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

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) 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 [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

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 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

deepspace9 wrote: »

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=item180255727980&_trkparms=39:1|65%3A13&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1995-SAAB-900-LPG-COUPE-IN-RED-NG900_W0QQitemZ170231097089QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item170231097089&_trkparms=39%3A1|65%3A13&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14