I lived in Germany as a child, and I was raised as a German girl. German was my first language. So, I have some insights into German culture even though I’ve lived in the US for two decades, am a US citizen, love America and so on.

The whole concept of doing so many of life’s activities in one’s car, as Americans do … is not so much a concept in Germany. In the US there’s a drive-through service for many things, some of which Germans would consider very odd. Along those lines, the concept of drinking vast amounts of coffee and soda while driving is much more a US thing than a German thing.

And so, the US fondness for cup-holders is not something that Germans tend to naturally appreciate. And yet, by the late 1990s Audis needed to have cup-holders and so the Germans indeed made one, as every owner of an Audi C5 A6 knows.

However, the abuse that such a part endures wasn’t anticipated by the Germans, and though I have seen many Audis of that era with hundreds of parts in fine condition, including well-functioning 4.2 liter 40-valve engines, I don’t recall seeing even ONE Audi C5 A6 with a non-damaged cup-holder.

That’s a pity because it’s such a cute design that, if I ever find a few good ones, I plan to retrofit one of them to the center console of my own E30 1989 BMW 325i.

Meanwhile, I’m using the opportunity to learn more about how to remove these parts from the center consoles of Audis. It’s not easy. The cup=holder is integrated in a large black plastic piece that serves as a sort of base or foundation, and I have figured out that I have to remove the center console so as to remove the cup-holder from below … but I have not yet figured out how to do that, in turn.

The puzzling continues …