YETI Rambler® "Travel Straw Mug" Insulated Mug with Straw Lid 1 piece

Tipped over in the footwell, and everything's still dry

What is the YETI Rambler Travel Straw Mug? A 591 ml travel mug for cold drinks whose straw folds down into the lid and seals it shut. Not meant for hot coffee, fizzy drinks or anything with pulp.

The YETI Rambler Travel Straw Mug is YETI's travel mug for anyone who takes a cold drink from home and wants to sip it on the road without lifting the mug. 591 millilitres, a fully welded handle, six colours. Your thumb flips the straw down into the lid, and only then is the mug allowed to fall over in the footwell.

• Straw down means shut. One flick of the thumb, a solid click, and the 591 millilitres stay where they belong. After that the mug can lie in a rucksack, tip over in the footwell and ride along in the toolbox. With the straw up, it's open, and that doesn't change.
• Measure your cup holder before you order. For this mug family YETI assumes an inside diameter of at least 7.6 centimetres, an American size for American cars. Factory cup holders in European cars are often 70 to 75 millimetres. Two minutes with a tape measure saves you a return.
• A second lid instead of a second mug. The body is the same as on its big brother with the screw lid, and the 20 oz StrongHold lid fits it. In summer the straw lid goes on; in January, the screw lid. YETI gives five years on materials and workmanship.

Day-to-day from Detailing1: The most common mistake is taking a tightly screwed lid as proof that it's shut. This mug is only shut with the straw folded down. Skip that check in the dark and you'll find the evidence on the door card later. The second mistake costs more: no dishwasher jet ever reaches the inside of the straw. After anything sweet, pull it out the same day and run a brush through it.

One flick of the straw and the mug is shut

You fill the Rambler Travel Straw Mug once in the morning, press the straw down into the lid with your thumb, and from then on the mug just comes along for the ride.

Quarter past six, still dark, engine warming up. Ice in, water or cold brew on top, twist the lid on, straw down. You feel the click even through gloves. At the first roundabout the mug topples over because you didn't push it all the way into the holder. That used to ruin the morning. This time you pick it up at the lights and carry on.

With the straw up, you drink without lifting the mug. You don't tilt it, you don't hunt for a sip slot, you don't take your eyes off the road. The lid goes on in several positions, so you turn the straw once to wherever your hand reaches anyway. Drivers reach differently from passengers. Once you've got it set up right, you'll never change it again.

The handle is the second thing you notice straight away. Welded all the way round instead of screwed on, and it sits high enough to stay clear of the cup holder rim. YETI later carried this exact handle shape across the whole Straw Mug family, which says pretty clearly that it worked here.

Between setting off and arriving, the thing that sets it apart from an open mug happens: nothing. It lies sideways in your rucksack between camera and jacket, it rides in the toolbox, it stands on the boot lip while you slam the tailgate. The straw is down, so that's that. You don't think about it once the whole way, and for a mug there's no bigger compliment.

At the meet, the mug has nothing left to do. It stands on the folding table at the open tailgate while you spend two hours next to the car talking. No water ring on the tabletop, no puddle on the leather console, no wet hand over a freshly sealed wing. It's the same obsession with surfaces that has you drying the car off twice, just applied to a mug.

For hot coffee, you need the other lid

The straw lid is a lid for cold drinks. Water, iced coffee, cold brew, isotonic drinks. YETI explicitly rules out hot filter coffee with this lid.

That's the most important thing to know before you buy, and it's here on purpose, not in the intro. A mug with a handle that fits the cup holder looks like a coffee mug. This one isn't. YETI's own product data for this item simply says "Water only", and no amount of good intentions changes that.

The reason the mug still gets to stay on the shelf rather than being swapped out: the body is the same as on the travel mug with screw lid. The 20 oz StrongHold lid fits it. So you're not buying two mugs, you're buying one mug and, at some point, a second lid. Come January, hot coffee can go in too.

Swapping lids is also the honest answer to whether you need two mugs. You don't. You need one body and two lids, and the second lid fits in any drawer. If you'd rather drink from a cup in winter anyway, skip it altogether and use the mug from April to October.

