[billygator]

Hello Niro owners,

I went to my local Kia dealership this weekend to check out the Niro and was pretty impressed by it. That said, I had a question that the Kia salesmen didn't know the answer to. Looking at the trunk area and the storage bin underneath of what I believe was a Touring trim, I was wondering if anyone has removed that storage area. It appeared to just be a styrofoam insert and some plastic bins held down by a couple of screws. I understand that with the seats folded down the trunk makes a nice flat transition to the back seat area, but if the storage bins could be removed and the existing floor mat could still fit atop of the additional storage/spare tire area below, that could add another 6-8 inches of depth to the trunk space without putting the seats down.

Was curious if anyone had done this and if the floor mat worked once the bins were removed? By my calculations based on a rough estimate of the current dimensions (41" wide x 30" depth x 27" height --> 19.2 ft^3), by adding an additional 6" of depth would increase trunk space to a whopping 23.5 ft^3!!!

 

[Bigmura]

Mine doesn't have any screws to remove

Mine is an LX and I was able to remove the foam tray just by lifting it out. When I took a trip where space really counted (moving my daughter out of her dorm...oy!) I was happy to have the extra room, even though it was irregular space. But when I got back home, I put the tray back in...

 

[PAULRIDES]

Had not thought about that as seldom need any more space.

Perhaps one could remove the tray and add a fitted plywood or something to even the floor out.

Just a thought as I have not looked to see if that makes sense.

 

[CB Bob]

I removed the two foam trays from my EX and placed my spare tire in it's intended space. I really don't need this extra space for storage.
I had one of my winter tires there all summer, and when I changed out to my winter tires a month ago, I placed a summer tire there as the spare. I made sure that my winter tires were not directional tires, so any of the winter tires I have can be used as the spare. There's just enough room for the spare, and I poked the jack and other items around the tire in the voids.
My EX has a carpeted cover which still fits in it's place.
Now I have to figure out another use for the two foam trays!!

 

[billygator]

Thanks for the responses

Thanks everyone for the responses.

My reasoning for the additional trunk space is that I like to keep my dog in the back on road trips so he can move around and look out the window, and my worry with the Niro with the high trunk floor is that he would be obstructing my view too much. By dropping the entire floor a few inches would help a lot.

If anyone else has permanently dropped the floor in the trunk let me know! Thanks.

 

[Neuron]

Have you tried seeing what your rear view would be like with your dog in the back? Maybe dropping the floor won't be necessary.