Which Pickup Truck Cabs Don’t Fit a Family of Five?
Not every four-door pickup truck will easily fit a family of five. Midsize pickup trucks may feel cramped for your middle passenger, while some of the smaller half-ton truck cabs offer less than 25 inches of rear seat legroom. Ultimately, the size pickup truck your family needs depends on your individual family. But here are how the smaller full-size cabs stack up.
Which pickup truck cabs don’t fit a family of five?
Not every pickup truck manufacturer offers a “regular” cab with a single row of seating. But every half-ton pickup truck manufacturer offers a small cab with a back seat that might not fit every brand of car seat or tall teenagers.
First, a word on midsize pickup trucks. Most manufacturers sell midsize and compact trucks with four-door cabs. While they may offer plenty of legroom in the rear, they are not as wide as full-size light-duty (half-ton) trucks, so they may leave your center passenger feeling a bit cramped–according to US News. You can see how various midsize cabs compare at the bottom of this article.
The Nissan Titan is one of the only full-size pickup trucks still offering rear-hinged doors. The Titan “King Cab” only has 24.8 inches of rear legroom. This makes some sense, considering Nissan offers no two-door Titan, so this is their smallest cab. But this cab is unlikely to fit a family with children in car seats or tall kids.
Which pickup trucks might fit a family of five?
Ford, GM, Ram, and Toyota all offer a wide but compact four-door pickup truck cab. These cabs vary in size and each will fit some families, but not others.
Ford does offer an F-150 “Regular Cab” with just one row of seating. The next size is the “Super Cab,” which has rear-hinged rear doors like the Nissan. This configuration has 33.5 inches of rear legroom.
General Motors offers two full-size pickup trucks: the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500. Their cab sizes are identical. Like the F-150, these trucks are available with one row of seating in a “Regular Cab” configuration. Unlike the F-150, they are also available in two separate sizes of four-door, forward-hinged cabs. The smaller GM “Double Cab” offers 35.2 inches of legroom to your rear seat passengers.
The current Ram 1500 and Toyota Tundra offer similar cab configurations. Neither truck offers a two-door “regular” cab or even a small cab with rear-hinged rear doors. You can choose between two cabs with four forward-hinged doors. The compact Ram 1500 “Quad Cab” has 35.6 inches of rear legroom. The Tundra version is called the “Double Cab” and has 33.3 inches of rear legroom. Note that the F-150’s “Super Cab” offers a hair more rear legroom than the Tundra’s “Double Cab,” but your family will have to live with its rear-hinged rear doors.
With these smaller four-door cabs, you’ll want to confirm that your family fits comfortably. Tall teenagers or car seats may not fit in some of the smaller options. If you have three children, but none need a full-size back seat, one of these smaller cabs may work well for you. It’s not a bad idea to bring your family along when truck shopping so you know they’ll be comfortable in whatever you buy.
You can see how each configuration’s rear seat legroom breaks down in the chart below:
| Pickup Truck | Configuration | Rear Leg Room |
| Nissan Titan | King Cab (rear-hinged doors) | 24.8 inches |
| Toyota Tundra | Double Cab | 33.3 inches |
| Ford F-150 | Super Cab (rear-hinged doors) | 33.5 inches |
| Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | Double Cab | 35.2 inches |
| GMC Sierra 1500 | Double Cab | 35.2 inches |
| Ram 1500 | Quad Cab | 35.6 inches |
Crew cab pickup trucks have room for your entire family
Every full-size pickup manufacturer offers a “Crew Cab” variation of its half-ton. When pickup trucks were mainly work vehicles, these cabs were engineered for work “crews.” They are still defined by being large enough for adults to sit comfortably in the back seat.
A full-size pickup truck with a crew cab offers more room than many sedans and will be more comfortable for a family of five. But they also cost a pretty penny. Next, read up on how much crew cab pickup trucks cost or find out if you can fit your family in a midsize pickup truck in the video below:
