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If you go with a grill the speaker height might not be so critical but keeping crud out of the speaker may be an issue.
If you go with a hidden speaker (my choice) then speaker depth and enclosure depth are critical.
To help minimize the finished height of the enclosure I used a router to hollow out (about 3/8") the back side of the enclosure to create clearance for spare tire anchor-screw and I used a power sander to round off any other points of contact on the back side of the enclosure to allow it to nest into the spare tire as deeply as possible. I had just enough useable room in the enclosure to allow me to recess the speaker about a 1/4" into the top deck of the enclosure. When installed the top deck of the enclosure was even with (maybe a tad above) the factory styrofoam sub deck that rests on the spare tire and creates the floor of the hatch. When installed this way the mounting rim of the speaker stood about 1/4" above the top deck of the enclosure, this was not noticeable with the carpet and trims installed. I also used 1/2" MDF to allow me to better fine tune the final height of the enclosure. 1/2" MDF gives you more precise control of the height of the enclosure than the often used 5/8" or 3/4" MDF but using 1/2" MDF means it takes more layers to build the enclosure.
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