Prius as newspaper delivery vehicle?

maybe follow the severe duty maintenance schedule.

 

severe duty is probably 2500 miles. especially the dirt roads. keep an eye on your air filter, and use a good one.

 

poorly, but what do i know? hope i'm wrong.

 

only because you asked. it just sounds like it will be very hard on the car. i have no idea really though.
i can't think of any other maintenance, i'm sure others will chime in. all the best!

 

I have driven a half rural newspaper routes here. But not with Prius. And I would say Prius is pretty much perfect vehicle for newspaper routes unless you need right hand drive (less driving on wrong side of road) or 4wd (for deep snow).

With Prius you can change direction while still not stopped and punch accelerator all you want with really no extra wear. And you will get a lot better fuel economy with Prius than with anything else.

Just standard maintenance should be fine. Brakes will wear a lot faster than normal driving but still last pretty long. Shocks will wear faster (maybe halving their life in miles/kilometers).

 

That's how I would describe my afternoon drive home in rush hour traffic on a paved highway. I think you will be fine as long as you don't drive too slowly to force EV mode. That's bad on your fuel economy and your battery. Don't do jack rabbit starts but don't turtle it either. Drive normally.

 

It is going to depend heavily on how you drive it while delivering the papers. If you accelerate gently on battery power and only use the motor braking by not pressing hard on the brake pedal, it should be OK. If you accelerate hard and brake hard, it isn't going to hold up any better than an old Corolla would under those conditions.

And MAKE SURE that no dust gets into the Traction Battery vent while your windows are down. The Gen-II doesn't have a filter there. The intake vent is at the side of the rear seat and should never be blocked by anything either. (No blankets back there!)

Bill the Engineer

 

We bought a '08 at the end of '07 for my wife's Rural mail route, (300 stops a day, 6 days a week) from new on it was considered a work vehicle.

Maintance on other cars for the same job: (Ford Tempo, and Plymouth Acclaim) Bought used and used for 3 years.

Brakes: new pads every 6 months in front, 3 sets of pads per 1 new rotor.
Tires 2 years
Heavy duty trans oil change,every 2 years.
Got stuck a few times im the snow per year
Change oil every 3,000 miles
MPGs 10 in winter 15 summer

Prius: used in route 7 years
New brake pads every 2 years
Tires once per year at Thanksgiving (new for snow)
Change transaxle oil at 40,000
stuck in the snow once, (went in a ditch)
Changed oil every 5,000
MPGs 23 in cold winter, 35 in summer
New alxe w/bearing at 80,000 miles

Retired with 140,000 miles, and we still have it. Same battery (both, traction and 12v.)

While it did eat tires, the car still paid for itself. vs. the others

PS. You can turn the center console 180 degrees and slide it back, enabling you to drive from the right side (passenger side).You can't (that I'm aware of) on the newer models.

 

i like the idea od starting new vs 193,000...

 

Then there is the console issue. I would look for a gen II then change ALL the fluids, you should be fine.

 

the flying bridge?

 

yup

 

I drive a 2005 prius base model for delivery with papa john's pizza. Car had 252, xxx when I bought it in november. Yes it's high mileage, but it's runs great. I've put 6k on it since November 14th, and aside from being due an oil change I've never had an issue. I get 40 mpg, think that's due to needing some new tires and such but, car handled great in the snow and ice we got about two weeks ago, dropped her into b on the ice and snow and it handled great. As a delivery vehicle the thing amazes me. I love my car, it's comfy, and is a total workhorse.

SM-N900T ?

 

I do courier, pizza delivery and now Uber/Lyft with my 2005. 260,000 miles and still running like a champ! It is the perfect, absolute perfect car for any sort of delivery. As Punked said, great in snow and ice. The fuel savings and reliability are fantastic.

Just a thought but Pizza delivery can pay really well if your schedule allows for weekday lunch rushes in business areas. Uber and lyft are ok if ya want to do early mornings or bar hrs. But bar hrs are a drag. Lots of work and heavy surges (prices/commission go up.) But ya have to deal with drunks. Cool part is ya turn the app(s) on, you are working. Turn it off and you're off. Good for extra cash but can't rely on it until ya get to know where an' when to be on. But a fun gig most of the time!

Best of luck, Dustin!