my wife has a florist would a Prius be a good car for delivering from 0 miles to 10 miles all in town driving? We are using a Corolla now and doing ok.
Sure, a Prius is great for that sort of commuting. The Prius v (since you posted in this forum I assume that's what you're most interested in) would seem an ideal vehicle for a floral delivery service. Lots of room for multiple and large displays and/or tall plants. You may not see a huge bump in FE over the corolla and if the corolla is doing well for your needs it usually makes little or no financial sense to upgrade, but if you're planning an upgrade anyway then I can't think of a vehicle better suited to a small delivery business like this. If your delivery runs are really all that short, and you can write the vehicle off as a tax expense, you should consider a Plug-in Prius. You would be able to do almost all your deliveries without using gas at all if you're able to plug in (particularly with a 240v plug) at work and recharge between deliveries. It takes 1.5 hours for a full recharge and that gets you ~15 mile range.
(I have a Gen 2 Prius, it is my belief that what I say is true for other Priuses, but be aware I do not have the vehicle you are considering) On first starting up the computers will focus on getting the car into a low polluting mode, while gas mileage will not be horrible, it will be the worst it will be all day. As such, it is best to make your longest trip first and shorter stops on the way back to the shop. The group with the least good gas mileage are rural mail delivery folks. (mid 30's MPG) Constant accelerating and braking for every single mail box take their toll, but the cars they replaced got less than 10 MPG in the same scenario. Your driving should be similar to pizza delivery, that may make a good search for you. http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-h...car-talk-prius-perfect-pizza.html#post1341007 The v can fold the front seat back, so you could make a flooring for it from the dash to the liftgate, if you need the room. (The configuration in my avatar still seats 3)
Better than other cars. I think we could advise better with more knowledge of the deliveries. - Cargo space requirements (what size vehicle would be needed) - Number of miles each day (including variation) - Grouping of miles traveled (spread out or grouped together). Let us have more details. Since this is a business I'm sure we'll give hard-headed advice.
What gas mileage are you getting now on the Corolla, via manual calculations? You can see how the regular Prius (NOT the v wagon) and Corolla does on CR's tests at Most fuel-efficient cars and Best & worst cars review, fuel-efficient vehicles. Last page of http://www.consumersunion.org/Oct_CR_Fuel_Economy.pdf describes CR's tests and the old (pre-model year 08 EPA tests). Brakes should last a lot longer than a Corolla in the same usage due to regen. http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/...ility_110125/20110125?hub=BritishColumbiaHome makes a mention of the brake life they get on each. BTW, the title of your post is odd, to say the least... what were you trying to convey? Are you interested in the larger Prius v wagon or the regular Prius? The v wagon is EPA rated at 42 mpg combined vs. 50 mpg combined for the regular.
If the vehicle is used exclusively for those deliveries, or mainly for that and rarely to be used for any longer drives, AND you have somewhere you can plug it in, you might think about a Nissan Leaf EV--$7500 tax credit, write the vehicle off, no gas--and let's face it--a florist with a "LEAF"!! How cute and classic is that?!
It's like any other car, it does better when it warms up. my wife drives it (sometimes i'm in it too to and from train station since we both commute on public transportation. Since train station is a mile a way, lucky to register 35MPG... especially in Winter. But driving 10 miles it would be very good...
Consult your tax advisor. If taking a straight mileage writeoff, then buying a used Gen II might be the best bang for the buck. But the Leaf idea is a good one, eye-catching.
OK I give you that one! Good idea for LEAF. The other thing consider renting a Prius to see how it does.
