2012 Toyota Camry SE: Useless Cupholder Contraption

"Would much prefer a more basic setup that concentrates on doing one thing well instead of two things poorly."

In a sense, the Camry has always been biased more towards doing two things poorly than one thing well. It is the car for the masses that will offend no-one (well, except for the previous generation. That was plenty offensive) but not really excel at anything either.

I think it's nice that you can remove it and then fit other objects that might not be drinks at all. But given the width of the center console I'd say they should have put this cupholders side-by-side behind the shifter.

I like the idea of something that holds my drink more securely, as our WRX does not and sometimes the drink will start to rattle annoyingly. This solution however seems terrible. Not only is it more expensive in manufacture, but in developement time, but there is also the supposedly poor performance and the issue of what to do with it when not in use. Frankly, my old S-10 has a perfectly find solution in the form of a rubber insert with flaps at the top to accomodate different sized drinks. It has the added benefit of being easily removed and washed should some fast food joint hand you a drippy soda.

This add-on piece is really unnecessary.

I would have preferred if they made the console cupholders with a removable insert.

My Nissan's console cup holder is removable. Not only to make room for larger cups, but for easier cleaning.

Also a hinged cover would have been a nice.

Not as bad of an idea as Mercedes's old articulating spiral cupholders, but still junky.

Having the cupholders side-by-side might make it more difficult to use the gear shift.

My Outback's cupholders aren't the greatest either. There is just too much room for the cups to tip, and not enough depth to assure the cups won't fall out.

However, there is one redeeming cupholder feature in my Outback: There are two pop-out cupholders that are stowed in the rear of the console. So, for all intents and purposes, they belong to the front seat residents. (Since there are hardly any in the rear.)

I sat in a Tiguan yesterday, and it, also, has the cupholders that pop out of the rear of the console. And this from a company that never wanted to have cupholders at all.
And remember the years that VWs didn't have glove compartments because they hadn't prepared well enough for passenger side air bags, and had to use the glove compartment space for the bag.

I got those cup holders in our Highlander and they are a piece of dodo. you're right they never work that well but you forgot to mention how when you're using a large cup that has a snug fit that when you go to pull out the cup it also pulls out the divider thing. It's a real pain. but if you remove it then the cup is not held in place securely....needs a redesign. You'd think after 5 years (my car is a 07) they would have figured out that it doesn't work well.