My car has one. It fits into a cup holder and is in an awkward place, too low down. Its lid is broken.
I think proper ashtrays are sometimes an option these days.
My 1953 Bentley had two cigar lighters in the back and one in the facia. No stinginess with the ashtrays either.
A lot of people, perhaps a majority, keep meter food in them nowadays. When they smoke they just chuck the butt out of the window without looking to keep the ashtrays clean.
Perfectly reasonable behaviour from their point of view. Doesn't bother me.
Edited by Lud on 27/12/2009 at 18:42
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Doesn't the new VW Beetle come with a flower pot instead?
Don't recall either of my old Land Rovers having an ashtray either; mind you the Series 1 didn't even have a heater!
Edited by Harleyman on 27/12/2009 at 18:58
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i used to use the floor when i had filled the ashtray,you cant do that these days though because modern car carpets are made of such rubbish they just go into burn holes if you crash the ash
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In my mk1 Focus, they'd lined the "ash tray" with felt and replaced the fag lighter with a cheap plastic cover with "12v power outlet" marked on it.
If you wanted the "Smokers Pack", they deleted the felt and put a fag lighter in the socket. And charged you extra for it, IIRC.
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Ashtrays always seemed to me a particularly useless item to have in a car, anyway. They're never big enough to use as a proper bin and non-smokers fill them with sticky sweets and screwed up parking tickets and the like. Stubbing a fag out to the point it's no longer hot - whilst driving a ton of metal! - is a huge distraction, and chucking the fag out of the window is antisocial and can be dangerous. And the insurance claim "had accident whilst attempting to extinguish blazing crotch" is more than a passing urban myth.
If Britain didn't already have far too many petty pedantic pieces of legislation at every level, I'd say ban smoking inside moving vehicles altogether, but it'd never work and the driving test unfortunately does not include a test of intelligence or common sense...
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Bilboman- I agree well said.
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Ashtray handy for stubbing out cigar ready for further re-lighting.
If used for keeping butts in then can make the car smell unpleasant.
Far better to hoof them out of the window....preferably at speed, then a litter warden can't pounce on you !
Ted
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IIRC the old Morris Oxford had ashtrays in the doors which were really handy on windy days as they were self emptying when you opened the doors
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I always used to use the front ashtray for storing spare light bulbs and the odd fuse. I miss the Focus not having one.
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My 1953 Bentley had two cigar lighters in the back and one in the facia. No stinginess with the ashtrays either.
A proper car then Lud, in all respects. My uncle, incidentally, had a Bentley of that vintage - a Mk 6 I think. Two door with right-hand-side handbrake, manual 3-gear if memory serves. Lovely to ride in.
In response to the OP - I think the Toyota Pious III doesn't come with an ashtray - it was an option, I believe, on the Pious II though. Such a mean & thin-lipped manufacturer would never get my money - despite my admiration for that particular model.
I have been asked, when trading in a car, whether it's ever been smoked in - 'Of course!', I say, '..do you think I'm weird or something!' Then the wizened little face allows itself a miserly smile... (not mine.. his!).
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right-hand-side handbrake, manual 3-gear if memory serves. Lovely to ride in.
Four-speed woodbines, but 1st gear had no synchromesh and the manual recommended starting in 2nd on flat ground (I didn't do it though). The really great thing was that the gear lever was on the right too, just in front of the driver's door opening.
If the lever was left in reverse, second or top gear position it could go up your trouser leg when you got in.
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>>Four-speed woodbines, but 1st gear had no synchromesh
Yes, that absolutely chimes with my experience. My dear old uncle (although at the time he must have been a raffish 40-something) did say he never used 1st gear - made some comment about the abundance of power, so you didn't need to - but I imagine he just couldn't face explaining what synchromesh was to an 8-year old.
I knew something was on the right - just had it in my mind it was just the handbrake - gearstick makes more sense now though. I have fabulous memories of going from his house, on the outskirts of Glasgow, for runs up & around Loch Lomond in the very early 60's; the car was the star, Uncle a close second!
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Spot on, no ashtray in the Prius and no option for one either. But then 'er indoors throws a paddy at the slightest hint of fag smoke in the car anyway, so no big deal to me.
Best car I ever had in this area was an old Triumph 1300 FWD. That had an ashtray mounted at either end of the dash. The tray itself was metal and lifted / swung out towards you. This meant that a fag casually held between the first and second fingers of the right hand would be naturally within easy flicking distance of the tray when said hand wasn't required for steering wheel duty. Left hand always free for gearchanges and no swapping hands / eyes off road to use a centrally mounted tray. Stowing the tray dropped its contents into the plastic hopper beneath, minimising the potential for a faceful of fag ends when the quarterlight was opened.
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What, no humidor, Lud?
:-)
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I used to enjoy a nice King Edward in the car.......preferably cut up and made into a bag of chips.
Ted
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