroom. The car looks so much better without it (well, in my opinion). Not really worth getting upset over. My car had two small dents in the passenger door when I picked it up....now that's worth getting a little upset over. But I didn't and my MA was great and had it fixed in a couple weeks. :smile:

 

Personally, I agree with you as that really is a huge cupholder but I have no doubt that the dealer will remove the cupholder during his preparation for delivery if you ask. I do recall reading, however, that the torx screws used to secure the cupholder are a bit longer than the "stock" ones so I would contact the parts department in advance and make sure that they'll have two of the "correct" length screws in stock for you. Even if you have to pay for those, they can't be more than a few bucks and it'll be worth it for piece of mind.

Congrats - and enjoy your new car!

 

Point #1: We really need to give TheOldMan some latitude here because he is clearly suffering from "the fever" and most of us know what that's like. Symptoms usually manifest themselves around cup holders or # of toggle switches or something like that. Seems to clear up once actual motoring has commenced, so no cause for alarm. Which brings me to...

Point #2: Sounds like the cup holder may be worth giving a chance and that some, even in the anti-cupholder crowd, have indeed been won over. Perhaps it grows on you. Something worth considering, imo.

Point #3: I would imagine if the cup holder truly offends, it can be easily removed before you motor even one inch. Definitely a good option for those with true loathing for the item.

Point #4: The Cindy Crawford analogy was simply brilliant. It definitely opened me to a whole new appreciation of the lowly cupholder. In fact, I don't think I'll ever look at a cup holder in quite the same way ever again...which is slightly disturbing now that I think of it. Anyway, extremely well done, Tarzan!!! Bravo!!!!

Point #5: (j/k, not a point really) I don't eat or drink in my MINI so I use none of the cup holders. Never have, never will....I'm definitely in that crowd myself.

Cheers!!

 

Ok, relax, calm down. Remove your cup holder, if you have to drive the car 12 miles with your cupholder in it's not a big deal... Over the next several years your going to put what 40... 50 THOUSAND miles on the car... 12 miles won't kill you.



Then box the cupholder up and ship it to me, you can PM me for the address...

Much ado about nothing...

 

Much ado about nothing!??? Nothing!??? Well... I'm gonna de-badge my car 'cause I hate those cupholders!!!!