LPG Cars with good mileage

davidjwest

I've recently moved house and am commuting around 140 miles a day by car. I bought myself a Mondeo diesel to help economise which has been good so far average around 60MPG but I'm wondering if LPG would be even more economical.

I've looked into this but it seems LPG cars are less efficient that their petrol equivalent so it's not all that easy to make a comparison, especially as petrol cars are less efficient than diesel anyway.

I suppose what I want to know is what petrol cars have good enough economy to make the LPG conversion worthwhile - it's aorund £2k for the conversion am I right?

Should I buy a car that already has been converted, or buy an oldish car and then get that converted? I'm not keen buying anything new or even nearly new due to depreciation.

Any comments would be appreciated. LPG is currently around 45p a litre and while I realise that duty could be increased on it I doubt this would happen in the next couple of years.

Thanks!

Mcfi5dhc

My MG ZR LPG conversion cost £1650 about 18 months ago.

LPG in my area is 48.9p / litre, and the car averages about 7p a mile (I don't bother calculating MPG but you should be able to get a good comparison with that).

The car is 1.8 litre.

I don't know how much diesel is to compare to, but its way cheaper on LPG compared to petrol.

I put in about £5 of petrol every thousand miles or so (the car needs this to start on)

I see all kinds of cars on the M56 with LPG, Astras , Mondeos, X5s, Jags - As long as its petrol, it doesn't really matter IMO - just choose a car you like and has the performance, looks etc you need

Hope this helps

BenL

I have had my 1.6 '56' Astra Sporthatch converted at the start of this month.

Mine was £1602 for a Prins kit.

On petrol the car does 44mpg. LPG has 20% less energy per litre so this goes down to 35mpg on LPG.

I pay 51.9p a litre and it equates to 6.5p a mile. I do 100 miles a day so cut from £10/£11 a day to £6.50.

I was basing 10p a mile for petrol but the recent couple of p rises have now put it to 11p a mile on petrol. I have been logging the fuel used for a while.

The place I got mine from has this calculator http://www.autogasyorkshire.co.uk/savings-calculator.php

Equivalent petrol mpg for me is 70mpg.

In your case it is not worth it and you should stick with the Diesel car you have.

I am looking at 15 months to break even and did the conversion as we have LPG station very close by in our town and I plan to keep the car for a lot of years. Currently 3 years old and just paid off.

The government (if they can be trusted) advised in the last budget that LPG tax will be narrowed by 1p every year towards the tax of petrol over the next 5 years and then they will review it again, hhmmm we shall see.

Road tax is £10 a year less. LPG needs an extra service over what the rest of the car can do and my engine with variable valve timing stuff needs extra lube and additives

If you happen to come across a cheap one it may pay for you though. I was loaned a X-reg Vectra dual-fuel that come out of the factory like that, Vauxhall also did the previous generation Astra as a duel-fuel.

The tanks are smaller as well, again not a problem for me with the filling place nearby. I haven't run it empty yet but i try to fill up after 3 days or 300 miles. £19 a fill. Petrol would be £32/£33 ish.

AdrianHi

60mpg on diesel is about 9p per mile on fuel.
I don't see 2p per mile as a big enough justification for modifying a car or changing a car. You would need to measure the whole real cost of the two candidate cars anyway to make sure your fuel cost saving efforts don't end up costing you more overall.

BenL

This is not mine, but runs on LPG. Not so good on the motorway

davidjwest

Thanks everyone, will run my current car into the ground and then review things again.

iNath

I got my 1.4l Fiesta converted 4 months ago. It cost £1,249 for a BRC kit. I used to get 39mpg on petrol and I now get 33mpg on LPG. Pretty much the same as above, works out at 7p per mile. My tax is £20 cheaper (£105 instead of £125) and I have a spreadsheet that works out my savings, £438.71 to date I put £20 of petrol in every 2 months (3,500 miles).

eca00opc

A couple of weeks ago I purchased a C1 converted LPG - possibly the cheapest car you can possibly run.

On my first tank I did 270 miles and it cost £12 to refill the tank (@48p per litre). £15 car tax (£10 next year)....works out at 4.4p per mile

...And I benefit from the Sheffield Green Parking Scheme, saving £4 per day (£1000 per year) on car parking