Lpg Car

[deepspace9]

I want to buy a LPG car, any advice should I buy a petrol car and convert it or get one that is made with lpg option?

How reliable are LPG cars?

Sorry if I am posting in the wrong place am an impatient newby :confused:

[Nile]

Hello deepspace9

Welcome to the MSE site.:wave:

I'll move your thread to the 'Motoring & Public Transport' board.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=1009335#post1009335)) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email abuse@moneysavingexpert.com (abuse@moneysavingexpert.com).

Regards

Nile

[anewman]

If you're looking for a cheapie banger, it's probably best to look for one that already has a certified installation that is in full working order. Would use the search term LPG on ebay and autotrader etc. Although my guess is with the cost of fuel these cars will be in quite high demand, even if they are old converted bangers that would only be worth £300 without an LPG conversion.

[deepspace9]

Thanks, never thought of Ebay! will have a look tonight :)

[Tucker]

Cars manufactured with LPG from new are hard to come by. Take care buying a pre converted one as you need to be certain it's right!!
Why would someone sell otherwise with current fuel prices? The main reason for sale of a current LPG is because there are ongoing problems.

Safer to buy a good used car and chose a good LPG system and most importantly.....a good installer!!

Find out how long it will take you to recover the extra cost at current fuel prices and work from there. You need to buy a car with a view to keeping it 4 to 5 years or more to win big on LPG.

[save-a-lot]

Second hand there are Volvo's at around £4K that are bi-fuel.. factory fitted. Then there is the factory fitted Vauxhall's (http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/VAUXHALL/Ne-2-4-5-6-7-8-27-44-49-53-61-64-67-103-133-146-236,N-228-4294966969/search.action) such as the Astra that can be purchased at a reasonable price. If it was me I would go with a factory fiited car as the engine and everything about it has been specifically designed to work on lpg.

[deepspace9]

Thanks all, I am thinking of getting a small used car, 1.4l max and getting it converted as this way I think I would get maximum return? Anyone got any idea of the equivelent MPG I would get?
And the latest question that has entered my head, will LPG stay cheap or will it be hit with TAX like everything else?

[Hintza]

I'm not convinced you are looking at this the best way.

LPG would work better in bigger cars. Once a tank is fitted to a small car there won't be much room left.

That aside a few points:-

Have you done the sums on this?
What is your break even?
What is the supply of LPG like in your area.
LPG returns 10% less mpg
LPG is not as cheap as it used to be and what price will it be next year (who knows).
How many miles do you do a year?

Why do you want lpg? (we all know the answer but you need to be able to answer that once you have taken all the costings and options into account)

[save-a-lot]

Second hand, factory fitted dual fuel car is best in my opinion, so for £2K you could have a car designed exactly to run on LPG.

[Dan29]

Thanks all, I am thinking of getting a small used car, 1.4l max and getting it converted as this way I think I would get maximum return?

I agree with others who've said this may not be the best way forward.

The conversion will cost between £1,500 and £2,000, and you'll then be saving roughly 40% on fuel costs. Say you're saving 50p a litre, you'll get your money back after using say 4,000 litres, or about 880 gallons. In a 30mpg car this is 26,000 miles before you've even broken even.

Just rough calculations but they would lead me to do exactly what save-a-lot says.

[anewman]

I can't see any problems with a converted LPG car so long as the conversion is certified - probably a good idea to get it checked over before buying though due to safety issues. I can't imagine there's any appreciable difference between a factory fitted conversion and a good well fitted aftermarket one.

Here's some ebay completed listings I like the look of....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2000-VAUXHALL-OMEGA-CDX-DUALFUEL-AUTO-LEATHER-LPG-GAS_W0QQitemZ180255727980QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item1 80255727980&_trkparms=39%3A1|65%3A13&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2000-VAUXHALL-OMEGA-CDX-DUALFUEL-AUTO-LEATHER-LPG-GAS_W0QQitemZ180255727980QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item1 80255727980&_trkparms=39%3A1%7C65%3A13&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1995-SAAB-900-LPG-COUPE-IN-RED-NG900_W0QQitemZ170231097089QQcmdZViewItem?hash=ite m170231097089&_trkparms=39%3A1|65%3A13&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1995-SAAB-900-LPG-COUPE-IN-RED-NG900_W0QQitemZ170231097089QQcmdZViewItem?hash=ite m170231097089&_trkparms=39%3A1%7C65%3A13&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14)

[AdrianHi]

Someone I know of from another forum had a conversion done. He has done it on a V8 BMW 540i and in 52,000 miles has save over £8200 in fuel and calculates this to be equivalent to 42mpg. I'm not sure if the £8200 is before or after taking off the cost of conversion which was around £2000 on his car, will be less (probably around £1200) for a 4 cylinder engine.
Make sure you do some research and find the "good" systems and installers out there. There are a few sorry tales.

