[lloyd99]

First, I acknowledge this is truly a first world problem. My daughter bought me a 24oz Owala FreeSip water bottle a few months ago. It's great. But, it does NOT fit into the cup holder in my 2021 X7 M50i. Feels like the cup holder diameter is about an 1/8 inch or so too small. The same water bottle fits just fine into my older daughter's Mazda CX5, as well as my younger daughter's Nissan Rogue. Coincidentally, my daughters bought my wife the same style water bottle for Christmas, and like me, it does NOT fit into the cup holder of her Cadillac XT4.

I am curious, has else experienced this problem, and found a good workaround?

[Judge Smails]

Originally Posted by lloyd99

First, I acknowledge this is truly a first world problem. My daughter bought me a 24oz Owala FreeSip water bottle a few months ago. It's great. But, it does NOT fit into the cup holder in my 2021 X7 M50i. Feels like the cup holder diameter is about an 1/8 inch or so too small. The same water bottle fits just fine into my older daughter's Mazda CX5, as well as my younger daughter's Nissan Rogue. Coincidentally, my daughters bought my wife the same style water bottle for Christmas, and like me, it does NOT fit into the cup holder of her Cadillac XT4.

I am curious, has else experienced this problem, and found a good workaround?

We have a bunch of Yetis and Hydro Flask water bottles that also don’t fit into the center console. Our solution is to pop them into the wider water bottle holder in the door which fits the big bottles well and still provides pretty easy access to. The catch is that that you can’t leave the tops off, so if they are screw top water bottles you’ll need to remove and replace the top every time you want to take a drink and store it in the door…

[MystroX5]

It’s wasn’t that long ago German cars didn’t even have cup holders. They don’t believe in the idea of the need of beverages while driving. Most of their early cup holders were designed so poor they were called “drink launchers”. I own a lot of German cars and everyone from a $225K down has idiotic cup holder designs. The best German car cup holder so far is in a MK8 GTI which is my cheapest car in my fleet? Go figure VW in Wolfsburg can actually understand the size and placement of cups in a drivers car for optimal use.

You want a full size American truck for the ultimate designed cup holders. I can carry 8 beverages just up front in my Power Wagon and all of them will hold every thing from our Yeti to McDonald’s cups.

Our X7 in traveling I very carefully use the double cup from McDonald’s system. That way it doesn’t sweat into the heated/cold cupholder. Outside of this travel tip, I use small/mid bottles of water that I can seal up and store in door pocket bottle holder.

The last thing you wanna do is spill any liquid in these cupholders as they will leak down onto vital electronic components. Another brilliant BMW/German cup holder design to sabotage your need to carry any liquids while driving.

[Orient330iNYC]

back in the early 2000s i had a friend that worked for bmw na in NJ. he told me the story about a visiting engineer from germany that asked him why americans complained about the cupholders. he went out to 7-11 and brought a big gulp back to the office.
he put it in front of the engineer
"what is this? this is a monstrosity... an abomination...you drink this while driving?!"

now im not sure if the story really happened (friend did work for bmw in woodcliff lake, and had no reason to lie to me, although he related the story with a bad german accent... but i digress)

and obviously it didn't lead to any changes. the E90 had horrible after thoughts stuck on the dash in front of the passenger. for a time they had a heated and cooled cupholder INSIDE the center console.

[streborx]

Don't drink and drive.

[XM Label]

Originally Posted by lloyd99

First, I acknowledge this is truly a first world problem. My daughter bought me a 24oz Owala FreeSip water bottle a few months ago. It's great. But, it does NOT fit into the cup holder in my 2021 X7 M50i. Feels like the cup holder diameter is about an 1/8 inch or so too small. The same water bottle fits just fine into my older daughter's Mazda CX5, as well as my younger daughter's Nissan Rogue. Coincidentally, my daughters bought my wife the same style water bottle for Christmas, and like me, it does NOT fit into the cup holder of her Cadillac XT4.

I am curious, has else experienced this problem, and found a good workaround?

