WRT tight cup holders, there is a solution (albeit elegance aside) --

 

The first time my wife got in the car she tried to put something in the cup holder and griped a little. She ended up pulling off the retaining ring and lifted out the rubber tab thing. I kinda looked at her and and "OK then". So we keep the rubber in the driver side and took it out of the passenger side. The no-rubber side is good for coffee and the rubber side is good for water bottles.

 

jw34,
Now that sounds like the best idea, one with for small things and one without for large things (and things with delicate cups. I'm just waiting for the day I rip open a styrofoam coffee cup trying to get it out.

So I guess, the rubber does not assist in holding the ring on, right?

 

Yup, only water allowed in my MINI and NO eating. (OK, except when it's just me and only when I am parked... and only when it's too cold to eat outside)

 

Yes. The ring has stayed on fine without the rubber. This has worked out really well having 2 choices.

 

i checked the catalog and could find no mention of an arm candy accessory. perhaps it is in the version 2.0 catalog?

if so, please let me know if arm candy 2.0 is compatible with wife 1.0.

also, please send pictures, in case they are NOT compatible.

 

ditto. they suck. and it's not exactly rocket science ...

 

Teh cup holder work great for skinny cans of Red Bull. Do NOT however put styrofoam cups of hot coffee in there. Those rubber things become teeth.

 

Thank you so much for the suggestion of just pulling on the rubber! I gently pulled on my passenger side cup holder rubber tabs and the rubber just pulled out. The ring above it didn't even come off. Cool!!!!

 

This seems simple enough, but I'm not finding "pulling off the retaining ring" to be particularly easy. I'm afraid to pull too hard for fear of what will break. Did yours come off easily?

 

First I tried pulling off the retaining ring with no luck. That's when I pulled on just the rubber tab. I gently pulled straight out like from one tab towards the other across the cup holder. Does that make sense? I pulled out a LOT easier than I expected.

 

Fantabulous! Done. Thanks.

 

Yeah that's what my wife did but for some reason our ring came off too. I put it back on and it stayed.

 

Yea mine did that too, it even would rip the bottom off of Styrofoam cups. It gets better the more you use the cup holder.

 

Too funny!

 

My daughter bought me a travel thermos from Crababu Coffee, which cost her $20 bucks of her allowance and the thing doesn't fit in my cupholder.

 

Been there, done that. Works like a charm, if you're into surgically sliced cups.

 

I tried the "Pull" method - really did not care if I tore it - just PULLED on the tab and they both came out no proble... No they both worked just fine...

 

I just pulled the rubber ring off with no problems. So one side, driver, is w/o the ring and left the other one in.

 

The rubber tabs in the cupholder that the ashtray has been sitting in are pretty well loose and seem to work pretty well. Maybe just put the ash tray in each of your cupholders for a few days to loosen them up?

As mentioned, they do come out with a tug, and it doesn't damage them in case you want to re-fit them.