The retractable dashboard cupholder from the E46, and the E90 that inherited the concept.
BMW’s engineers built a cupholder that folds out of the dash on a spring-loaded scissor arm and then supports a full drink on a cantilevered plastic ring. It is an impressive piece of packaging and a poor piece of engineering, and it has become one of the most reliably mocked features of the car.
They break at the arm. Usually with a cup in them. The reprint market around this part is one of the largest for any single automotive component, which tells you how many E46s are driving around with a permanently retracted or permanently jammed holder in the dashboard.
Fitment: E46, 1998–2006, and E90. Left- and right-hand-drive dashboards place the holder differently. Tell us which part has failed — the ring, the arm, or the whole mechanism — since these can be replaced separately.
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