A serious discussion on cup holders.

[Crashsector]

OK everyone, for the second time in my automotive life I have a 1st gen Legacy as my DD. This car is great. Fun to drive, great on gas, but most of all, PAID FOR.

While I do love the car, there is one thing that is extremely frustrating about day-to-day life with it. Apparently cup holder size demands in 1993 were nothing like what they are today.

God forbid I wish to take any beverage aside from a 12 oz. can of soda with me to work. Every single travel mug I own is too big for these "cup holders." Aside from that, the previous owner of the car decided to locate the aftermarket stereo at the top most location in the DIN stack, making it completely inaccessible if I am in fact using the cup holder.

What have you done to adapt to the problem? I am thinking of adding one of those cheesy aftermarket cup holders somewhere on the passenger side of the center stack, but I wonder if anyone has taken a stab at this yet.

Discuss. I'm curious.

--Andy

[evolutionmovement]

I find the space between the hand brake and passenger seat hold 12-20 oz cans and bottles nicely in place without moving, better than the cup holders, even, as cans can bounce in them. I never get anything bigger than that, so I can't say. I'm sure you could build one that's bigger and fits in the stock location, but you'd be restricted to 1 drink up there. I don't think I'd want to trust it to something as large as those ridiculous Big Gulp 10 gal. buckets of sugar water they give you in those "value meals".

So, I'm looking at it now and it would be pretty easy to make one for a custom size or even incorporate an adjustable aftermarket unit, depending on the design. You could replicate it in aluminum or, being ABS plastic, you could plastic weld a new design out of it. As it stands, the right hole could easily be enlarged a little to accomodate a 20 oz bottle, like a Snapple for instance, as the size difference isn't that huge and the spring underneath wouldn't interfere (it has an offset cutout on it, so the left side hole wouldn't work as it would have some interference with that spring). In fact, I think I'll do that myself and maybe find an extra one to further play with (as if I have nothing else to do for the car).

As a note to the above: the pins that hold the fold-down bracket on the cup holders that support the bottom of the drinks on mine broke years ago and I replaced them with small set screws, which make it stiffer (necessitating that I pull it down manually—the horror!), so I no longer have that bracket attached to the center spring that is supposed to allow it to extend and retract. So, enlarging the hole might not work if you want to keep the use of that extension/retraction feature.

[cclark1894]

It could be possible to utilize a standard cupholder frame to fabricate a plate like insert to lay into the frame, using the plastic swing bar holes to secure it in place, with the desired size and number of holes. you could even do it up right and make it out of brushed aluminum or CF if you wanted to bling it out... I may attempt this after my next junkyard trip. I don't want to fudge up my current cupholder with an experiment lol.

Also, is it possible for me to move my cd player one slot down in the stack to the place of the little cubby with the flip door on it? i hate not being able to reach my buttons when i do have a 12oz can in there.

[oldscoobyturbo]

I have been considering a swap with a newer style floor console between the seats that has the cup holders
the only major issue is the hand brake mounting position which I think should be a simple mod

[Subaru_Nation555]

I too found it irritating that I could never fit a travel mug in those cup holders.

However, the cup holders in some newer Imprezas are wider but are shallow so you risk spilling your drink around corners or during sudden stops. I guess they're somewhat of an after thought.

[Vandal_RS]

I completely agree. The cupholders are intolerable. When I replace the factory stereo, I am going to try to move it as low as possible. I was also thinking of trying to adapt the cupholders from a 98-01 Impreza. They are of a similar design, but are larger and somewhat adjustable. My experience with Subarus leads me to believe it could be a bolt in affair.

[94LegWagon]

Definitely need a fix for this, I am unable to put my coffee anywhere in the mornings, I always end up spilling it all over myself...

[Shaggy]

If u have a mug with a lid on it u can tuck it behind the seatbelt on ur right in the seat. Thats what I always do when I can't fit some thing in my cup holder. I'm not a big person Though so I have just enough room for it to not be uncomfortable. Making a new upholder sounds like the cool idea tho. I'd like to see pics of what u guys do. Sounds like u have some decent ideas. If u don't mind not having the center console u could remove the lid and make A drop in that u could take out to still make use of it. Just an idea. It might be a weird position to grab a drink from but it might look kinda cool and it would probably be the easiest place and it would be realy supportive so no spilling of the drink on ur phone or iPod from the cup holder spot, or condensation dripping on ur stuff when u have it in that little tray infront of the shifter. I hate that about the cupholdrrs we have happens to me all the time.

[nosyt]

stock cup holder
driver side i left alone
passenger side i drilled out with a 3" hole saw
that way little cans dont fall out of driver side but i can still buy larger drinks such as 591ml bottles of coke

[beatersubi]

Cars are for driving, not holding cups.

