Cup holders

Cup holders in a B can divide opinion a bit. Some say you should never drink in a car - take the time to stop and have a coffee. Some say if you can drink while driving then you aren't driving it properly. I'm in the pragmatic group which says in general I don;t drink coffee while driving the B, but if I'm doing a long trip I'm going to need a coffee and sometimes I don't want to wait in a services for the coffee to cool down, or I want to grab a cup and go somewhere more pleasant to drink it.

So whether I'm drinking it in the car, or transporting it to drink elsewhere, cupholders are something I want. The trouble is the commercial ones are either expensive or require drilling into panels or seem like they'd end up with spilled coffee through either poor design or me being clumsy. There are some which attach to the seat runners which seems like a good idea but again they're expensive.

I was starting to think about fabricating a seat-runner version myself when I spotted one of the Moss holders for sale (way below its retail price) on one of the MG Facebook groups. The Moss holder is a nicely designed one for later Bs as it sits on the flat area between the gearstick and heater controls. My concern with it had always been around cups interfering with the gearstick but a second-hand one put it within the “let’s try it” reach.

I'm really impressed. It was in pretty much new condition and fits the console really well. It is shaped around the gearstick base, with one of the arms which extends out being slightly larger than the other for this reason so it is clear it was designed just for the B and isn't a generic thing. The best thing is it is removeable as it jsut sits on the console, so can sit behind the seats when not in use.

So how does it work with cups? Well I have tried it with Costa, Cafe Nero and Starbucks small and mediaum cups and it doesn't interfere with the gearstick operation at all for me and I've drived the B with coffe in the cups and it seems secure enough. The raised edges of the console it sits on, and the way it is shaped around the gearstick base, stops the holder from sliding around. I would still adjust my driving a little, especially while the cups are still totally full to prevent it slopping out of the lids, but this will make longer trips more pleasant.