You Won’t Believe Which New Van Has Four Cupholders Per Person
American carmakers have long been at the forefront of automotive design when it comes to one crucial feature: cupholders. Whether you’re sipping a celebratory drink or just enjoying a midday iced coffee, Americans want to have their favorite beverages readily available while on the move. I have to admit, I think the Europeans are starting to catch up. While there’s a lot of competition out there, I recently drove a vehicle that might just hold the title of the highest per-capita cupholder count I’ve ever encountered.
When discussing cupholders, it’s essential to look at both the overall number and the number per passenger. Classifying what counts as a cupholder is also important. Does a bottle holder in the door qualify? The Subaru Ascent has the most cupholders in most people’s minds, with 19 different places to store drinks.
Subaru uses a creative approach, utilizing the door pockets to add to its cupholder total.
If we were to use a more standard approach with only one of these in each door pocket, the number would drop to a still impressive 12 cupholders. Additionally, Subaru uses the third-row storage for five more beverage slots, which is fairly common. I’m even willing to grant that door pockets count as cupholders since you could store a drink there and keep it upright. Therefore, the seven-passenger Ascent has 19 cupholders, or about 2.7 beverage holders per passenger. The vehicle I drove managed to blow this out of the water.
Meet the New King: The Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
I borrowed a 2024 Mercedes eSprinter cargo van for a weekend. What I discovered was that this vehicle has the most cupholders per passenger by far. It arguably has the most of any two-seat vehicle. I drove it for a church picnic, and a full review is still coming, but I couldn’t skip telling you how much storage space the vehicle actually has.
This is a two-seat cargo van with a divider between the passenger cabin and the cargo area. It’s designed for a maximum of two passengers, but it still features a wealth of space to store beverages.
I didn’t even notice half of the cupholders at first. The most obvious ones are located under the simple infotainment screen, which you can see in this graphic from Mercedes:
These spots are perfectly designed for a 12 oz soda can in the center of the two recessed areas and something much larger in the outer ones. This alone gives us 2.0 beverage holders per passenger. However, while driving, I noticed there were four more cupholders located above the dash.
Those two upright, standard cupholders brings the total to eight cupholders for two people – 4.0 cupholders per person!
I also went back to the manual for verification.
Then there’s this tilted space, which isn’t technically for cups, but it’s a beverage holder. This could definitely hold a water bottle or a 20-oz Mountain Dew.
If you count that, the Mercedes Sprinter has 10 beverage holders for exactly two people, or 5.0 beverage holders per passenger. I think this could be the new king of cupholders until someone else can prove me wrong!
