2016 Prius 4 has MINIMAL interior storage space

Yup, and no underfloor storage in the rear. You can carry a toothbrush, but that's about it.

 

I opted to keep the owners manuals out of the glovebox to give myself more room.

 

True, but I realized I have a lot of junk in those 2 glove boxes.
The rear luggage area instead is quite a disappointment. I will essentially need to keep most of the stuff in a box, kept in place someway. Now it is nice and clear in my gen3, gen4 will always look messy and take space....
Any solution would be welcome....

 

I "raised the floor" of the cargo area and added back some lost storage space. That's where my owner's manual lives...

 

If you don't have a spare tire(like me) and are not excessively worried about not having one, maybe one could use the spare tire space for extra storage. I was thinking about doing something like that. Have not really had a chance to really check it out back there yet.

I like raised floor idea, it looks good!

 

Well, what do you guys keep in your glove boxes/trunk? I kept CDs in my glove box but I don't need CDs anymore. In my trunk, I mostly kept some gym stuff and grocery bags. I did just buy a trunk organizer which seems to do the job.

Also, you could keep your owners manual under the passenger seat, there is plenty of room there. But all my glovebox has is the manual and my insurance/registration.

 

In recent history I carry very few items in my vehicle. My glove box I open on occasion to stick in my new registration or insurance cards. The center arm rest I carry maybe some CDs. In the trunk maybe a first aid kit and several cleaning items. My biggest concern is carrying luggage on long trips and a place to hold my drinks.

My 2012 Fit had two glove boxes the top was to plug in your iPod.

 

In the lower glove box: the Owner's Manual, insurance papers and a few others.

In the upper glove box (wait for it...): gloves. Heavy duty, waterproof, fleece-lined, grippy ones. For changing to the temp spare (remember those, lol) in cold weather. Plus a pressure gauge and tire depth gauge.

 

So if we find you wandering in the parking lot measuring tread depth of other cars, should we take away your keys?

Bob Wilson

 

But surely you downloaded a PDF of the 800 page manual (not to mention the one for Nav and radio) into a free Kindle App on your phone or iPad so that you could always have it handy, and be able to access the index or any page in a matter of seconds, correct?

You never know when you will need it (dinner table, on the couch, in bed, in the dentist chair...) after all.

BTW, did you have to fight like hell to get the leatherette case for the organic ones to snap closed? That darn near killed me-- but I did it.

 

Yes, I find the storage spaces to be fairly minimal in my '16 Three model. I don't mind, I try to carry minimal items.

But then I ended up buying a small plastic storage box with snap-on lid at Wal Mart, which I keep in the hatchback area. (Owner's manual, bottle of 0W-20 Toyota oil, flashlight, tire gauge, sunscreen, window cleaner, micro-fiber towels.)

And the cargo net is working out great to hold grocery bags on the way home.

 

I guess that is life in Canada, I probably wear gloves 5 days/year, if that and they are thin. I do have a pressure gauge but its in my trunk. Maybe good idea to keep it accessible though.

 

You don't need to be in Canada for that. I'm only about 2.5 hours above DC and can completely relate to them.

 

Agreed, one of the biggest things I hate about my car

 

it's all about compromises.

 

Sounds to me that the gloves in your lower glove box would be just as convenient sitting in the middle of the temporary spare. You probably use the pressure gauge more frequently but a pressure & depth gauge is a small item that takes little space.

 

Yes, just discovered the lack of trunk storage...When I bought the 2005, I thought Toyota were geniuses because of all the smartly thought out storage. Now, not so much.

 

Yeah, I agree -- the interior storage space is a bit disappointing in the Gen-4 (I came from a Gen-2 -- and really miss that "secret drawer"). It's almost as if someone said, "whoa guys -- we're getting a little too close to perfect -- let's mess something up. . ." Looks like they went with inside storage.

Yep, that's what I've decided to do. I have downloaded the OM, all 800+ pages of it, in pdf form on to my portable devices, so if I really need it, I've got it with me. It's an easy free download; I recommend that to everyone. I'm old school and prefer to have a book in my hands, but I don't need one that's now nearly the size of a dictionary stored in-car. Besides, the pdf is searchable, which is a nice plus.

Keep the OM at home and use the limited space for other junk you probably don't need in your car either...

 

The gen 3 Prius had an excellent really useful flat panel floor with the rear seat folded down. And a large hidden storage bay underneath. Both of these features gone on my gen 4 and I miss them.