Prius on rural mail route
 

Had a conversation with the local mailman today. He drives a rural route with 99 miles, 300 mailboxes, and several stop signs. He averages 48 MPG (dash display) in summer and 40 MPG in winter. His winter tires are Nikko, and he notices a mileage reduction when he puts them on.

His first Prius mail car was purchased with 100,000 miles, and now has 285,000 miles. He keeps it for a backup vehicle. He says the only maintenance has been a few wheel bearings and CV joint boots.

I have Nitto Sn2 on the Impala and pretty happy with them. They take gravel pretty well and can run them year round if you want. I also have a set on the 98 Stratus for 4-5 years now and will out last the car (deleted log as it's been replaced).

On the impala they do follow the grooves in heavily grooved pavement/bridges and makes the car shake quite a bit, but never noticed any odd handling in the Stratus but I've never crossed that one long bridge with it. The pair I used up on my Cobalt I noticed same tread squirm? going around corners at higher speeds that took a little to get used to(lasted 38,000 miles). But not in the impala, I probably corner slower with it at least when the wife's in it with me.

I'll probably go Nokian WRG3's on all my car's except mine and keep swapping summer/winter tires with it. It's going to sting when I have to get 4 at a time for the Rogues, but even expensive tires are cheap compared to towing & deductibles.

99 miles pays about $69 a day in equipment maintenance allowance. If the carrier works 5 days a week, and 47 weeks a year, that's 235 days, and $16,215 a year. There are no taxes on that money as well as it automatically counts as a wash with the IRS no matter your real cost. So his gas cost is about $1,300, figure a set of tires and brakes a year for another $700. With no other problems you get to pocket a nice little extra. Technically you should inform your insurance agent the use of the car and your premiums will go way up but I think most rural carriers skip that technicality.

I would definitely prefer to have the lower mpg winter tire in that particular situation especially given the location.