Germany has stiffer penalties for drinking and driving :)

There is a guy on Ebay selling nice wooden inserts for the center console under the arm rest.

The very night I bought my car (in July, 96) I came home to my wife telling me the seat belt in the minivan was broken. 2 hours later I had a pile of removed plastic interior pieces removed and I was scraping 17 Starburst candies out of the belt mechanism. While I lit up the neighborhood with my cursing, I vowed never to let anyone eat or drink in the car. 10 years later, my car is not perfect, but there are no candy, ketchup, soda, coffee, popsicle stains in it, and no mice either. The same cannot be said for the minivan we bought new 6 years ago. It's the Cheerio Chariot. A pigsty.

Generally, I'm a slob. But I'm glad the car has no cupholders, and it never will.

Americans LOVE cupholders! That's why some US made minivans have ten of them.

My mechanic, who is from Germany, told me driving is SERIOUS business, you want to drive in the fatherland, you have to study for a year, to learn the rules of the road, and are tested how to recover from a skid on an icy road, you have to learn first aid, it is real rough to pass, but you are a good driver if you get a driving license

Mercedes resisted cupholders for a long time. I admit, I had an aftermarket burlwood one installed.

There was a guy driving a big old Pontiac Bonneville down Geary Blvd. in San Francisco, EATING A PLATE OF RIBS!! Got to love it.

Then there was that realtor lady in Connecticut in a Jeep Grand Cherokee talking on *TWO* cell phones who ran off the road and rolled the Jeep.

( I was driving when I heard that, I was so shocked I dropped my lipstick into my coffee):D :D j/k

Glovebox cup holders and suspension tuning
 

I think someone should combine the thread on comfort vs performance shocks from Bilstein with the cup holder thread, and do practical testing on which common after market shocks (Bilstein, Boge, KYB) allow the greatest speed on a given road before the cup falls off the glove box lid :)

Seriously, if we were able to eliminate cell phone use while driving, eating while driving and most drive ins themselves, then North America would be a much safer and cleaner place!

Can I still send e-mails while driving? ;)

If I just drove 20 minutes to and from work, I wouldn't sweat it....Monday I was driving for over 8 hours....stopping just to drink something would add another hour! In Germany or Europe for that matter, 8 hours on the road will get you plumb outta the country, in Texas you are still in the middle of town!!

The "drink wedge" sounds interesting...I'll have to look at those. The box under the arm rest maybe the best looking option, but you loose your armrest which is real nice to have while doing 8 hours at 70mph!

Yes, I eat, drink, talk on the cell phone (hand-free), write notes and orders while driving my car...in short, I do just what you guys do in your office except my office is running 70 mph.

I, no joke, was rearended by a county sherriff WHO WAS SHOPPING @ SHOP.COM ON HIS CELL PHONE@!!#@$!#@$%!#$%!#$%!#$%@!#$

I don't know which is worse, doing that or admitting to it.

Nice!

Anyway, since I always drive with the armrest in use, and coffee is the only thing that I spill (everything else has a cap), my travel mug fits perfectly underneath the armrest. It's not so tall as to put too much pressure on it, but enough to keep the mug from going anywhere.

Wow, things have really changed, I remember when my biggest problem was how to get the smell of spilled beer and bong water out of my VW bug. :D

They should outlaw cell phone use while driving
 

But it's never gonna happen

I think some characterr in a Stephen King novel said,

"Only way you could pass a meaningful gun control law in this country would be if a congressman got shot every day. And even then, it would take 6 weeks at least"

The Germans don't have the fixation of constantly having a cup or bottle of something every waking hour...or at least didn't back then.

Perhaps thats why people were far thinner 20+ years ago.

I happened to be working in NY (in about 2001) when they passed a law requiring hands-free cell phones in cars. The media made a bid deal over the day the law took affect, but it appeared to me that exactly the same number of people were holding phones as before. The point is that these types of laws are not really enforceable, but they may make some difference in accident liability.

Here in NY it is a law - no hand use cell phone - but it has been proven that engaging in a meaningful and distracting conversation can be just as impairing as driving while intoxicated.

In Europe driving is a serious matter that can take a serious amount of time and money to achieve the right to drive. And that is a big part of the cultural difference – in Europe it is a great right and a privilege, they have such great mass transit that it is often easier to use the transit than to drive, fuel and part a private auto. In Europe you need to pass several hours of federally licensed training to be able to drive. Here in America we often think it is our right, and out parents that can hardly drive teach us how to hardly drive, and you pass a 15 minute road test wala – you’re driving.

Also – our new M-Bs have cup holder, the pure bred German and European versions do not. My w203 has a horrid dual cup holder in the center consol – than when in use seriously hampers shifting the manual transmission. In Germany that area has buttons or a storage tray.

Jake

CT has that law now too (since last fall, I think), and it appears to have made no difference at all.