How to Properly Use the Center Gap
While it seems intuitive once you know what it is, utilizing the gap correctly actually unlocks the full ergonomic potential of your car’s front cabin.
1. The Dual-Mug Inward Pivot
The slot is intentionally designed to allow you and your front-seat passenger to store handled mugs side-by-side simultaneously. To use it properly, don’t point your mug handles outward toward the doors or backward toward the armrest. Instead, orient the handles inward so they slide directly into the center gap. This allows both large cups to sit completely flat, flush, and secure against the bottom of the console without bumping into each other.
2. The Standard Phone Dock
If you aren’t transporting handled mugs, that vertical channel is the perfect width to act as a temporary smartphone dock. Dropping your phone vertically into the slot keeps it upright and visible for navigation glances, prevents it from sliding around the passenger seat during sharp turns, and keeps it close to the console’s USB charging ports.
3. Sunglass and Key Storage
Because the bridge area creates a continuous flat surface across the bottom, it safely accommodates wider, long objects that wouldn’t normally fit into a single circular cup holder. It serves as an excellent, rattle-free resting place for your sunglasses (placed fold-down) or bulky key rings that you want to keep easily within arm’s reach.
A Short History of the In-Car Drink
To truly appreciate this tiny detail, it helps to realize how long it took automakers to take our beverages seriously.
In the 1950s and 60s, drive-in theaters and roadside diners prompted the invention of plastic trays that hooked over rolled-down window glass. When built-in “cup holders” finally debuted in the 1980s, they were often nothing more than shallow, useless dimples stamped into the inside of a glove compartment door—completely useless while the vehicle was in motion.
It wasn’t until the late 1990s and early 2000s, driven fiercely by commuter culture and the rise of massive premium coffee chains, that interior design teams began employing dedicated ergonomic engineers just to study how we drink while driving. The center gap is a modern product of that exact evolution.
So, the next time you slide your morning travel mug into the console and it settles perfectly into place with a satisfying, stable click, you can thank the anonymous automotive engineers who looked at two simple circles and decided to bridge the gap
