What's the best courier vehicle that's not a prius for no more than 20k?

[dareo]

Just because someone listed their truck while high, doesn't mean it will sell for that much.

It is a Tacoma. Somebody will buy it, no matter the miles or price. Maybe it gets dropped to 9.5k or something first.

You can find 200k mile 2016 colorado 4 cylinder trucks for 10k as well. These things started out about 4-5k cheaper than the basic tacoma.

Trucks=money. Tacoma=Overpriced Used-buy new only.

 

[SZR48207]

Aren’t Ford Transit Connects made for this type of work?

 

[eljefino]

Are people really cutting you off or are you in a different mental state when working, because you have to get that delivery made on time?

I've had a few prii but don't know that I've ever seen a Lexus version. Guess it would be a good invisibility cloak.

 

[IndyIan]

Maybe just get a good set of tires for it? I guess with food delivery you can't get too crazy in the corners, but a set of good summer tires will make a very noticeable difference. Also I was taking to a cabbie in vancouver where prii are the most popular option and even in with binary taxi throttle inputs they go for 300k city miles until the battery usually goes and then another 300k miles after that... You should be making a game of how fast you can exit corners without engaging traction control. Taxis seem to get away with a lot of aggressive driving, maybe you need a fake sign on top?

 

[wdn]

That is why i said Maybe a wrangler. It may cost an extra $40 a week in fuel vs a typical 23 mpg crossover or non hybrid sedan. It would be nice for getting in and out and parking. You can also put a ton of miles on one without losing much money. A brand new one for about 28k still ends up being offered for too much money later. There is a 2014 2 door wrangler sport listed for 16.9k at 231,000 miles on autotrader. Gas money can be made up in resale value and is tax deductible anyway. If you wanted to deliver in a wrangler every day, the case can be made.

A Subaru Impreza gets 31 MPG not 23, is full time AWD, and has the highest resale value of any car. The Wrangler is 18 MPG, and five-year fuel savings for the Subaru over the Jeep, is $7,250.

 

[2EHA]

Any cheap automobile will get the job done. I’m using a crappy tdi jetta shop beater after work for doordash whenever i can. 50mpg+ dirt cheap 100% disposable and not horrible to drive for a diesel.

Hell I did a few days with my 18mpg supercharged jag and I could get the whole tank paid for with 2 orders

 

[dareo]

A Subaru Impreza gets 31 MPG not 23, is full time AWD, and has the highest resale value of any car. The Wrangler is 18 MPG, and five-year fuel savings for the Subaru over the Jeep, is $7,250.

Grubhub. Gotta use the city rating, for a CVT impreza thats 28. In real world delivery driving you would likely never see that. The manual impreza is only 24, i would expect closer to that rating in real work driving.

If it isnt a hybrid, your mileage will be poor doing food deliveries.

 

[ls1mike]

I am selling my 2017 Toyota prius because I hate the way it drives and the stigma of driving it.

Never let anyone else determine what you are going to drive...I love BITOG, but if I listened to this place or some others, I would never drive the Mullet Mobile (Trans Am) or the 3500HD. What you drive is no one's concern but you. I am not interested in the Prius or really anything Toyota makes, just me, however they make a good vehicle and the Prius is no exception. Drive the wheels off of it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[Jbrow327]

Grubhub. Gotta use the city rating, for a CVT impreza thats 28. In real world delivery driving you would likely never see that. The manual impreza is only 24, i would expect closer to that rating in real work driving.

If it isnt a hybrid, your mileage will be poor doing food deliveries.

Not having a hybrid would be fine also.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

I just remembered Ford sold the C-Max over here for a few years. In the US, it was exclusively sold as hybrid. They even made a plug-in hybrid called C-Max Energi. It might be worth looking at

 

[Jbrow327]

Right now I'm looking at the Mazda 3 and 6. Looks very fun to drive based on YouTube reviews. However, I don't know about it safely making it to 200k. I am wondering about honda accord and civic getting to 200k. Toyota Corolla and camry also. There's lots of good deals on 18+ camrys. I've heard bad things about the 8 speed though. Overall, what do you guys think?

