About 5 weeks ago I took my family on a Disney Cruise. We had to drive about 3+ hours to the airport in Tulsa and didn't want to burn more gas than necessary. I decided to see if we could fit all the junk a family of 5 would need for a Cruise and 9 days away from home into the back of the Prius along with the family in the front (yes, all 5 of us). Th amount of cargo necessitated removal of the cover over the 'hidden' area in the hatch. The trip worked out fine, all the stuff crammed in, and I still had a little visibility through the window. When we returned home we unloaded the car and I just decided not to bother, at that time, with putting the cover back in place. Long story short, I still haven't put it back on. Granted the hatch area doesn't look nearly as pretty when it's open, but it has been very fortunate on at least 2 occasions that it wasn't there as it allowed for much more stuff to fit in the back. Of particular note yesterday my Expedition broke down a good 50 miles from home and I had to fit a large duffle with the family's clothes as well as my 40 lb. black Lab into the hatch. They never both would've fit with it still in there as the duffle wouldn't have fit in the area under the cover (neither would the dog in case you were wondering). I just thought I'd share this b/c it's amazing how much more cargo room there is with that thing off than on. Usually, for the first 19 months I've had the car, I'd get a bunch of groceries and end up putting stuff behind the front seats or stacking it up where I couldn't see out the back window or whatever. Now it almost always fits in the black container with room on top. The horizontal cargo net is still fairly useful in keeping tall items from sliding around and the vertical net still holds stuff you don't want getting crushed.
There is a neat storage area under the floor for the cover. I have used that many times when we bought something and it wouldn't fit in with the cover in place. Sometimes I just place it on the floor behind the driver's seat if it is just a quick trip.
Evan: Once a month I take off the cargo cover and the tray underneath to get the spare "tire" out. I have to do this just to check the air pressure in the spare. Very cute how the stem points down. Yeah, with everything out I look at that deep well and think "man why couldn't they have designed it THAT way?" You'd have what, 4 feet or so to shove something in. Jay
Kathy, I guess I wasn't clear, I wasn't refering to the Tonteau cover, but the cover for the 'hidden' cargo tray--what appears to be the floor of the hatch area. I've never used the Tonteau cover and removed that part over a year ago.
Evan, I can't believe I'd never thought of this before. But just now, reading your thread, it occured to me that I wouldn't have to worry about groceries sliding around and tipping over if I place them in the hidden cargo area. It's got a nice rectangular shape like grocery bags and is deep enough to hold them in place.
The tray is smooth plastic so if you don't have things in there fairly tightly they'll still slide, but I like not worrying about them tipping over as much since the tray will hold the liquid. I also carried salt for the water softner in there (they always seem to leak) and didn't worry about salt on the carpet. It's just amazing how much more cargo capacity you get with that thing off and it doesn't obscure that lower hatch window.
Evan: Especially that "rust remover" softener salt. I use that stuff at the hobby farm to keep the resin bed squeaky clean. It contains citric acid. I did have a minor spill in my 2000 GMC Sierra extended cab. I had 6 bags in the rear area, with the rear bench seat folded up. One bag got punctured by a receiver hitch, since I used to keep my receiver hitches in the cab when not in use. Every salt pellet made a white stain on the carpet, and they didn't come out. That sure helped the resale! Jay
In the UK the Toyota dealers sell a perfectly fitted rubber mat for the lower cargo tray. Makes it somewhat more usable - totally stops anything sliding around.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KMO\";p=\"97806)</div> That's cool....probably wouldn't be hard to make one either....just some indoor/outdoor carpet could even be cut to fit and could be purchased to match color wise....thanks for the idea.
I've always wondered about that. Cause they have a metal stand to lock the false floor in place when it's folded up. But doing that, will remove the extra between that and the rear seat. My Seattle trip 3 weeks ago had the car loaded with 4 ppl, luggage on the upper floor and all the weekend shopping that we did underneath. I didn't think they'll fit but apparently they did. I even fit some clothing in the small left compartment. We have just as many configurations to rival some small SUVs
when I got the wife's car home from the body shop in May of k24 the first thing she did was remove the floor plate. She said that thing is never hitting the HV battey again. It's in the basement somewhere. Rubbermaid makes an antiskid mat, sort of a waffle pattern which we both have in our cars. Keeps things from sliding around in the trunk of my classic and the lower pan in her 2k4.
For our trips, I used the hidden area for the smaller items and even used the small bin on the left side. Then with the cover in place pack in the larger items. It is amazing what it will hold. (For trips the Tonteau cover gets stashed and left at home.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco\";p=\"97740)</div> LOL, is that the Front window or rear view?!? Hey I took a 7 night version of that D cruise (to WCarib) a year ago. Hope you had a blast too.
I bought some foam rubber fabric that is used to line drawers in a tool chest. I cut the sheet to fit the floor of the hidden storage area and now things that I store there don't slide around.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(HYACK\";p=\"97862)</div> 7 night Eastern Carib--I'm almost embarrassed at how much I enjoyed it...anyone with a family should take one of these. Drifting, drifting......driftingggg.........
