TLXLR8S

was it designed for air to flow that way or it just happend to be like that?

JohnDoe2

It was designed that way of course

I added a modification to the climate control system to route the Acura humidified air into the glove box to keep my cigars fresh. I now have a $35,000 humidor.

SpecialFX

The cup holder are the ONLY reason I bought my car. When I saw those holders on the showroom floor I just had to have them. Look at them. They're so round and so deep. Very sensual. I just wish they were mounted a litle higher. That way I could look at them while driving without taking my eyes off the road.

andy8174

hey guys... curious... i got my tl.. and it's missing the whole piece in the center console... where the whole cup holder should be... soo i called acura dealer.. and they said that it'll cost $100.... but on this site for acura tl.. its saying a cup holder for about $12.. is the one on the acura-tl site.. not the full piece? or is it? please help me out.. i can't stand not having a damn cup holder....

Wordsmith

WTF? You bought a brand new car, it doesn't have a cup holder and they're looking to charge you???

danno

Can we take them out and clean them if there`s a spill?

boltjames

It's part of the protection package that most of us got for free with the car. Four rubber winter mats, two rear splash guards, one rubber trunk liner, one all-season dual cup holder w/sliding hatch.

BJ

TLGator

Damn! My dealer got $288 out of me for the cupholder! I didn't know it was included in the protection package!

Next you're gonna tell me I shouldn't have paid extra for the trunk baskets! I hope not, 'cause I forked over $153 for those!!!

JohnDoe2

I wish I had gotten the all-season cup holders. I have the winter and summer holders and have to change them every season. Fortunately, there is a place in the trunk to keep the un-used holder. . . you know, the cup- holder-holder.

boltjames

Well, summer's here and I decided to get aggressive and test the cupholders in the twisties and found some interesting results.

Test car: 2004 Acura TL, Auto, Nav.

Test beverages, Sequence 1: 7-11 32oz (plastic) vs Dunkin Donuts 32oz (styrofoam)

Findings, Sequence 1:

Glossy plastic cups will hold just as well as styrofoam. This contradicts earlier studies in which it was believed that the rubber grippers would 'stick' better to a non-slick surface. This is not true. Both held equally in the turns with no perceptible change in beverage geometry.

Test beverages, Sequence 2: 7-11 32oz (plastic) vs Dunkin Donuts 32oz (styrofoam)

Findings, Sequence 2:

The front cupholder has greater traction than the rear cupholder. One would expect the opposite to be true, seeing that the rear holder adheres to the cup at a higher point on the cup, however upon further inspection it is clear that the rubber grippers have different designs in the fore / aft construction. To confirm, I flipped the Dunkin and 7-11 cups fore / aft on several loops and both the plastic and styrofoam variants exhibited the same characteristics depending upon which holder they were placed in.

Test beverages, Sequence 3: McDonalds 16oz (paper) vs Dairy Queen Blizzard 16oz (paper)

Findings, Sequence 3:

Neither a semi-solid (Blizzard) or a liquid (McDonalds soda) has a bearing on test results. Weight, not lateral displacement, appears to be the key to TL cupholder adherence over time.

Test beverages, Sequence 4: Wendy's Chili (cardboard) vs Chow-Chow Cup (cardboard)

Findings, Sequence 4:

Warning: Do not place Wendy's Chili in the rear cupholder as the rubber grippers will pull the lid off of the cup, allowing the chili to leak over the plastic structure and into the armrests / aluminum trim / seat tracks. Chow-mein in the front cupholder is also not a good idea, especially when needing clearance for shifting. This was an alarming finding, and one that was not up to the standards of Acura engineering.

Next week, I will be testing the trunk liner vs. the stock felt trunk covering with a Subway Atkins Salad (baby leaf spinach w/chicken) in an adherance test vs. a Panera Bread Cut Sandwich Platter.

BJ

digital_b

this is a stupid thread.

TBone2004

I agree, but for some reason it will not die.

TLGator

Adding a post wondering why a thread won't die is one way to keep it alive.

This is another.

Long live the cup holder thread!

boltjames

Just an update:

The Sequence 3 findings have to be tweaked a little bit. A McDonalds (large) diet Coke did suffer some leakage in a hard turn.

I'll update the group when I have a chance to put the Blizzard through a similar test.

BJ

Ron A

After a three week hiatus, sweet resurrection. And informative too.

nick04tl

i think the cup holder was designed with that in mind. sometimes ill put a bottle in the back cup holder and it seems to get in the way when you are shifting. i move it to the front one and its like its not even there.

carcar

I am a non-TL owner but I am foshizzle going to get one because they are sweet! My daughter is getting my old car, and i'm upgrading to the TL or Lexus ES!

Moving on, could someone please post pictures of these magnificent cupholders??? PLEASE?!?!?! I WANT TO SEE THEM!!!!! I NEED TO SEE THEM!!!

Thank you and farewell.

ndabunka

OK, All I REALLY wanted to know is if it was possible to remove the builtin cup holders in order to clean them. I had to read this ENTIRE post and STILL don't know the answer. So in a vain attempt at adding additional foder to this already laborious thread....

