Drinks Holder
The MGF is a bit short of space for somewhere to put a drink holder or water bottle, that can be conveniently reached. Holders that clip into the air vents defeat the object of the vents and are usually not very good at staying there. Others that are intended to clip into the door/window slot are just not practical for lack of room.
Halford's supply a door-mounted holder, which, while not suitable for the MGF as it is intended, works very nicely with a few modifications, on the central console.
For my initial version, I reduced the length of the "bracket" (the bit that would normally be inserted into the window slot on the door), so it would sit inside the gear lever recess, and relied on Velcro patches on both the vertical and horizontal bracket sides to hold it against the central console tunnel. In the position I wanted to mount it, (alongside the gear lever) it needs to be readily removable so that the passenger seat can be slid forward. However, the problem with the Velcro was that while it worked well in the UK, once we got into hotter climates on the Continent, the Velcro glue would soften, the pads come unstuck, and the bottle end up on the floor out of reach!
Hence, the Mark II
This no longer relies upon Velcro, but I did have to buy a new one to be able to make it. The "bracket" is no longer reduced in length, but I bent the bracket inwards so as to make more of a clip that would grip the gear lever recess. You need to heat the plastic with a heat-gun or hairdryer, but be warned that it does not need much heat to deform or melt it! You will need to hold it at the angle you want until it cools enough to set hard again.
Bending the bracket to form a clip is not enough to keep the holder in place once a drinks bottle is in it. Using part of the original holder, I made a second bracket that would clip under the lower edge of the central console tunnel, and pop-riveted it to the lower part of the holder. This makes the whole arrangement far more positive for staying in place, while still being very easy to remove.
This version stayed successfully in place throughout our 2500 mile French tour this summer, coping with all the tight Pyrenean hairpin bends.
Bending the bracket to form a clip is not enough to keep the holder in place once a drinks bottle is in it. Using part of the original holder, I made a second bracket that would clip under the lower edge of the central console tunnel, and pop-riveted it to the lower part of the holder. This makes the whole arrangement far more positive for staying in place, while still being very easy to remove.