2009 BMW M3: iPhone Holder? No. iMac Holder? Yes.

I've had the same issue. It's annoying. I usually end up just tucking it between the thigh support and the seat cushion in the passenger seat...unless I have a passenger.

There are third parties that make docks that fit into the space where the ashtray goes. It would not be terribly difficult to run the wires up there and have an easy dock to pop the phone onto, and since I don't use the ashtray anyway I wouldn't be missing anything. Put this one into the "when I get around to it" file.

Even if there were some nicely designed little cubbies on the center stack you might not be able to put a phone there because it would interfere with the radio. There is a nice size cubby under the navigation system on my Acura TSX and I can't put my phone there because the GSM signal causes interference with the speakers. I end up putting the phone in the door pull nook on the driver's door.

Vent mounts work great and can be found quite inexpensively on Amazon or eBay. They keep the screen up near your visual field while driving, securely hold the phone in place, and can swivel for landscape mode.

http://www.amazon.com/Arkon-Removable-Swivel-Adjustment-iPhone/dp/B002CQTYE8

There is the ipod/iphone holder you mentioned under the armrest. The phone should be stowed while underway anyway. You can 1) control the ipod functions in iDrive via the USB/ipod adapter so you don't need to touch the phone and 2) the voice-activated Bluetooth phonebook integration in iDrive handles calling functions. You shouldn't be texting, browsing, or doing anything else with the phone while driving. If your passenger needs to access the phone, it's not incredibly hard for them to open the armrest and take it out of the holder.

I also use the iPhone cradle in the armrest. The phone clicks in/out easily in a second with a downward press of the release button. Charges the phone, and uses the roof antenna for a better signal.

Don't '09 M3 nav systems have google search functionality anyway?

Shame about the choice of an iMac.

Who cares where the ipod sits?

Here is a real challenge for the m3 v8 driver: Get 25mpg on a long highway trip. You could say one doesn't buy an m3 for that, but then the whole point of this car is that it is so brilliant day-to-day on top of great performance, the fuel economy, I think this is the car's glaring fault. Especially when the previous generation m3's achieved that number, as do current s4's (at least theoretically). Previous v8 s4 and rs4's fail this challenge as well.

I feel the same way and I am very interested to see the interior of the new 5 series and subsequent 3-series, as I think BMW will bow to some pressure to better the interior storage.

I plan on owning an e39 BMW (2001-2003 540i or m5) and I've already mapped out the storage I will need to add. Specifically:

"Tec" cupholders and maybe one more for the passenger in the pass-side footwell (slips behind the carpeting near the seat).

Extend the thigh support for cell-phone/bberry storage

Sunglasses "clip" that attaches to the pass-side visor

...

All one needs is a couple of stable and suitable cupholders, a place to put a cell phone/pda, and a place to hang your sunglasses. All are easily addable on any car :)

Joe

macs execute the details better than PCs.

Finding fault in a BMW - good job IL. We're starting to get some balanced reporting.

I've never been a fan of the kooky cup holders as seen in your photo - they hold the hot coffee up high enough so it'll spill all over the passenger's lap rather than just all over the excessively expensive leather. I don't travel without putting my coffee in a travel mug that is liquid-tight, but I think simpler designs for cup holders would be more efficient.

The 350Z had a weird cupholder similar to the one pictured above. The 370 has a normal one in the center tunnel: lower COG and holds cups better too. BMW - get your act together (j/k)!

@equ: That's not a challenge--it's an impossibility.

@yellowmiata: The worst thing about this car, apart from the fuel economy, is the way that inevitably dribbles hot coffee from Starbucksesque to-go cups onto your passengers knees. It doesn't matter how slow you drive, or how carefully you shift, or really even how much coffee is in the cup.

That is, in all seriousness, the worst thing about this car. Which goes to show just how truly mind blowing this car really is.

Another fine job by the Cheep-Ass Dash Co™.

"I plan on owning an e39 BMW (2001-2003 540i or m5) and I've already mapped out the storage I will need to add. Specifically:

"Tec" cupholders and maybe one more for the passenger in the pass-side footwell (slips behind the carpeting near the seat)."

I had a TEC in my wife's 5er and it worked great. Might as well spring for a Shark injector as well; for only $300 you'll pick up @20 lb. ft. of torque, lose the ridiculous 155 mph speed limiter, and have the option of making Sport the default mode and linking DSC "Off with Sport Mode on".
I just lost an eBay auction on a pristine Avus E39 M5 with Sport/Extended leather. Grrrr... I now have a line on a 2000 Anthracite car. Decided I want one of the last NA ///M V8s...