So I was a delivery driver at my old job for 3 months before I got fired for not being able to show up to work on a snow day. I'm thinking about applying to a new driving position at another place, but I've been thinking about my poor car. Currently it's getting repaired, but I don't want to put a lot of unneeded stress on the motor once I get it back because I want to keep this car for a long time.

I was wondering, in those three months of delivering pizza, how bad was that for my car? We're talking 5-10 minute trips, starting up and shutting down, in stop and go traffic for at least 4-5 hours at a time over the span of 3 months.

I'm thinking of getting myself a cheapo civic or something if I end up getting the job, because I don't want to harm my car anymore than it already is. Just in those 3 months, what types of things might I want to check to ensure future reliability if I'm not going to continue using it for delivering purposes? Thanks.

From driving company delivery trucks at a previous job (1994 S10 and 1996 Sonoma, both 2.2 with 5 speeds), we didn't exactly do anything special for maintenance. All they got were monthly oil changes, and other stuff got fixed as necessary.
Most of your wear from such use will be on the brakes, clutch, starter, and door hinges. The seats also take a fair bit of wear, as do seatbelts and door latches. In 3 months, I would only expect noticeable wear on the brakes and clutch, depending on your driving "style".
As for how "hard" on your engine this was, that would mainly depend on the weight of your right foot. Our trucks used to go for several hundred thousand kilometers without engine repairs (with the exception of cracked heads on the earlier ones - standard feature by design - not wear). I would be more concerned about your clutch in those conditions. These clutches aren't cheap to replace like in a truck - costlier parts and a lot more labor. Typically we used to get around 200,000km out of a clutch, but I've seen people kill them in less than 10,000.
I would probably try to find another job where THEY provide the vehicle, if you like delivery driving. If not, and you don't want to keep using yours, why not look for an "older" J-body with a 2200 (1998-2002) and auto for around town? You could probably pick that up a lot cheaper than a Civic, and it will likely serve you well as long as you keep up the maintenance. For daily use like that, just change the oil and filter every month (nothing fancy, just regular oil), keep the coolant full, and go.

To be honest, I would trust the Civic a lot more than the Cavy for daily driving. There's less to go wrong on the car, and when it does there are WAY more than enough cheap parts to be had on eBay. Plus, if you get the right model, it will give you better (!) fuel economy than the Cavy.

I too do delivery driving in a Cavalier, and I toasted the stock clutch in 10,000 miles. I hope I can get more life out of the carbon kevlar one I have now, with my adjusted driving habits. I also have had lots of little things break on the Cavy. I'm also switching to synthetic.

The biggest thing about DD is the extreme wear on your drivetrain. I ran my old 93 Civic for two years as a delivery vehicle, with 110,000 - 150,000 miles on the clock, and I wore it down some. Hit the redline all the time, foot to the firewall driving, I changed oil every 2000 miles, used a short ram intake with a crappy filter that let dust in, it endured an accident, and when I finally sold it, it was using up enough coolant to overheat the engine at 100 miles. Don't take this the wrong way, though. The 92-95 Civics all have bad head gaskets when they reach 15 years of age! Once you replace it, it works marvelously. And the bushings, and the CV axles, and everything else rubber (hoses, trimmings, seals, etc.), but that's just an ooooold car problem, not just a Civic issue. Get a '96-'00 Civic and you should be fine, except when the exhaust rusts off, but who cares about that? At least you don't have to worry about the evil fuel pump of death or a car that flops around like a fish out of water through the turns and it actually STOPS when you hit the brakes.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. If you really need to, you can run a heavy weight oil in the Civic engine. If it's not VTEC, the oil pressure isn't too much trouble, unless you put like gear oil in it and blow the rear seal. I know someone that fell asleep in his 92 Civic and crashed it horribly in trees, but it still drives. Without boots on the CV Axles. He uses 20W50 synthetic. It calls for 5W30.


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We all drive in a yellow Cavalier...

i use to use my cav when i worked in a pizza shop. i did deliveries for 2 years and worked inside for 3. i never had a major probelm with my cav. hell i still drive it today as the dd.