Kia Sportage Luggage Test: How much cargo space?

The specs say that the completely redesigned 2023 Kia Sportage should have best-in-class cargo space behind its back seat at 39.6 cubic-feet*. That surpasses the previous leader in the clubhouse, the mechanically related Hyundai Tucson. This is quite a change for the Sportage, which used to be one of the smallest compact SUVs. In fact, there was very little difference between the last-generation and the one-size/class-down Kia Seltos.

Now, there are different versions of the Sportage, which is where that asterisk comes into play. The Sportage Hybrid has 39.5 cubic-feet of space behind its raised second row. That's right, 0.1 cubic-foot. Whooptidoo. The Sportage Plug-in Hybrid has only 34.5 cubic-feet, the result of it not having the dual-level floor of the other versions. It also lacks a spare tire.

This luggage test was conducted on the quite excellent Sportage Hybrid.

Here's the cargo area. It's as big as advertised with abundant length and width, plus a decent amount of height beyond the back seat line.

The Sportage can be equipped with a cargo cover, which was not included in this test car. However, like the Hyundai Tucson and Toyota RAV4, you can store the cargo cover inside the car. You can see the little indentation that keeps it in place above right.

You can also see the difference in height between the low and high floor settings. Using the low floor lets you take full advantage of the 39.6/39.5 cubic-feet of space. Using the high-floor provides a flat load floor when you fold down the back seat. Its resulting 34.5 cubic-feet is still better than most compact SUVs.

Which is good, because I must now admit to screwing up this test a bit. Normally, I test only with the lower floor position since we're talking max space behind the back seat. A flat load floor with that seat lowered is therefore irrelevant. Unfortunately, I totally missed the lower floor option when I did this test and only stacked bags atop the high floor. Oops.

Did it really matter? Ah, no.