Straight talk on the rest, too. Fizzy drinks stay out, because pressure builds up. YETI also rules out drinks with pulp, and if you've ever clogged a straw with freshly squeezed orange juice, you know why. Storing food in it overnight isn't on the cards. No microwave, it doesn't stack, and it's leakproof when closed, not with the straw flipped up in a rucksack.

And the comparison on our own shelves. If your mug mostly stands still, on the table, in the kitchen, in the paddock, the insulated tumbler with open straw is the better buy, because it holds more and there's no flipping open and shut. If your mug mostly travels, take this one, because its straw seals. Neither of them does both at once.

Which leaves the point where most returns start. YETI advertises the whole family as "fits the cup holder", but bases the Straw Mug shape on a 7.6 centimetre inside diameter. In an older 3 Series, an A4 or a Golf, the factory cup holders are often 70 to 75 millimetres. Measure at the top of the holder, not the bottom. That settles it before you order, not after delivery.

Three summers in the boot and it barely shows

The real point of this mug only shows after years. It rides along, slides into the trim every time you brake, and afterwards it looks used, not used up.

It's built from 18/8 stainless steel, and the colour is a baked-on powder coat rather than paint. That takes far more punishment than anything simply sprayed on, but it isn't indestructible. A drop onto tarmac can chip a spot off. The five-year warranty covers defects in materials and workmanship, and explicitly not scratches, dents or fading. A dent in the base is purely cosmetic.

Who it's for: whoever heads off early to Cars and Coffee, whoever takes the weekend car out on B-roads, whoever spends more time standing than sitting in the paddock. In this scene, the kit is part of the point. If you pick your car by colour, you pick your mug the same way, which is why it comes in Black, White, Navy, Pampa Light Green, Rescue Red and Tahini.

You'll find the same shades on the mugs, bottles and coolers across the same line. With this crowd, a matching look is no accident; it's the reason the crate in the boot is the same colour as the mug in the console.

Who it's not for: the coffee drinker who wants exactly one mug and doesn't fancy buying a second lid. Whoever takes juice with bits in along in the morning. And whoever's tired in the evening and doesn't want to take anything apart. Because the straw is where a mug like this dies, not the steel.

Two habits no manufacturer puts front and centre. The first decides your afternoon. Fill the mug with ice the evening before and put it somewhere cold. A mug that sets off at 22 °C spends the first hour fighting itself, and that's exactly the hour you'll be missing at four o'clock at the folding table.

The second decides the years. Straw and seals go in the cutlery basket, not on the top rack, and once a week they get five minutes in boiling water. Forget that for three weeks and you'll smell it on the next sip, and then the whole mug goes in the bin. Yet the straw is the wear part and the mug is what stays. With the Travel Straw Mug, you replace the straw, not the steel.

Using the YETI Rambler Travel Straw Mug

Chill it the night before, fold the straw down in the morning

Fill the mug with ice the evening before and put it somewhere cold. A mug that sets off at 22 °C spends the first hour fighting itself and goes lukewarm that much earlier in the afternoon.

Before every drive, press the straw down into the lid with your thumb. Only then is the mug leakproof. A tightly screwed lid on its own isn't enough while the straw is up.

Take it apart at the end of the day. Pull out the straw and seals; mug and lid go in the dishwasher, straw and seals in the cutlery basket rather than on the top rack. Let all the parts dry completely before you put the lid back together.

Once a week, run a soft brush through the straw and put the lid and seals in boiling water for five minutes. After sweet drinks, the straw comes out the same day, or it clogs up from the inside.

Good to know: Cold or room-temperature drinks only. YETI rules out hot drinks, fizzy drinks and juices with pulp for the straw lid, and food doesn't go in for storage. Not microwave-safe, not stackable. If you want to use the same mug for hot drinks in winter, fit the 20 oz StrongHold lid, which goes on the same body. The straw is a wear part and gets replaced; the mug doesn't. Five-year warranty against defects in materials and workmanship, excluding scratches, dents and fading.