[deepspace9]

Thanks for all the info, like most things it seems best to do a lot of googling as there seems to be pro's and con's, my biggest worry going LPG is if Mr Brown hits LPG ga with yet another TAX! anyone know if that is likely or if there is anything planned?

[goldspanners]

Thanks for all the info, like most things it seems best to do a lot of googling as there seems to be pro's and con's, my biggest worry going LPG is if Mr Brown hits LPG ga with yet another TAX! anyone know if that is likely or if there is anything planned?


this is one of 2 things in life you can be certain of.
the other being death.

[greenman7]

When I bought a 1998 Fiesta 1.25 about 4 years ago, I had it converted to LPG for £1,200. I do about 20k miles a year and I think I worked out that I would get my money back (as compared with petrol only, at prices then) in just over a year (at about 37mpg). The LPG tank was where the spare wheel was kept under the car, and I kept the spare wheel in the boot. The car has had no problems with The LPG system, I would highly recommend it - my installer was a bit of a perfectionist and he did a good job. I gave the car to my son 10 months ago and he has had no problems. It is definitely worth getting LPG installed on a small car if you do a high mileage ( but you will lose between 5-10% mpg)

[Wig]

Tax on LPG is guaranteed for the next 3 (?) years, to be 1p per litre more than the the tax rise on a litre of petrol. Whilst this is annoying and an environmentally unfriendly tax rise, it is not the end of the world. If the tax rise had been guaranteed to be the same as petrol rise, it would still be proportionally a greater tax rise for LPG, because duty on petrol is 50p ish and LPG 33p ish. So the mathematical among you will note that this 1p extra tax is a much higher percentage increase.

Still as I said, after 3 years worst case scenario is that LPG will be duty rated approx 43p litre.

There's still plenty of time to save money by using LPG


Contrary to the popular myth, "factory fitted" cars were converted by out-of-house fitters, and apparently the Vauxhall ones were not the best kits on the market - but they still work.

The advantage of getting a "Manufacturer sold LPG from new" car

*The car will have been emission rated for CO2 on LPG and hence have a possibly lower banding. It will also not require a certificate

*It will already be registered with DVLA as alt fuel. - You can do this too with aftermarket conversions.

*It will be more likely to qualify for London congestion charge exemption
But you must apply before 27th Oct 2008, rules will change after that, but those already registered will apparently be ok until 2010 unless the car is sold.

*It will not be a declarable modification for insurance purposes - which is where the certificates come in for aftermarket conversions (with some insurers) - If you have a declarable modification you cannot obtain online insurance so you won't get the discounts and cashback offers.

You can get a conversion for £800 & possibly less. Finding someone who is good is the difficult part, and the fitter being a member of LPGA is not a guarantee of good work.


Aftermarket conversions almost certainly will not qualify for London congestion charge exhemption.

You do need to work out your annual mileage, your local supply cost of LPG, and conversion cost. And work out when your break even point will be. If you buy a car already converted it is generally much cheaper way to go, but you should still know the cost of the car you are buying and the cost the same car without a conversion would be worth, so you can still work out a break even point.


It is entirely personal choice to buy or convert a small hatchback car, you may not need a big boot, you may decide not to carry a spare wheel - which means your boot space will not be affected at all.

Usually people convert large saloon cars because they are more thirsty and more likely to be used as commuter cars over long distances. But if you have an LPG hatchback you will have very cheap motoring - but because you use less fuel your break even point takes longer to arrive.

Using autotrader use the keyword 'LPG' in your search. There are currently 3 LPG corsas. The 2005 LPG Corsas are band 'B' (you should double check the CO2 rating on the V5 before buying the car) the previous ones are band 'C'. But next year the better ones will be band 'C' and the worse ones will be in band 'E' or 'F' << depending if my appeal to Vauxhall is a success or not.

Next years bandings link (http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/Budget2008/DG_073093)

HTH

[davroshudson]

If you want to convert your car read my blog http://www.lpgguru.co.uk/ and it will tell you pretty much what wig has already said. In the end savings are there to be had but check out if there are people who sell the stuff in your area first and then hunt around for people to do the work and I would have no problem reccomending the guy who did mine in coventry http://www.lpg-cars.co.uk/