While the footprint of a compact truck is much smaller then its full sized brethren, the leg room in a small pickup isn't something to sneeze at. In fact inch for inch, many small sized pickups out extend their heavier siblings. So which model has the best leg room in a small pickup? Well that depends, do you need an extended cab or not?
Most Front Legroom in a Compact Truck
Compact Trucks by Legroom
Chevy Colorado
GMC Canyon
Nissan Frontier
Suzuki Equator
Chevy Colorado Extended
GMC Canyon Extended
Toyota Tacoma
44.0 inches
44.0 inches
42.4 inches
42.4 inches
42.2 inches
42.2 inches
41.7 inches
Used Small Trucks by Legroom
Ford Ranger
42.4 inches
First of all, for people looking to take that extra inch of room to relax those long legs on the road, the Toyota Tacoma front leg room is worst in class. Not by much by any stretch but if front foot space is that important to you when coming to buying new trucks you really have two options and neither is the Tacoma.
For the absolute most leg space, the 44 inches of 2012 Chevy Colorado leg room (and its twin, the GMC Canyon) is the best. However, limited to the regular cabin, your interior space and ability to slide the seat back is greatly curtailed. If you need cheap trucks that can carry more the three people in a pinch go with the Nissan Frontier. Yes the Equator matches it up front, but at the tie breaker of rear seat leg room the Nissan comes out ahead.
Best Used Truck Leg Room?
When the Ford Ranger went off the board in 2010, one of the leaders of the light truck market slipped into used truck retirement. So if the 0% auto financing deals just aren't that interesting this month or you just want to save money the used truck option might be your best bet.
But how does the Ranger stack up when it comes to best used truck for leg room? Well not only does the Ranger match the Frontier and Equator with 42.4 inches of front leg room it gets 39.1 inches of rear leg room. Enough to let you roll that seat backwards and still give more to those behind you then the 33.6 inches of rear leg room in the Frontier and 25.4 inches found in the back of the Equator. Not bad for an old retired guy.