I make a round trip that's 3-4 hours one way (often with a break stop partway through) about once a month.

That doesn't even involve crossing into a different state (far from it).

America is big with lots of empty space and people who drive really long distances.

The number of places where you can catch a train to go between cities is very limited and often even when it is an option it's faster and more convenient to drive yourself anyway.

The fact that in most places you basically have to own a car to be able to live in an affordable neighborhood and commute to where the jobs are contributes to that as well.

Yeah, long car trips. Just visiting my parents is 2 hours by car. My sister would be 2-3 days (I fly for that). I drove to visit my nearest aunt and uncle and that was a very, very long one day drive. About 12-13 hours.

It must be cultural, because two hours doesn't seem that long to me, yet nobody I know would drink in the car on such a trip, we'd stop at a gas station / roadside diner.

Probably. I can't see why I wouldn't at least want the option of being able to carry a beverage. But I primarily drive two-seaters and don't see the need for more than one or two, let alone 19!

It just seems like a waste of time to sit for 30 minutes in the middle of a journey and wait for your coffee to cool. It's far more leisurely to sip it as you drive instead of feeling hurried to finish it.

Yeah, another of our cultural differences is that we mainly drink espressos, not large cups. So it's a 5-10 minute break, not 30.

I'm a driving aficionado, not a cupholder aficionado. But surely Zee Germans have felt the need to sip a coffee on their way to the Nürburgring.

I far more often use the cupholder for my phone than for a beverage, but I definitely find myself taking an iced coffee on the go for longer trips.

If you drink coffee in the morning and drive a car to work then as a matter of public safety you should have a cup holder.

Or you could drink it before entering the car.

I think you’re grossly under estimating how much coffee is being drank.