Just get some cup holder adapters for large cups from Amazon. There are so many to choose from.

[lloyd99]

Originally Posted by Judge Smails

We have a bunch of Yetis and Hydro Flask water bottles that also don’t fit into the center console. Our solution is to pop them into the wider water bottle holder in the door which fits the big bottles well and still provides pretty easy access to. The catch is that that you can’t leave the tops off, so if they are screw top water bottles you’ll need to remove and replace the top every time you want to take a drink and store it in the door…

Thanks for the suggestion. I am embarrassed to say that I hadn't noticed there was a cupholder in the door. I tried using it yesterday, and it worked well. Slightly less convenient than the cupholder in the center console, but it also doesn't block the controls - so that's a plus. This might be my super easy solution.

Originally Posted by MystroX5

It’s wasn’t that long ago German cars didn’t even have cup holders. They don’t believe in the idea of the need of beverages while driving. Most of their early cup holders were designed so poor they were called “drink launchers”. I own a lot of German cars and everyone from a $225K down has idiotic cup holder designs. The best German car cup holder so far is in a MK8 GTI which is my cheapest car in my fleet? Go figure VW in Wolfsburg can actually understand the size and placement of cups in a drivers car for optimal use.

You want a full size American truck for the ultimate designed cup holders. I can carry 8 beverages just up front in my Power Wagon and all of them will hold every thing from our Yeti to McDonald’s cups.

Our X7 in traveling I very carefully use the double cup from McDonald’s system. That way it doesn’t sweat into the heated/cold cupholder. Outside of this travel tip, I use small/mid bottles of water that I can seal up and store in door pocket bottle holder.

The last thing you wanna do is spill any liquid in these cupholders as they will leak down onto vital electronic components. Another brilliant BMW/German cup holder design to sabotage your need to carry any liquids while driving.

Thanks for sharing the background, and reminding me about the McD's cups. I've seen you mention them before to protect spills/sweat from leaking into the electronics below the center console. I didn't think of using that solution for my water bottle cupholder size issue. If using the door option doesn't end up working well, I'll try out your McD's cup suggestion.

Originally Posted by XM Label

Just get some cup holder adapters for large cups from Amazon. There are so many to choose from.

Yeah, that was actually what I was originally thinking and was hoping someone would have a specific adapter to recommended. With those cupholder adapters, the top part is larger than the bottom/base part, of course. In the X7, the cupholder sits down about 2" in the console, and there is very little space space between the outer edge of the cupholder and the inner edge of the console opening. I was worried the base/bottom part of the adapter might fit in the cupholder, but the upper part of the adapter wouldn't fit because there was not enough space to the side of the console. Does that make sense? See photo for reference. I guess I could do some proactive measuring, but at first glance, it looks like it might be a problem. They only seem to cost $15-$25 on Amazon, so I guess its not not really a big deal if I try one or two and they don't end up fitting. I just ordered one, so we'll see how it goes.

[XM Label]

I wish I could offer more but there is no eating or drinking in my car!

[lloyd99]

Circling back to this topic... I purchased this cup holder adapter from Amazon.

Gorilla Grip Car Cup Holder Expander
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C94W3334?th=1

The base successfully fits in the cup holder, and the upper part successfully fits in the console opening - at least with my 24oz Owala water bottle. There is les than a 1/4-inch between the outer edge of the upper part of the adapter and the inner edge of the side of the console opening, so I don't think a larger water bottle would fit. It seems to hold the water bottle securely. The water bottle does stick up a few inches higher than if it was sitting directly inside the cup holder, and it slightly interferes with accessing the HVAC buttons and the preset memory buttons.

I'm going to try it for a few days, although I think I'm probably going to stick with using the cupholder in the driver door. Thanks everyone for your feedback and suggestions.

[RunMoreMiles]

I put my 24 oz Owala in the driver door compartment. It fits there perfectly. I sometimes put it in the right cup holder in front of the phone charger.

[BMW Lease Deals]

This would probably work!

https://www.weathertech.com/cupcoffee/