I'm in the market for an 8, and have learned that unfortunately the rear seats dont fold down. I do alot of snowboarding in the winter, and am trying to figure out if a snowboard (or a few) would fit in there. If anyone can measure that opening it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Snowboard yes, surfboard no.
Couple of snowboards would probably fit.
I'm not going to measure it, but the useable dimensions are roughly = 11 inches high by 8 inches wide.

 

i've gotten at a max two snowboards to fit. the larger of the two was a 158cm don't recall the size of the smaller one, had to put the bigger one in first and angle it to fit in the little gap between the rear seats. you may or may not have to take your bindings off depends on how low they can or can't fold down.
like Mazurfer said 11 x 8 sounds right lol,
good luck with the car hunt hope i helped

 

thanks guys that was really helpful

 

might have to go with a roof rack once i get mine... even though i hate how many rock chips my boards get after a trip up

 

If you board hard I think rock chips are the least of your worries, for real. Snow covers the top of the board all the time anyhow just about when on the slopes and the the base is facing the roof which is what really matters.