My old 1994 Volvo 940 Turbo wagon was the first car I owned with usable cupholders, coming from a 1984 Mercedes-Benz 300TD with none and a 1994 Mazda Miata with two cupholders positioned just ahead of the shifter, rendering them unusable. Not only were the Volvo’s usable, but they were cool, metal and plastic units that popped out of the center armrest like a playground swing. Now Volvo is continuing its history of cool cupholders with the second-row units in the 2025 EX90, the brand’s electric flagship SUV.
The EX90 comes standard with a seven-seat layout that has a three-across bench in the second row; this setup has an armrest that folds down out of the center seatback that has two traditional cupholders. But for $500 regardless of trim or package you can spec your EX90 with a pair of captain’s chairs that have adjustable inboard armrests, which is where the cupholders pop out from.
Beneath their padded tops the armrests seem to have a wraparound piece of metal and plastic trim, but press in on it and the U-shaped cupholder smoothly slides out, with a thick plastic base popping down like a jaw opening. These cupholders seem much sturdier than the thin metal arms and brittle plastic base of my 940’s, which, to be fair, did break. I didn’t have a chance to test how big of a bottle you can fit, as the only EX90s we got to drive were seven-seaters, but they look good enough as long as you’re not carrying a Big Gulp or a Stanley.
Beyond the slick operation, they’re just a nice piece of design, exactly the sort of clever detail we’ve come to expect from Volvo. When the cupholder slides out, it exposes metal trim along the sides that has a pattern of concave three-dimensional diamonds. Isn’t that nice? I think that’s really nice.
