LPG Cars

Amazin

are they any good? I'm thinking of buying a second hand car and convert it to LPG.

is that a good idea? Its supposed to save 40% on your fuel bill

tykesi

At that 40% how long would it take you to save back the conversion cost (£1500-£2000) based on your current consumption?

patman99

Depends were you get the conversion done. I remember speaking to a Dutch guy once and he was getting his car converted. When I asked him whether it was worth the cost on such an old car, he responded with "I'm getting the work done in Holland. The cost is 50% less than in the UK as the Dutch fitter simply orders a kit from the supplier and fits it."

I had an LDV Convoy Hi-Top LWB with a 3.6L V8 engine and LPG kit fitted. It drove better on LPG than on petrol.

dekaspace

Parents had one a few years back, took up most of the boot and was far less efficent than petrol so overall costs were almost the same, then the fact very few places did the fuel, that and the prices as much as doubled hence it costing due to lower efficency around the same and factoring in driving to somewhere that did the fuel.

Herzlos

I doubt it's worth it these days unless you're looking at a big petrol car that's already had it done. You'd be cheaper just buying a more efficient diesel now.

BeenThroughItAll

dekaspace wrote: »

Parents had one a few years back, took up most of the boot and was far less efficent than petrol so overall costs were almost the same, then the fact very few places did the fuel, that and the prices as much as doubled hence it costing due to lower efficency around the same and factoring in driving to somewhere that did the fuel.

Sounds like the conversion wasn't done very well then.


I've done probably 100K+ in LPG converted vehicles (probably 200K+ of use in my family) and they've always been within 80-85% as efficient as petrol use with savings on the LPG itself. With a decent conversion, looked after, there are savings to be had - but a few years back the increase in LPG cost did eat into those savings. With LPG now pretty cheap again, the cost comparison stacks up well.


Plus, there's only really one way to run a Range Rover or Jeep Grand Cherokee - and that's the V8 way.

Car_54

patman99 wrote: »

"I'm getting the work done in Holland. The cost is 50% less than in the UK as the Dutch fitter simply orders a kit from the supplier and fits it."

Just out of curiosity, what would a UK fitter do differently? Hand-craft a kit from scratch?

Arfa__

I'm still driving an old Vauxhall Zafira from 2005 - one of the last to be sold with LPG running as standard (Ford and Vx used to send some new cars to Milbrook to be converted from new). Only cost a smidge more than other none LPG similar models second hand, that was in 2009. Still going well, 95k on clock now, is an old engine though so not that efficient to begin with. Only gets 25mpg round town, 35mpg on long trips. Plenty of places selling LPG here in East London, usually filling up at 50-60p/ltr - so overall an effective efficiency of 50-60mpg.

As for performance, well it's only an 1.6 engine in a people carrier, it feels underpowered on gas or petrol! Gas tank is underneath in place of spare wheel, so no loss of boot. Do wish it had a bigger tank mind, only get around 200-230miles out of it. But switch over to petrol is seamless when you do run out of gas, so not the end of the world.

It used to be exempt from congestion charge, but that finished in 2012. Tax wise, I get something like £30 discount, so ~£200/year. Overall, not super savings, but if you spot a car second hand with a decent quality conversion for not much more money, it's certainly worth considering.