Pros and Cons of LPG conversions?

dapoodee

I have been looking to upgrade my car and am drawn to buying a Shogan the can be converted to run on LPG gas or an already converted car.

Does any one know of the pros and cons of buying or converting cars to run on LPG gas?

balsingh

I've been looking at getting a LPG car as I do 100 miles day. The PRO is obviously the financial saving. Also, if the system fails, you can still drive on petrol.

The CON is that the LPG tanks are usually smaller than petrol tanks so the range on the LPG isn't great and you have to fill up more often. If your intention is to run on both all the time, then that isnt an issue. The only other CON is trying to find places that sell LPG ... they are more popular now but still not as popular as I expected.

tonys_3

look at the price of petrol and diesel now and two years ago. Those prices are not coming down-thankyou MR Bush. To be fair to him the world is
running out of oil and with Iran pushing nuclear power [thereby prolonging
tension in the area and maintaining oil at a high price-clue- who is a major
oil exporter- yes it is Iran] the gullible yanks have fallen for the three card trick. When you see what the price of oil will be soon-assuming there is any to be had, you will be delighted you changed. Forget about the cons.

zacspeed_2

I ran an LPG converted Volvo V40 a couple of years ago, The cons:
1. You lose about a third of your boot space.
2. You lose a little performance
3. The LPG pumps @ filling stations are prone to fail, therefore you can find yourself driving about looking for a working pump (I did).
4. The crappy design of the pumps mean you have to press a (usually) awkwardly positioned button for the duration of the fill which can take ages. (a minor con I'll admit, but nevertheless still a con).
The pro's:
1. Cheaper.

balsingh

Another thing worth noting is that when running on LPG, the car is less efficient and usually retunrs about 10%-15% lower economy so dont think that if LPG is half the price of petrol, that you will in essence be getting double the saving cos you wont!!!

ooo000ooo

I had my car converted about 6 months ago and reckon it's money well spent. You lose a bit of power on lpg but nothing drastic and for normal day to day driving it's not a problem, you can always press the button and switch to petrol if needs be. I get nearly twice as many miles for the money. If you look on the internet you should be able to get a list of all stations selling lpg here and abroad which you should keep in the car if you travel about a fair bit. I'm lucky that i've a garage en route within 5 miles of home no matter which direction i take.

dapoodee

What should I be paying for a gas Conversion?

ooo000ooo

I paid just under £1400 to convert a 2.0l 4 cylinder toyota picnic. Gas tank is where the spare wheel used to be and holds approx 300 miles worth of gas - about 20 odd quids worth of school run/stop start driving.

balsingh

dapoodee wrote:

What should I be paying for a gas Conversion?

Why dont you just buy a car that's already been converted or came out of the factory with it fitted?

The price difference between a used car without a conversion and a similar with a conversion is usually a lot less than the new price for a conversion.

Scarlett

I have just got my car back running on LPG after some chuckhead mechanic ballsed it up by incorrectly putting two wires the wrong way round and closing a valve he shouldn't have (approved LPG installer my a$$).

The only con for me is finding a mechanic who knows what he's doing, but I've got an MG and have managed to track down the guys who designed and installed the LPG systems for MG Rover, so I'm not really worried about that now.

Finding LPG? No big deal really, as you can run on petrol. Availability locally is something you should definitely consider though.

Slow to fill the tank? Who cares man?! It may be slow but that does not detract from the sense of satisfaction of filling up cheaply and being environmentally friendly/congestion charge free in London!

Pros definitely outweigh the cons IMHO

Bob63

Make sure you buy a vehicle with an LPGA approved conversion otherwise you will have a problem with insurance. Most insurers will not touch cars without an LPGA installation certificate so you could find yourself restricted to a much smaller pool of willing insurers and therefore higher prices.

The other con worth noting is that you cannot take an LPG vehicle through the channel tunnel.

Otherwise it is superb. My V8 Discovery was almost affordable when run on LPG. I got my fuel from Countrywide Farmers and was able to negotiate the price I pay.

Mike