2005 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

2005 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG Long-Term Road Test

The 2005 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG has cupholders that are needlessly complex and not very useful.

Read the full story here

duck87

I don't understand this fascination that Germans have with overcomplicating basic functions. What advantage is there to this other than moving your small drink off to the passenger side? Here's a better idea for a cupholder: It's called a "hole" in the center console. It's hard for me to fathom the possibility of breaking something like a cupholder, but looking at this design all it takes is an enthusiastic passenger and "sir, that will be $500". What's even harder for me to imagine is that there was undoubtedly an engineer in Germany, probably with a master's or PhD, who spent 2-3 years designing this thing.

mercedesfan

@duck87, It was a cultural thing. For decades Germans simply didn't understand America's obsession with beverages in the car. Germans simply don't drink anything while driving. Up until the turn of the century there were actually laws in Germany making it

goaterguy

Couldn't agree more. Take a look at the new 911's targa roof complexity and compare it to the new Corvette's one. Ridiculous overcomplication for no reason. All at a savings of $1,330 compared to the convertible version, because when you are buying a Porsche priced over $100k, $1,330 matters...

diigii

Did M-B offer a separate manual to operate those cupholders?

bankerdanny

The worst cup holders ever were found in my '96 Taurus SHO.

Very shallow, yet also very wide, as if the 'designer' expected people to fit actual ceramic coffee cups in them. They were wide enough to hold a 1.5L water bottle, but only about 1.5 inches deep, so pretty much any cup or can of any size became a projectile at even the hint of braking.

One of several interior design 'quirks' of that model. The interior was a triumph of 'design' over engineering.

greenpony

IIRC, the Mk4 Jetta had flimsy cupholders that retracted into the dash below the central HVAC vents.

bryan__t

My dad had a Mercedes from that era. The first time I borrowed it I was playing with all the gimmicks in the car and opened up the cup-holder. Something went wonky with the cup-holder and it wouldn't close. My buddy and I spent about 20 minutes fiddling with the thing until it retracted, but I doubt it was functional. Luckily, my dad never drinks in his cars. Still, I don't know why MB decided to let Rube Goldberg design this thing.

bobinsepa

An oldie but a goodie:
"German cars don't come with cup-holders for the same reason that German coffee tables don't come with steering wheels."

allthingshonda

Forget the cup holder, look at that beautiful gated shifter. A real shifter in a Mercedes, not a transmission turn signal switch. Ahhh the good ole days.

bankerdanny

Greenpony, some did. My GL however had 2 decent cupholders in the center console in front of the fold down arm rest.

duck87

@mercedesfan: If you look at the mechanism, the "pop" out portion is thicker than the water bottle, a necessity to hold it. So why doesn't Mercedes just offer the pop-up cover and a hole for you to put your water bottle in? The Japanese tend to

mercedesfan

@duck87, Like I said, it is cultural. Germans cars today have perfectly adequate cup holders, but that is only after they begrudgingly submitted to American preferences. Germans simply do not drink beverages in the car (something to be admired, in my hone