LPG Cars

never_red_Paul

I hope I'm posting this in the right place, and I've done a search and turned nothing up, so please be gentle if this is out of place:

I'm looking at buying an estate car, and have been thinking about LPG, partly to ease my social conscience a little, but mainly to save money. The only information I've been able to find on the net seems to come from people with a vested interest, such as convertors or sites promoting the fuel.

Does anyone have here have any experience of running a car on LPG, and if so would you recommend it?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Paul

alkip

I was in a similar situation some months back when changing but I didn't end up getting an LPG however a neighbour, who has his own garage and is a very competent mechanic has a Petrol/LPG. He informed me, rather tongue in cheek, that he couldn't afford to run it unless he had adapted it so that it would run on LPG at the flick of a switch and, according to him there was a slight drop in performance but nothing major. He also did the conversion himself about 5 years ago and has had no related problems to this day.

Hope this is of some help.

Pink.

Hi Paul,

Welcome to mse

You may get more replies to your thread on the motoring board, so I'll move your thread over there.

Pink

Bob63

I ran a LPG converted Discovery for a while. Some learnings:

1) Make sure the conversion is done by an LPGA accredited installer and get the installation certificate otherwise you will have problems getting insurance. Only a few insurers will touch non-LPGA approved conversions.

2) If you are in the south east of England and the congestion charge is an issue then make sure you get a converted car that is on the powershift register and is marked as eligible for 100% congestion charge discount.

3) Get the biggest tank you can possibly fit. Remember that a 50 litre gas tank holds at best 38 litres of actual LPG and that fuel economy on LPG is slightly less than with petrol (up to 10% for some vehicles)

4) Before you take the plunge make sure that you know there are enough local suppliers. There is no point in having an LPG vehicle if you can only fill it infrequently and have to take long diversions to do so.

5) If you live in the midlands or south west consider signing up with Countrywide Farmers who have a network of key operated LPG sites. The neat thing about these, apart from the price which is both discounted and negotiable, is that you don't pay on-site. You have a small electronic key and a PIN which enable you to tank up your car. You pay monthly by direct debit. Very nice solution. Really nice people to deal with.
EDIT - here is their website http://www.countrywidefarmers.co.uk/energy/autogas.htm

6) You cannot take a LPG vehicle through the channel tunnel.

7) Do be sure to sit there very smug when running on LPG looking at all the people around you paying through the nose for petrol. I would do this but don't own a car any more as I now prefer to run a motorcycle - so I sit there with an even more smug grin as a I sail past all those people stuck in traffic jams

There is a bunch of useful information on the Energy Savings Trust website. Best thing is to read this then call one of the approved installers and get their advice on vehicle choice. http://www.est.org.uk/fleet/

I hope this helps.

Mike

rdwarr

I was thinking of having my car converted about five years ago but decided against it. Since then I've done 65,000 miles at 20mpg. That's over £5000 in petrol!
Wish I HAD done the conversion :doh:

never_red_Paul

Thank you all for your advice, it's much appreciated.

Sorry Pink-winged, I hadn't even noticed there is a motoring forum, thanks for moving it.