Best Car Cup Holders – 2024 Buying Guide
Most car models come with more cup holders than the number of seats available in the vehicle. Manufacturers have learned that consumers love cup holders because they’re a versatile car accessory that does more than just hold our beverages.
They can store cell phones, chargers, cash, coins, wallets, and so much more!
And vehicle accessory manufacturers have built an industry of cup holder inserts, center console accessories, and adjustable cup holder inserts that give drivers (and passengers) even more use out of those standard vehicle cup holders.
We’ve tested and reviewed a number of the top aftermarket cup holders so that you can enhance your driving experience. Enjoy!
Featured Recommendations
- American Technology Collapsible
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Our rating - High Impact Construction
- Price: See Here
- BottlePro Version 2
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Our rating - Slots in Securely
- Price: See Here
- Amarine-Made Folding
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Our rating - Prevents Slipping
- Price: See Here
If you’re unhappy with the cup holders you have or have more people in the car than cup holders, then the ten entries on this list will be exactly what you’re looking for. Nothing too special about them, they’re just cup holders that you buy from the store after you buy the car. So, with that said, let’s go over the ten best of them, here today. Get out your screwdriver, because you’re going to be making a new addition to your car’s interior, as we count down the:
10 Best Car Cup Holders
1. American Technology Collapsible
We recommend not taking the chance on this one, and just collapsing it whenever you’re not using it for the sake of convenience, but if you do have it out, you don’t have to worry about it getting too damaged. Sure, there’s only so much you can do to make a cup holder stronger, but this one is made with high impact construction that makes it much more durable. So, under normal circumstances, nothing short of a baseball bat will end up breaking this cup holder.
Collapsible and adjustable
Well, it got top billing, so of course, we’re going to list this feature here. The biggest problem people tend to have with these separate cup holders is the fact that it’s another thing they have to look out for when moving around the cabin of the car. So, if you have a small, cramped cabin, then you should get your hands on this cup holder for its collapsibility. In one swift motion, you can make this cup holder much more compact than it already was, making it much more convenient.
Cost and Value
The best thing about car cup holders is that being just hunks of plastic or sometimes metal, they don’t tend to cost a whole lot. This one, in particular, is very cheap.
High impact construction
Collapsible and adjustable
Cheap
Could be a bit taller
2. BottlePro Version 2
The main problem with a cup holder that you normally find in a car is that they often don’t accommodate bottles very well. Often, they’re too wide or too spacious to handle the sleek, narrow design of a bottle. Which is where this holder comes in. Just slot this bottle holder into the cup holder of your choosing, and your beer or water bottle won’t be going anywhere.
Soft-fit foam sleeve
Every order of the BottlePro also comes with a special soft-fit foam sleeve, that you can use to better fit your BottlePro into any cupholder. Just slip the BottlePro into the sleeve, and then put it into the cup holder, it’s that simple.
Cost and Value
The BottlePro includes a few more features and add ons than the previous entry, and thus is a bit pricier. It’s almost on the expensive end of this product type’s price spectrum, but it’s just cheap enough to be worth it.
Slots in securely
Soft-fit foam sleeve
Affordable
Won’t fit every cupholder, even with the sleeve
3. Amarine-Made Folding
This cup holder isn’t just great for boats and other marine vehicles, it’s specifically designed for them. Sure, if you want to, or if you just don’t like being told what to do with your drink holder, you can put it in your car, and it will work just fine. But if your boat doesn’t have a place to safely put down your drink, this is a great way to fix that problem.
Prevents slipping
Sure, you’ve got a drink holder now, but the thing about stainless steel is that stainless tends to mean absolutely zero traction, so there’s nothing stopping your drink from sliding around, even with the retainers. Fortunately, Amarine-made thought of that, and so designed this drink holder with silicone moldings on the retainers, and a foam coaster for the underside. This prevents slipping and sliding, as well as general noise.
Cost and Value
This cup holder, being made of one of the most sought after metals on the planet and sporting a few innovations that some of the others on this list lack, is about the same price as the previous entry. But still, not quite expensive enough to be a problem.
