They're substantially larger in all around size. Like comparable to a Dodge Dakota. A Maverick or Santa Cruz is comparable to a historical Ranger or S10, with the caveat that they're only available in one cab and bed configuration.

The Frontier is massive compared to what it used to be. 90s Frontier was a small pickup truck. 2010s Frontier is the size of a 90s F-150.

Product of mfrs cheating CAFE standards.

Small pickups could be pretty fuel efficient. The problem is not CAFE standards but the fact that zero Americans buy small trucks, because the entire market for new vehicles in the US is people who are financially illiterate and easily marketed to and making them buy $80k brodozers is more profitable than a $30k S10

Half these people still choose to buy the vehicle they do for insane and superficial reasons like "It's got a Hemi", like my uncle, even though Hemispherical combustion chambers haven't been state of the art or even good ICE technology in decades.

Also a lot of contractors consider their vehicle appearance a tax deductible marketing expense.