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My Cupholder Modification!
We have a 1.8l turbo Passat Wagon/Variant. 150HP and does 7.4l/100km (32mpg) on the road. The colour is indigo blue and it has a sunroof, monsoon system, CD changer, alloy wheels.
As you know, the standard B5 cupholder must have been designed on a late Friday afternoon after a beer bust... he-he-he
As I always like to have a cup of coffee in the car when on the road - I custom installed a 99' Jetta/Vento cupholder in the spare central console slot.
Here's a detailed description:
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'99 Jetta/Vento Cupholder
Shown here with the top metal cover taken off...
This is the only hard part... spending the ~90USD on the cupholder. Though if you can get a used one, I highly recommend it. But I was in a hurry...
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The Empty Slot
This is the empty slot from the centre console. I made ~1cm tall cuts on both sides as the piece gets narrow at the back end. This is actually ideal, and helps hold the cupholder in place.
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Trimmed Cover
The origianl part comes with small hinges for a small door cover. I found that this was making the installation difficult and trimmed off the hinges. I wasn't going to install a door cover anyway. |
Cupholder Open
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Installed
Here we see the cupholder installed in the empty slot. |
Securing the cupholder
In order to secure the cupholder in place and prevent any side to side movement, I added two screws on top. I also added two screws in the back to help prevent the cupholder being pushed back too far.
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The Center Console
After I took out the empty slot, I moved the radio down. Otherwise the cupholder and it's contents could interfere with the shift stick.
BTW, in order to remove the empty slot, you need to pop out the radio first. To do that, you need to insert two metal pieces in the radio. I had the dealer do it for me for free as it took 5 sec... I didn't want to damage the 400+USD Monsoon equipment.
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Fully Installed
Here we have the cupholder fully installed and everything back in place.
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Cupholder open.
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With a water bottle
Works like a charm. It's a better location for a cupholder, it is deeper so bottles and cups don't fall out, and it can handle a larger diameter bottle. The best part is that with this mod you install this as an additional cupholder.
BTW, if you have a B5.5, I still recommend this mod...
In the past I also installed the blue tinted luxury-like mirrors. I'm also planning on installing the rear fog lamp. But planning on using a 98' Audi A4 switch instead of the Passat euroswitch. I'm also thinking on putting in an electronic turbo assist indicator.
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