Great for boats
Prevents slipping
Affordable
Meant solely for boats
4. Hopkins Go-Gear Euro Mini Console
Since we’re going to take a wild guess and say you don’t have any CD’s or cassette tapes in your car, you’ll be happy to know that you can still use the storage compartments that come with this cup holder for plenty of other things. For instance, if you’re traveling, you can use the four coin slots to help you get through the toll roads. And if your kid is in the backseat playing video games, the CD holder can hold the cases for them for easy access.
Adjustable drink holders
Very rarely will you have in your car two drinks that are exactly the same size, unless you’re both drinking soda. And even then, soda cans are small things compared to normal cups, which are also small compared to big gulps you get at convenience stores. The point is that a cup holder should be adjustable, and this one can handle most size drinks you’re likely to bring into your car.
Cost and Value
The best part about this product is the price. Considering the fact that it’s offering you two drink holders instead of one, and three storage compartments on top of that, the fact that it’s the cheapest entry thus far is quite the deal.
Three storage compartments
Adjustable drink holders
Very cheap
No one uses CD’s and definitely not cassettes anymore, so half of this product being dedicated to storing them is silly by today’s standards
5. Zone Tech Recessed Folding
Zone tech has really outdone themselves with this one. The Zone Tech Folding Drink Holder has an adjustable arm that can be moved into almost any position you need it to be. And the actual cup holder is a great size that can even expand if only slightly, to suit larger drink types. This drink holder is the ultimate in convenience and efficiency.
Suctions effectively
But of course, there is one sticking point that must be addressed. As you can plainly see from any picture of this product, it uses a suction cup to stick to surfaces, instead of being secured down with screws like other cup holders. However, the suction cup is of remarkable quality, and will almost always hold on tightly to whatever you put it on. So, you don’t need to worry about your coffee falling straight into your lap and burning you alive while you’re on the freeway.
Cost and Value
This drink holder is a little bit more expensive than the previous one, but not quite as expensive as the one before that, so we feel comfortable listing it in the affordable part of this price spectrum.
Smart design
Suctions effectively
Affordable
Whatever you do, don’t leave it in your car out in the summer heat
6. Master Magnetics Magnetic
We call this a car cup holder, and it was designed with that in mind. But the funny thing about magnets is that a lot of things are magnetic. And thus, you can take this cup holder pretty much wherever you want, as long as there’s a magnetic surface. Whether it’s on the golf course, the garage, to the office, anywhere there’s metal, you can put down this cup holder.
Incredibly versatile
One advantage cup holders have is that you will have a lot more uses for a little hole in your car than you think. A cup holder can hold a surprising amount of objects, including this one. Not only can you put in things like coins or pencils, but you can also store cup shaped objects like spray cans you may need soon, or even small tools you may need in a bit when you’re working on the car. This cup holder will see a lot of use, even when you aren’t thirsty.
Cost and Value
Because of its small size, this is the cheapest entry we’ve covered so far. So, if you need a super versatile cup holder that you can take with you anywhere, and you’re on a tight budget, then this is precisely what you’re looking for.
Take it anywhere
Incredibly versatile
Cheap
Anything heavier than 32 ounces will cause it to fall after a while
7. Smart Kup
With other cup holders meant for the big cups, they’ll hold just fine, but be a bit on the small side, and so when you have to make those really tight turns, the drink is almost guaranteed to fall out. But this cup holder is actually larger than most large drinks by a few inches, which means it has room to move around. Not too much for it to jostle free, mind you, but enough not to tip over and fall either. It’s just large enough to be snug, even for the largest cups.
One inch cut out
It can be hard to drink your morning coffee if you prefer it in a coffee cup instead of a flask. You have to constantly be holding it, and the handle keeps you from putting it in the cup holder. Fortunately, this cup holder comes with one inch cut out, designed to help put away any coffee cups that you need out of your hands.
Cost and Value
This cup holder is a bit pricier than the last entry due to its large size and ABS plastic construction, but we believe it’s just low enough a price to be considered cheap.
