These 5 Cup Holder Accessories Can Help Organize Your Car

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American cars, like everything in America, keep getting bigger. For years, Americans have gravitated toward hulking SUVs and pickups over smaller, more fuel-efficient models. We've frequently taken a look at the best SUVs under $40,000. But depending on which model you have, it might seem like the cup holder didn't keep pace. Or maybe that's just the problem: too much cup holder, with too little use for it. In any case, there's a whole rabbit hole of cup holder organizers you can buy online to organize your car in any way you please. There's a surprising number of them, including uses you may never have thought a cup holder could serve.

A few ground rules: The items on this list have to actually have a use, not just be gimmicks that end up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch a few months later. We also looked for things with a decent number of reviews, keeping a 4-star average or above — but we've made extra sure to point out any issues that have been reported. That's about all one can say about cup holders without things getting weird, so without further ado, here are our top five picks.

America is probably one of the only countries in the world where you can legally buy a Mega Quadruple Big Gulp Xtreme at the gas station, a miniature warhead of a Styrofoam cup capable of holding enough fluid to keep a small family alive in the desert for a week. And good luck fitting that in your cup holder. That's where a car cup holder expander comes in handy. The Car Cup Holder Expander by Tykor costs only $11.99 and claims to hold bottles as big as 46 oz and up to 3.9 inches wide at the base.

Installation is easy: Pop it in, twist, and its little feet anchor themselves in the cup holder; that could be important in a car crash, since loose items in your car can become a danger. Benefits, aside from having the diameter to rack a tank shell in your center console? It's a full cup holder upgrade, including little rubber tabs around the lip to lock in smaller cups, an anti-slip coaster, and a cutout for handles. You can also use it anywhere else with a cup holder, like your treadmill.

The only potential downside is that, aside from sticking up out of your console, it may hang over the other cup holder and make it slightly less usable. Putting two of these side by side may not work or be ideal. Reviewers have uploaded an entire gallery of themselves plonking their Stanley cups in the expander, so rest assured, this thing can probably hold most bottles you throw at it. The only place we wouldn't recommend it is a Lamborghini, since that probably wouldn't jibe with the aesthetic. And yes, Lamborghinis do have cup holders.

Okay, so maybe you buy the small drink at the gas station, so size isn't the issue. You're done with grimy car cup holder spills, done with cup holders that offer no stability, or maybe you're just done with that emptiness inside your soul and need some quick consumerism to fill it. A set of Singaro Car Cup Coasters is so cheap that you can't really lose out. The silicone material should help stabilize cups a bit and comes out easily enough for quick and thorough cleaning. It's a four-piece set, so if that's two too many for your car, you could probably use the extras as coasters on your coffee table or desk.

These in particular come in various colors for customization, or if you need to match them to the colorway of your interior. Helpfully, Amazon provides a fit checker tool at the top of the page; just select your model either by entering your license plate or going through the model year and make picker. You'll definitely want to check, because several reviewers have noted that it was a little — or a lot — too small for their vehicle.

If you're like me, you hate most car phone mounting options. Often it's a dash-mounted suction cup that won't stay stuck to anything but a pristinely smooth surface, and won't survive hitting even a mild speed bump. Or maybe the suction cup attaches to the inside of the windshield, leaving your phone to overheat in the summer sun. Phone mounts generally feel pretty unstable, get in the way of other car functions, and/or don't make it convenient to remove your phone. My personal recommendation would be to forego the phone holder altogether and get a head unit that supports Apple CarPlay. If you're not quite ready to make that leap yet, the Miracase Universal Adjustable Car Phone Mount may be the ticket.

No weak suction cup or fan vent mount? Check. Not in the way of other car controls? Check. Easy to install? Check. Stable? Double check. The only major downside to a phone mount solution like this is that, depending on where your cup holder is, it could require taking your eyes too far off the road to check your phone. We probably wouldn't recommend this for cup holders that are more centrally located, for example. However, it's highly adjustable and can extend out to 11 inches, so this may just be an issue of figuring out where the sweet spot is.

Don't worry, this thing works with many of the biggest phones out there, like the iPhone Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy Ultra models. Similar to the car cup holder expander, this mount fits in larger cup holders, between 2.6 and 4 inches in diameter. Reviewers have noted some oddities in the design, such as the glass-backed mounting plate and a few plastic parts on the arm.

One plus side of bigger cars is that a lot of them now come with those big center consoles that put a huge tray right next to you for food and what have you. But if your car doesn't have enough cabin space to house a tank crew — i.e., it doesn't have a console tray — there's another solution. Get yourself a 3-in-1 Car Cup Holder Tray that holds your food, your drink, and another drink, because why not?

It's not enough to fit a family feast, sure, but the 10-inch surface should comfortably hold a couple of meals, plus a phone tray so you can watch something while you eat. There couldn't be an easier way to eat in your car like a detective on a stakeout. Most importantly, the tray doesn't need to stay there; you insert it when needed, then remove it, break it down, and store it when you don't. Gone are the days of crumbs everywhere and stains on the thighs of your pants. As an added bonus, the main cup holder is basically a cup holder expander that can support a maximum bottle diameter of 4 inches. You can just leave that one in your cup holder and attach the tray as needed.

Before you buy this particular model, though, check that it fits your car. Amazon marks this one as a frequently returned item because the fit is sometimes not quite right. Other than that, it earns the approval of reviewers across a wide variety of cars and use cases. When it's not holding food, you can use it for quick access to sunglasses and other sundry items.

We have officially entered cup-holder-ception. If cup expanders weren't enough — a cup holder in another cup holder — you can get cup holders for your cup holders, so in theory you could have a cup holder in a cup holder in a cup holder. Jokes aside, the Iokone Multifunctional Front Seat Organizer helps add storage space to a cluttered or crowded dash and works in situations that don't lend themselves to options we've previously mentioned. It's a cup holder block supported on a thin wedge that either hugs the center console where you have your other cup holders, or rests between seats on its own — or goes anywhere else you can fit it.

The organizer features two cup holders and an extra little middle area for small items. It's designed to work with and around different kinds of center consoles, and the leather aesthetic gives it more style than cold, heartless plastic. There's not much else to say about it; this is simply a way to make a bit more use of the space you have.

While this one gets high ratings, there are some customer review videos showing units where the leather has peeled off, presumably in hot weather. It is pretty unsightly, but it doesn't seem to stop the cup holder from holding cups. It depends on how much of an eyesore that would be for you, and if $20.99 goes beyond what you'd consider cheap for an item like this.