The range is over 500 miles for the Jetta and Cruze, and you can buy one for under $20,000.
Used??
A courier needs a hatchback, wagon, van or the like. They need a boxy space that can be easily loaded and allows packages/pouches to be retrieved easily. Long range is nice, but it isn’t absolutely essential that a whole day be driven without a refill. That he is doing 400 miles per day suggests that his route is in the suburbs or outside an urban area. He won’t be stopping every block, so his gas mileage might be better than the EPA city estimate.
The OP needs to return and give a description of their actual courier duties otherwise all that can be offered is speculation and possible wrong advice.
It wasn’t clear if the 2000 miles per week was for the OP’s personal car, or if that’s what he needs for his courier duties. If the courier car itself doesn’t need to go too many miles per day, seems like an all electric would meet the OP’s requirements nicely, especially the frequent starting part. Electric cars can stop and start all day long, no starter motor to worry about.
OP’s requirements:
-Good fuel economy
-Compact/small size
-Dependable (especially with frequent starting)
Sounded like 2000/week on the courier duty, so no EV. As for a diesel, they’re more than 20K$, aren’t they? And in Dallas diesel is about $0.20/gallon more.
I would think a Ford Transit Connect would be a perfect courier vehicle. In my area, all the businesses are using them to deliver parts, within the city, anyways
They seem to have partially replaced small pickup trucks for many deliveries
It would be good to know if OP is delivering parts, or just mail and/or small parcels
Give it up George. The top distance for a fully charged Leaf is 84 miles according to Nissan. I did courier work and that just will not work.
Any courier who was driving 84 miles per day would be making no money unless they work in Manhattan or somewhere. Hundreds of miles per day is not at all unusual. Courier companies have to cover low density areas, too. These are people who work for the contract courier companies that handle a variety of small packets, especially document pouches that travel back and forth between the same offices. When the OP described what he needed his requirements were very familiar.