Stable
One inch cut out
Cheap
Won’t fit in every cup holder
8. Rubbermaid Automotive
Not only does this cup holder’s, well, cup holder have a hole big enough for most cups you bring into the car, including one inch cut out for your coffee mugs. But it also includes a pair of smaller compartments for those loose items we all have just lying around the cabin of our car. From loose change to receipts, they’re just big enough to hold whatever loose items you may have lying around the floor of your car.
Convenient
This is all well and good, of course, but the large size of this cup holder threatens a little problem: how do you charge your phone? Well don’t worry, they thought of that too. This cup holder has a little hole just big enough for one or two charging cables to be snaked through in order to get to the charging ports. So, you don’t have to worry about accidentally covering up your charging station just so you have a place to hold your drink.
Cost and Value
The great thing about Rubbermaid, and why they’ve lasted so long, is that they turn out decent to excellent products, for incredibly cheap prices. And this is probably the cheapest entry on this entire list.
Organization
Convenient
Cheap
Won’t fit every cup holder, particularly bad with sports car cup holders
9. Bimmer Black 2
If you’ve ever lost anything down between the wedges of your seat, then you know just how tight that part of the car is, and how hard it is to shake anything loose from there. So, it’s the perfect way to mount a cup holder to ensure that it doesn’t move. Just slide it down in between the driver or passenger side wedge, and you’re good to go.
Convenience
Wearing jeans, and not feeling like jostling and shifting around just to pull out and put away your phone? No problem. This cup holder comes with a compartment between the two cup holders that lets you put away small items like phones, cigarette packs and so forth.
Cost and Value
A very average price for what we’ve come to expect from this list. Nice and affordable, as it should be.
Stable
Convenient
Affordable
Leather construction doesn’t do great with heat
10. Custom Accessories Wedge
Plastic gets a really bad rep among the consumer crowd. And not for unjustified reasons, as it’s very garish, even the best-colored ones always look unnatural, and the manufacturing of it is kind of helping destroy our planet, so people tend to be testy. But the good thing about this cup holder being made of durable ABS plastic is that it will last a lot longer than the leather of the previous entry, and will hold steady, even on tight turns.
Can hold large cups
This cup holder comes with a compartment for phones as well, but it was built with smaller flip phones in mind, so it may not work with your wide smartphone. However, the cup holders are very wide and perfect for almost any kind of cup you bring into the car with you. Unless it’s a coffee cup, however, since there’s no handle hole.
Cost and Value
Once again, a very average price for what’s being offered. It may be a bit too much for some people who were expecting more from it, but if that isn’t you, then this should suit you just fine.
Longevity
Can hold large cups
Affordable
Phone compartment won’t hold many modern phones
Criteria Used in Choosing the Best Car Cup Holders
Assembling a list of criteria for a product like this is always tricky. And by a “product like this” we mean something as simple as a cup holder was hard to narrow down a lot of criteria for. Mostly because there comes the point in a product’s life where it becomes so ubiquitous that it all seems like common knowledge, not worth pointing out. But we found quite a few criteria that work, so let’s get to it.
Cup Holder Fit
Most of the entries on this list, as you’ve noticed, are meant to be inserted into the cup holders you already have, to use as either cup holders for larger cups that the cup holders already there can’t handle, or to turn one cup holder into two by adding on another set. But in either case, the focal point of this criteria is how well the thing fits into the cup holder once inserted. After all, it would be a pretty crummy cup holder if it just fell out the minute you made that sharp turn. You should always measure your cup holder when you look for another cup holder of this type, making sure that all the measurements add up, and that the cup holder will fit snugly into the hole.
Secure Holding
But it’s one thing if the cup holder itself is fitting nice and snug into where you put it, but what about the reason you even bought the thing in the first place, the cup itself? Now what kind of cup it holds is another criterion entirely that we’ll get into in a minute, but first things first, what about how well it holds the things, to begin with? After all, if it can’t even hold a soda can, then you’ve just wasted your money. We looked at each entry and judged how well it could hold the cups they were designed for. For this, we looked at the customer reviews of each entry, to judge how well they performed. If we found more positivity than negativity, then we considered those entries better for the list. After all, if a few hundred customer reviews say you work, then it’s probably safe to say you work.
