Probably been covered before but I thought I'd post this up for info. Also gave me a chance to practice uploading photo's, so fingers crossed they come out alright.
I was having a much overdue tidy up in the garage the other day and came across an old cupholder I had left over from my previous A3 following a single to double din satnav upgrade. Thought I'd see if I could get it into my S3 as its something I really miss. I find the cupholder under the armrest pretty clumsy and the card holder on the dashboard pretty pointless so though it would be worth a go. As it was, turned out okay and something which I can't understand why Audi don't do from the factory. Anyway, here goes for some pictures of the install.
1. Firstly, remove the switch surround by gently pulling it away from the dashboard. Go careful as its pretty flimsy but its just clipped in place so shouldn't cause you any problems. You can see the clips in the picture below.
2. Remove the cardholder by inserting a couple of small screwdrivers in the top corners to release the locating clips whilst pulling at the same time.
3. A picture of the cardholder and cupholder side by side. As you can see, there's hardly any difference.
4. Unfortunately, because the fronts of the card and cup holders are slightly different sizes (the cupholder front is wider than the cardholder) you'll have to use the front from your cardholder as it's the only one that fits. The two fronts just unclip but a small bit of filing or grinding with a dremel is needed at the front of each side of cupholder for the cardholder front to fit.
5. Then, clip the front from the cardholder onto the cupholder. Another small bit of filing is needed to allow the cupholder to "lock" into place when it comes out of the dashboard. You don't need to do this but the cupholder will push down when you press on the top of it if you don't. It's probably best to skip this step for now, install the cupholder and see how you get on. Also, once it's all installed, you can mark where the cupholder needs to be filed as it's where it hits the switch surround. The bit that needs to be filed away looks like this.
6. That's it. Okay its got the wrong front but you know it's now a cupholder and it doesn't really get in the way of the radio or nav screen. Here's what it looks like.
All in all, really simple and a good little addition. Don't know how much a cupholder would cost new but looking on ebay, a couple of sold recently for around a tenner so pretty cheap to! I also noticed there seems to be a couple of different types, some are advertised as illuminated which would be a nice touch.
Hope this is of some use to someone!
I was having a much overdue tidy up in the garage the other day and came across an old cupholder I had left over from my previous A3 following a single to double din satnav upgrade. Thought I'd see if I could get it into my S3 as its something I really miss. I find the cupholder under the armrest pretty clumsy and the card holder on the dashboard pretty pointless so though it would be worth a go. As it was, turned out okay and something which I can't understand why Audi don't do from the factory. Anyway, here goes for some pictures of the install.
1. Firstly, remove the switch surround by gently pulling it away from the dashboard. Go careful as its pretty flimsy but its just clipped in place so shouldn't cause you any problems. You can see the clips in the picture below.
2. Remove the cardholder by inserting a couple of small screwdrivers in the top corners to release the locating clips whilst pulling at the same time.
3. A picture of the cardholder and cupholder side by side. As you can see, there's hardly any difference.
4. Unfortunately, because the fronts of the card and cup holders are slightly different sizes (the cupholder front is wider than the cardholder) you'll have to use the front from your cardholder as it's the only one that fits. The two fronts just unclip but a small bit of filing or grinding with a dremel is needed at the front of each side of cupholder for the cardholder front to fit.
5. Then, clip the front from the cardholder onto the cupholder. Another small bit of filing is needed to allow the cupholder to "lock" into place when it comes out of the dashboard. You don't need to do this but the cupholder will push down when you press on the top of it if you don't. It's probably best to skip this step for now, install the cupholder and see how you get on. Also, once it's all installed, you can mark where the cupholder needs to be filed as it's where it hits the switch surround. The bit that needs to be filed away looks like this.
6. That's it. Okay its got the wrong front but you know it's now a cupholder and it doesn't really get in the way of the radio or nav screen. Here's what it looks like.
All in all, really simple and a good little addition. Don't know how much a cupholder would cost new but looking on ebay, a couple of sold recently for around a tenner so pretty cheap to! I also noticed there seems to be a couple of different types, some are advertised as illuminated which would be a nice touch.
Hope this is of some use to someone!