From the "you think THAT'S bad, listen to this ____" file... The cup holder in my last car is located in a similar geographical zone as the ones in our beloved 2004TL's. But there was one main difference. Since the car was a rear wheel drive, there simply was not all that space in which to sink a cup holder into. Therefore, the only "ill-logical" (you'll see why later) way to handle this was to have a mechanism that would raise up out of the compartment and then two arms would swing out and position themselves to receive the cup. First problem is that from the bottom support to the "arms" was only about 3 inches. This worked great for small coffee cups but was a receipe for disaster with a 32 ounce "medium" sized drink (and by the way since WHEN is "MEDIUM" 32 ounces? I think these fast food resurants are letting this drink size stuff get out of control but I digress). As you have no doubt already figured out more than a few of the more "mentally challenged" still tried to place those huge drinks in the holders only to have them spill. Visualize 32 ounces of cool refreshment draining into your shift mechanism (because that is what was almost directly UNDER the holder). Of course, as soon as that liquid made contact with all the fancy electrical stuff in there, the electronic sensors on the car recognize a problem and lock the transmission into "limp home" mode. This is a mode where the car can go about 15MPH (max) but allows you to slowly get to a place for repair. Once you've arrived there, you have the privalge to learn that the dealership is VERY familar with the problem. In fact there is a TSB about it which states that they will ..."Once and only once and for the original owner replace the transmission electronics" (or something close to that effect). Most people stated that after the repair the transmission worked correctly but a few still did experience a little "stickness" in the shift gate if their particular service department missed cleaning everything appropriately. Of course, the repair job was a little over FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!! (Remeber that it's only covered IF your the original owner and ONLY ONCE). So by god, you had better not EVER, EVER, (I do mean EVER) spill another drink in those electronics or else YOU personally will be paying a hefty bill for the "spilled milk". This was a known issue and although it never happened to me, it was something that I looked for on the service reports for the cars I considered. Out of five cars I evaluated, two of them had recieved that TSB service. Remember that this is not a "fix" or maintenance issue. It's ONLY an issue once the equipment has been damaged. So both those cars have recieved their own "Pepsi syndrome" prior to me looking at them. This effects the 1998 through 2002 Mercedes CLK's.

boltjames

No, you can't remove the built-in cupholders but they are very accessible to a moderately sized human fist. Just a few squirts of Fantastik and they're all clean.

The upside to this design is that there are no seams or sneaky areas for beverage residue to reside. The downside is that you need a moderately sized human fist in order to keep them clean. Once again, Acura thinks of everything as all TL owners have moderately sized fists. Whew.

BJ

JetJock

HAHAHA....this thread is soo funny!!!

JohnDoe2

No, you're stupid.

acura_driver

Long live the HPCH.

-r

boltjames

Good news Bluetooth fans!

The Motorola v710 cellphone fits perfectly between the two cupholders!

Next up: The underrated and ignored rear cupholders!

BJ

TLGator

I believe that maneuver is called a "reach around"

JohnDoe2

I got the leather lined cup holder inserts and applied Lexol conditioner to them. Man, do they look great! Do you think I should do the same to the rear cup holders?

daven8844x

What kind of beer? This does not work, I've tried with a Bud Light can. Maybe a Heineken Keg can?

SpecialFX

****URGENT UPDATE*****

I recently discovered that the aforementioned cupholders work equally well with both imported and domestic beer cans/bottles. While the issue of domestic beer does not interest me, it may be of use to others. In addition, extensive research has shown that 12 and 24 oz. cans are both held securely up to .81g.

Contivity

This is one of the most hillarious thread.. can't help laughing all the time at 3:55 am

lemketron

Indeed! Pretty funny. But for those who wonder why people have issues with the cupholders, you should know that I actually came to this site tonight with the specific intention of finding out if I was the only one who thought the cupholders in the '99 TL sucked.

I'm glad to see that not only do others share the same sentiment, but I've now also found out that for ~$10 or so, I should be able to get the 2001 insert to replace (and upgrade) the one in my '99. I still have to wonder what they were thinking when they designed this thing but I'm glad to hear that I should be able to get the 2001 insert (assuming I can still convince my dealer to order one for me).

Thanks (and one more bump for a pretty funny thread)!

MR1

WTF? I thought this was a 3g thread? Where am I?

jhan1102

Did our car come with cup holder extension? That little plastic thing that fits into the holder. I thought it did, but I dont see it any more.

thaita78

Speaking of cup holders, I took a compass and measured the cup holders, then I cut some leather chamois and use it to soak any condensation from my beverage of choice. Too bad all I can find are the tan/light brown color chamois, haven't been able to locate any black colored chamois.

mbwmn

not to hijack this thread, but...
are you having any problems w/ CAN PRINTS on your leather liners? i have an appt w/ the service dept so the Acura rep can see my car tomorrow. i hope he'll upgrade me to the 2005 leather liners at no charge. i paid 31k for my leather liners, and think it's just unacceptable that they show can (and bottle) prints so easily. and please don't tell me it's because my cans + bottles are fat: i only allow Rolling Rock "nips" in my cupholders...

-miike

mbwmn

just wondering what others use on their leather cupholder inserts???
mods, can we get a POLL on this?

-miike

lemketron

Oops, you're right. Sorry about that. I did a general search on Cup Holders and was reading through several threads at the same time. :-(

EpiK

Dude, never EVER use the word foshizzle on this site again...

triggle

So are you saying they are good or bad ? Is that phat or sick ? You never know these days.

chill_dog

Reading this thread reminds me of my grandfather...he bought a brand new Cadillac, but it didn't have cup holders. He had one of those plastic ones that you put in the window (yes, this was back in the 80's). The next year's Cadillac had cup holders, so he took his one year old car back and bought the new one...just for cup holders!

JohnDoe2

Is it true that Canadian cup holders are optimized for 12 0z cans?

EpiK

You had a cool Grandpa!