Versatility
You’re going to be bringing in a lot of cups into your car with you. From coffee cups to soda cans, to water bottles, and a whole lot of other things. All of whom are of varying size, shape, and texture. So, you’re going to want a cup holder that can handle all of them at once, or at least most of them. The kind of car cup holder that people mostly want are the kinds that can handle coffee cups since those are the only kinds of cups that a regular cup holder definitely can’t handle. The handle always gets in the way and keeps it from getting down and leaves it prone to tipping over. So, we made sure to pack this list with as many excellent cup holders that also had a cutout section for a coffee cup handle that we could find. Because the most common kind of separate cup holder you’re likely to need is this kind.
Materials
It’s always good to get something made from the best material possible, and almost every type of building material out there (except maybe stone) has been used to make a cup holder at least once. You want a material that is guaranteed to last a long time won’t scratch or damage anything and can resist being scratched and damaged in kind. This is why the most common material used is ABS plastic, a very high-grade plastic that doesn’t scratch or damage easily and lasts a long time. Rarer, but just as effective, is stainless steel, which is, of course, stronger than plastic, never scratches or gets damaged by any means likely to befall a cup holder and will also last a very long time.
Features & Accessories
Maybe you aren’t just content with a normal cup holder that you can just get from your car. Maybe you want a cup holder that you can take with you through magnets, or maybe you want to charge up your phone while keeping your cups held. Maybe you want to use a suction cup to stick it to the wall for some reason. Well for these various needs, cup holder accessories have everything you could need. We judged every cup holder that boasted some new accessory, by the quality of said accessory, and how well it generally worked. If it was a dud, we tossed the whole thing.
Price
The last criteria we wanted to cover for this list was the price of each entry. This was remarkably easy since every entry we screened was very cheap. Understandable, given the fact that cup holders are not exactly in great demand, considering that every car comes with at least one. So, every price, even the priciest ones we found, was all very affordable. A such, we judged each entry by how well they justified the prices they were asking for. After all, a cup holder over $15 sounds a lot better when you know you’re getting what you paid for.
Frequently Asked Questions
Just like with the criteria segment, this final segment, the FAQs, was also rather hard to come up with, because of the straightforward nature of the product being discussed. However, that didn’t stop us, and we managed to come up with some vital questions and answers. So, with that said, here are the most frequently asked questions about car cup holders, and the answers thereof.
Q: My car’s cup holders have been severely damaged, can I use one of these products to outright replace them?
A: If you mean as a “pull out the old cup holders and replace them with a different one” kind of replacement, then probably not. It will mostly depend on the car, but for the most part, the cupholders are part of the console of the car and can’t just be ripped out without damaging some other, more vital systems. Now, if you mean as a replacement meaning that you just use those instead of your car’s cup holders, then yes, you absolutely can. You just can’t pull the old ones out and slot a new pair in, that’s not how that works.
Q: What kind of car cup holder do you recommend the most for the common consumer?
A: The type that we recommend, regardless of context, is the kind that comes with a one-inch hole for your coffee cup. Oh, there are plenty of other kinds out there, and all of them are excellent for what they do. But most commonly, we found, was that people were frustrated with their cup holders not letting them hold their coffee cups and use both hands for the wheel. And that is most definitely the kind of trouble you’re likely to run into when using a normal cup holder, and thus the kind of separate cup holder that is going to be the most useful to you. Again, it depends on the circumstances you find yourself in, but on average, that’s the kind of cup holder you’re going to get the most use out of.
Q: Why aren’t normal car cup holders wider like these are to accommodate bigger cups?
A: Because most of them can’t afford to. The cabin of a car is a delicate layout. Everything has to be a certain size, to give room for everything else to work. It’s like a puzzle, where only the right size pieces can be put in. The radio can’t be too big, because that would take away room from the A/C controls. And likewise, the cup holders can’t be too big, because that would take room away from the rest of the console. Separate cup holders don’t have such limitations on their design, so they have more room to flourish. Not to say normal cup holders don’t work at all, something would’ve been done by now if that were the case, but these cup holders help with more specific circumstances.