 

[mjk1967]

I do both DD and Grubhub on the side. I see these young Gen Zers driving G35/37x all the time. LOL. It's food delivery, not a beauty show. Another fav is kids trying to make payments on their WRX, while doing this work -- which is as hit or miss as a gig job can be. 2000 deliveries in DD, and I can make that statement fairly and honestly

 

[Jbrow327]

I do both DD and Grubhub on the side. I see these young Gen Zers driving G35/37x all the time. LOL. It's food delivery, not a beauty show. Another fav is kids trying to make payments on their WRX, while doing this work -- which is as hit or miss as a gig job can be. 2000 deliveries in DD, and I can make that statement fairly and honestly

Agreed I'm not looking for something flashy, just more engaging and fun to drive while still returning good mpg. What do you drive? What's your primary job?

 

[SlavaB]

Hyundai Ionic

 

[Wolf359]

Keep the Prius. Run it into the ground(which will probably be a while before you do being a yota) and replace when necessary. I'm not a Toyota fan, but there's no denying their reliability. The issue you have with stigma is a personal issue. You are looking for an excuse to replace your car because you want to, not for a valid reason. Hate driving the Prius, enjoy the fuel mileage and reliability, and dump it when it dies.

No, the stigma is real. They tend to drive slow as they're somewhat sluggish. That means that there's a big gap between cars and it's easy to cut them off. Probably kinda dangerous to have people cutting you off all the time. I'm not sure I'm in favor of any hybrid either that will rack up a lot of miles. Sure they might have good mileage, but they will be expensive to fix when they go and it's one thing if you don't rack up the miles and maybe you won't encounter the problems, but with high mileage, it's inevitable. The civic/accord or camry/corolla is probably the way to go as the parts are readily available and everyone knows how to fix them. I also wouldn't worry that much about finding a low mileage used car, probably a newer car with high mileage is better than an older model with low mileage. You pay a premium for the low mileage but will burn it all off soon with the high mileage. Whereas with high mileage, it's already discounted and you're just going to burn it all out anyway. The value of a car with 250k vs 200k isn't that big of a difference but you'll pay a lot more for a car with 25k than 75k.

 

[SZR48207]

Agreed I'm not looking for something flashy, just more engaging and fun to drive while still returning good mpg. What do you drive? What's your primary job?

 

[Jbrow327]

Cheap and good. Fast is all relative lol. To lots of people like me, 170 to 200 hp is plenty to go as fast as you need.

 

[mjk1967]

Agreed I'm not looking for something flashy, just more engaging and fun to drive while still returning good mpg. What do you drive? What's your primary job?

I was in an 07 Accord until late May, when I was in an accident. Currently, a 2011 Avalon. An 06 or 07 Accord would make a nice delivery vehicle, if you can find one in your market. They handle much nicer than my Avalon, and the Accord loves to rev...

 

[Jbrow327]

I was in an 07 Accord until late May, when I was in an accident. Currently, a 2011 Avalon. An 06 or 07 Accord would make a nice delivery vehicle, if you can find one in your market. They handle much nicer than my Avalon, and the Accord loves to rev...

I heard the 13 to 17 is great with the 2.4.

 

[doublebase]

Agreed I'm not looking for something flashy, just more engaging and fun to drive while still returning good mpg. What do you drive? What's your primary job?

It’s not going to be any more fun than the Prius, it’s the exact same car. You will lose the stigma though and it sounds like that is the number one priority for you (honestly I don’t blame you). People that own the Prius are absolutely murdered with stereotypes. I work in the industry and I don’t even like driving one into the shop...I get laughed at up and down (and I’m only driving the thing in).

I owned a Hyundai Accent 20 years ago...I had a 80 miles daily commute and would put 35,000 miles on my car a year. I figured...hey, who cares, I need a commuter car. I was made fun of every weekend from my friends and family for the two years I owned that thing. I still get reminded of it, so although initially I thought you should keep the Prius...I now see why you’d want to dump it. The Lexus is the Prius, but in Wolfe’s clothing. Much better.