[Legacy777]

Cars are for driving, not holding cups.

Very true! I rarely use the cup holders in my cars.

[NICO]

^^ same.... but when i do have a cup in my car ! it must be closed or someone will be wearing it lol.

and most people have big cups what about my espresso cup ! lol

[Binford]

You guys are weird. I love these cupholders. Don't drink coffee or insanely large "sodas" and you won't have a problem! I hate coffee, the smell is as bad as cigarette breath

[kimokalihi]

I like the smell of coffee, however I do not like the smell of people's breath after they've been drinking it. I RARELY ever use my cup holders except to place my phone on when I'm using the GPS app. My phone fits perfectly on top of the cup holder and stays put very well.

[kimokalihi]

Overseas they do not drink such large beverages as we do here in the united states. A large overseas is probably a small here. That's how ridiculously large our sizes are here. Nobody needs a large drink, seriously. Bring a container of water and drink that and toss it on the seat when you're not drinking it. I do this and never ever use my cup holders. All I drink is water and the occassional organic fruit/carrot juice.

[Binford]

I'm a very unhealthy eater. I damn near live on fast food, although I'm sick of it lol. But I'm definitely not a fan of "super-sizing". I always order "small" meals because that is what "medium" meals used to be when I was a kid, and any more would go to waste.

[Dominator]

I've always had a problem with cup holders being too small in every Subaru I've owned. I once dumped a whole super-size cup from Taco-Bell in my old 2.5RS. I was so pissed. The between the e-brake handle and pass seat works good, but in the 91 SS it's tighter than the other ones I've driven. About the only cup holder that was good is the one in the center console of the 02 WRX my girlfriend drives. The pop-out one in the dash in that same car is terrible for anything over the 12 can. And seriously, why put cup holders above electronics? I relocated my car stereo to the lowest area of the center area.

It's not pretty, and I don't think it would look good in our cars, but I used Bar-Buoy's in my truck since it didn't have any cup holders. I don't use the foam coozie part of it. It swings with the roll of the truck, so the cup always stays upright.

[Danny-G]

I found a way to fix the cup holders being over the raido. Get ready to head to the junkyard and find a 1995-98 Nissan 200sx, the one that looks like a two door Sentra. You will want the cup holder from one. The cupholder is a .5 DIN and normally mounted at the bottom of the stack in the Nissan, its gonna go there in you're Legacy too. When you get home with the cup holder, theres a bit of cutting and grinding to be done before it will fit. Note, this will not screw into the raido brackets. First, you gotta cut the two screw points off along with the two plastic stubs that would go through the bracket. Next, you gotta grind down some angled bits on the bottom, just gotta get rid of them. After that, you gotta cut and grind the housing down as it will be too big. The last thing to do before installing is cut the ends of the actual cup holder off, so they will fit in the plastic surround. (I haven't done this yet.) To install the cup holder, you gotta tape it to the raido bracket. I used Gorilla tape and its plenty strong, I was able to pull down on the holder without it moving at all. The tape is really there to hold the housing in place since this goes on the bottom of the DIN stack. Sorry, I don't have any pictures of the trimming process, I didn't think to grab my camera and take the pictures. I do have some installed pictures though. Heres some installed pictures.




You can see where the ends of the holder need to be cut off.

[Dominator]

^^ That's awesome. I think there's one of those cars in a local junkyard I go to. I'll have to check it out, or at least look for that kind of thing this summer. I just happen to have an extra .5 din that's just sitting open at the moment.

[crisco]

i was thinking the same thing, and thought it should be relatively easy to make a homemade nice looking cup holder next to the e-brake where evolutionmovement said in post 2, but make it with a bugeye WRX center console and cut out the cupholder part and add it to the legacy one. granted its only the size of a 12-oz can on the bottom but you can fit some 'skinny-bottom' cups that mushroom out higher up in there like the metal sport coffee mugs.

[mike-tracy]

earlier ford taurii had the same thing as the nissan. Haven't checked for fitment but plan to

[SWRT]

Man,I just got my old Legacy back and forgot how annoying this was

[SWRT]

So, I'm thinking of carving out a bigger hole. Any suggestions on the best
method of cutting the plastic? I'm currently thinking of a router or a dremel.

[allnines']

I would just put it in the center console-though, I still had to hold it there while driving

[SWRT]

I did make the left side bigger since I could see the clock on the stereo that way, but I'm gonna try the right side with a spare cup holder to see which I like better. It is nice having a secure place for a normal sized cup these days. Keeps my coffee hot on long drives