Options for increasing Prius luggage capacity?

whats that "as seen on tv product" thats like a food saver for clothing???

i think your list of options is pretty complete

 

The key word is 'stuff'. Take less, and do more. Having driven across the country with camping gear for four, I think the Prius has lots of room. Soft sided luggage is much easier to pack - we use a combination of backpacks, duffel bags, and ski bags. One of the most effective tricks is to roll your clothing tightly in plastic bags and suck all the air out. You can also buy large 'space bags' with fittings for a vacuum cleaner that will shrinkwrap items as large as pillows. Don't take anything empty - you can always fill it with something.

That 'hidden space' beneath the floor is very useful. I've found it will hold tents and sleeping pads quite handily, and can be accessed without disturbing items on top. I tend to leave the tonneau cover at home, because it only gets in the way. If you're really cramming, there's even more space under the trunk, in with the spare tire. There's yet more useable space in the doors, under the seats...

Do you have two kids or three? The middle seat in the back is a prime location for more stuff. Start loading the biggest items first, then pack progressively smaller things around them. Even the space in the little rear side windows is fair game, and will hold a football or several teddy bears. Just make sure they can see.

 

The take less stuff option which often at first seems undoable is usually the easiest choice. Most people bring too much stuff with them on trips. On camping trips, the Prius should be able to hold enough for a family of 5 with that family of 5 in the car if they're willing to bring only what they really need.

 

Don't forget you can take the entire plastic bin out and leave it in your garage. You can fit one extra big piece of luggage just sitting atop the spare tire. Last year we were lucky enough to take a 2 month trip to the west coast and back and we had plenty of room for luggage plus 3 of us.

 

What's the difference between the "hidden space" and the "space under the trunk, in with the spare tire"??? Isn't the hidden space under the rear-most floor area? Is the spare under that? Any pix of the two?

 

You can also remove the rear seats to free up some space...

 

Hyo Silver, if you got four people and all your camping gear inside, congratulations!! Our family of four (incl. two teens) did a 7500 mile cross country camping trip last summer. But we had our two tents, sleeping bags, pads, and hiking boots on the roof in an adapted (aerodynamically enhanced) roof rack that allowed us to average 50 mpg for the trip. Inside we had two coolers, backpack for each, etc. A great trip! Don't chicken out on making the Prius work for this trip.

PA P

 

Sure.

Works great.

 

I said 'hidden space' in referring to the area immediately below the floor, because that's how the original poster phrased it. There's an even more hidden space under that, where the spare tire lives. Neither one of them is 'hidden' really, but the exact technical terms for these two areas escapes me at the moment.

 

Have you tried packing for the four of you? My wife thought the Prius would never replace our SUV for our road trips to San Diego with the kids until I proved her wrong and carried every last thing we carried in the SUV in the Prius. I had the following:

1 large suitcase. By large I mean every time we travel it's only about 70% loaded and I'm still yanking stuff out of it to transfer to my garment bag when the airline is threatening to charge me for the extra weight. I can easily load that thing to 75lbs and not think twice. It's big.

2 smaller kids size suit cases. These are pretty small, but still pull along suit cases with wheels.

2 laptops. 1 laptop by itself and 1 in a large laptop case.

1 small bag for my wifes hair dryer, makeup, toothpaste, meds, and other general bathroom items.

1 medium size 28q soft cooler.

1 DOUBLE stroller.

I also had several smaller items thrown in. I know I'm missing a few larger items on the list but they're slipping my mind at the moment.

None of this was over the top of the back seat to the point where it would be a problem if we stopped short. It may have only extended about 3 or 4" higher than the seat back. Remember, I had a double stroller and a huge suitcase... and the 2 smaller ones. The way I see it, the more space you have, the more space you take up. If you decide what you're going to bring and just bring it you'll fit it some how. I have various items I store under the floor as well...items that I don't need until we get there. These include jackets that didn't make it into the suitcase (in the winter), an extra inverter for charging laptops (this is a spare in case the one up front decides to give up the ghost), etc.