- Joined
- Jun 20, 2023
- Messages
- 45
I will never need to take 7 passengers in the cramped space that the 2023 Outlander provides and I need every inch of cargo room for my wife's business, so I had the dealer take out the rear seats before I took delivery. I am attaching photos to show the removed seats, the hardware the dealer gave me (looks short a bolt) and the resulting larger rear space. It looks like it was fairly easy to remove the seats, but you have to make sure to unplug the wires for the seat sensors.
I used to have a Subaru Forester and we had come up with a system of containers and totes that just fit for my wife's business demo trips. The stock Outlander was significantly smaller and would not hold everything, but with the changes (and a few modifications on our end) we are now able to make it work.
Removing the seats adds just over a foot of depth, but the remaining plastic cover makes it uneven towards the front. This lets us get in 2 totes and some misc stuff that would not have fit otherwise.
I also have a large, somewhat lame Bernese dog (Winston) who couldn't manage jumping into the extra height of the Outlander, so I've also attached photos showing the plywood leveller and set of stairs I built for him to get in the back. There is a nice lip left on both inner sides of the cargo area that holds the plywood, but I had to shape it to fit at the rear. It was a bit rocky when sitting on the lip, so I used a piece of 2x4 to support the plywood underneath at the rear. Because of the thickness of the 3/4" plywood, this leaves about 1/2 extending above the hatch sill.
I built a set of stairs using metal stair risers. I bent and shortened the metal extension to fit over the bumper, then covered the metal with gorilla tape.
The plywood sort of defeats the purpose of removing the seats, but I really only need it for the dog.
If you can't see the images, here is a link: https://1drv.ms/f/s!Anp20LxiAtuGlR7Iy33vpoM-0mM0?e=BQKEDt
I used to have a Subaru Forester and we had come up with a system of containers and totes that just fit for my wife's business demo trips. The stock Outlander was significantly smaller and would not hold everything, but with the changes (and a few modifications on our end) we are now able to make it work.
Removing the seats adds just over a foot of depth, but the remaining plastic cover makes it uneven towards the front. This lets us get in 2 totes and some misc stuff that would not have fit otherwise.
I also have a large, somewhat lame Bernese dog (Winston) who couldn't manage jumping into the extra height of the Outlander, so I've also attached photos showing the plywood leveller and set of stairs I built for him to get in the back. There is a nice lip left on both inner sides of the cargo area that holds the plywood, but I had to shape it to fit at the rear. It was a bit rocky when sitting on the lip, so I used a piece of 2x4 to support the plywood underneath at the rear. Because of the thickness of the 3/4" plywood, this leaves about 1/2 extending above the hatch sill.
I built a set of stairs using metal stair risers. I bent and shortened the metal extension to fit over the bumper, then covered the metal with gorilla tape.
The plywood sort of defeats the purpose of removing the seats, but I really only need it for the dog.
If you can't see the images, here is a link: https://1drv.ms/f/s!Anp20LxiAtuGlR7Iy33vpoM-0mM0?e=BQKEDt
