Spent most of Saturday running wire and mounting everything in the back, and honestly I was second-guessing the whole setup before I even turned it on. People online kept telling me I'd regret going with Kicker for the lows, that they're all boom and no depth. Whatever. I pulled the trigger anyway. Got the box built ported, tucked it up against the rear seats so I still have half the trunk left for groceries and the dog's stuff. The amp sits on the left wall with a line output converter handling the signal from the factory head unit, since I didn't want to tear into the dash. Cleaned up the wiring runs as best I could with some loom and zip ties. First impression with the seats folded down: it pounds. Not muddy, not one-note like everyone warned me about. Even at low volume it sounds balanced. And a funny update, I'd posted a while back worried one of the subs was blown because of that rattling noise. Turns out it was just a loose trim panel buzzing against the seat frame. Pushed some foam in there and it's dead quiet now.
Moral of my weekend: trust your ears, not the comment section.