LPG conversions - anyone done it?

iaind

iaind

iaind

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Well the fuel saving device thread got me thinking about genuine ways to save money. That, plus I'm still getting used to the increased consumption in the Saab.

I did a quick quote and the sums, even with a relatively low mileage of 12k pa, do seem to add up. The conversion is about £1500 and the fuel savings would be about £900 per year - so after 20 months it will break even. As I plan to keep the car for 3 years, it would give a fairly decent saving.

Not a serious consideration at the moment, but I always thought it was something that only made real sense with higher mileages - but the numbers seem pretty reasonable.

Awaiting the wrath of the OcUK motors financial advisors...
 
Cool so you bought the wrong car?

Didn't everyone point out how at odds with your original 'What Car?' requirements an automatic 2.0 petrol turbo saloon was?
 
[TW]Fox;16340054 said:
Cool so you bought the wrong car?

Didn't everyone point out how at odds with your original 'What Car?' requirements an automatic 2.0 petrol turbo saloon was?
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I knew that was coming, and exactly where it would be coming from...Do you even fully read posts before you jump on people for not taking your advice?

No, I'm not regretting my choice in the slightest - where did I even imply that in the OP? Just curious at the moment.

I did the sums and the research before I bought it and can comfortably afford the fuel, but any saving is a good saving, right? Was really just wondering what I'm missing, the downsides (like the potential power loss noted above) and where the sums might not be 100%
 
Don't think it's worth it IMHO. It's a big expenditure to get a decent conversion done, and as pointed out above you lose out on power and efficiency anyway which offsets the (at the moment ;) ) cheaper gas prices, which are going up might I add!
 
Howard said:
Don't think it's worth it IMHO. It's a big expenditure to get a decent conversion done, and as pointed out above you lose out on power and efficiency anyway which offsets the (at the moment ;) ) cheaper gas prices, which are going up might I add!
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Do you think the quoted figure (which I literally got in 2 minutes by clicking the first result in a google search) of £1500 is too cheap for a good job then?

I have always wondered - the main reason for LPG being cheaper is tax/duty, surely there's nothing stopping the government from jacking it up in line with petrol at any time?

The Saab isnt exactly a gas guzzler and probably not something I'd consider - as I said, the other thread got me thinking and it's really just curiosity :) Just as it's often said that it only makes sense on really thirsty cars (v8 range rovers and the like) or people who do loads of miles. But with the example I gave it of a fairly normal car doing normal milage, does seem to give a fairly good saving
 
Be careful of £1500 conversions. Good ones are £2400 ish.
 
Leave it alone mate, unless you do starship miles or have a 15mpg car there's no point is there.
 
As I said, even if the figures above were realistic, it's probably not something I'd bother with - just curiosity.

Would prefer to spend the money on a remap, induction kit and uprated suspension anyway :cool:
 
The bigger problem for me would be availability of gas and the ammount of space a tank takes up. The choice seems to be a small tank to replace the spare wheel which doesn't hold much gas or a larger one that takes up lots of boot space but gives reasonable range.
 
iaind said:
As I said, even if the figures above were realistic, it's probably not something I'd bother with - just curiosity.

Would prefer to spend the money on a remap, induction kit and uprated suspension anyway :cool:
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I really dont understand you, why not just have bought a car that suited your needs in the first place rather than something that didnt then chuck cash at it to fix its shortcomings?

It almost made sense when you told us you didnt care about performance and wanted to waft about in a relaxing manner but obviously if you now want a remap and uprated suspension its pretty clear that wasnt the case.

The mind boggles.
 
[TW]Fox;16341369 said:
I really dont understand you, why not just have bought a car that suited your needs in the first place rather than something that didnt then chuck cash at it to fix its shortcomings?

It almost made sense when you told us you didnt care about performance and wanted to waft about in a relaxing manner but obviously if you now want a remap and uprated suspension its pretty clear that wasnt the case.

The mind boggles.
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It does suit my needs just fine, that's why I bought it in the first place.

You clearly missed the point, I didn't say I was going to spend the money, but if I was going to then I might prefer to spend it on upgrades. You could apply that logic to anyone who modifies their cars at all - I'm sure you've spent no money whatsoever improving your car or changing it..... no, wait...

If you want to be pedantic, I said I didn't care about handling, but like straight line performance. Most of the upgrade kits for the 9-3 improve the ride at no expense to the handling, rather than the other way around.

I'm very happy with my car and have no intention of spending any sort of money on it any time soon - the thread was started out of interest rather than anything else. Just like my dad is very happy with his car, I know you don't understand either of those facts, but hey ho!
 
I think it was on here that I read that LPG has almost half the energy of petrol and would therefore double the effective cost of LPG. Is that true or have I got it wrong again? I went by a service station and it was 62ppl which would make it slightly more than petrol if what I've said above is correct :S
 
IIRC the calorific value of LPG is slightly more than petrol and diesel mixtures. It means when the LPG is introduced into the engine it combusts quicker than petrol and diesel requiring more LPG.
 
I'm about to get my Jeep done actually.

If you were going to do the convesion, do some research into the garage that does the conversion to make sure there are no horror stories floating about. £1500 would be a reasonable figure. £2000 would be for a straight 6 like my Jeep and for a top of the range Prins system. I don't know how many pots your car has but a 4 pot can be done for under £1000 for a multipoint system.

Its not pound for pound in the MPG stakes and there is a drop in performance (although a chap on scoobynet ran a remapped classic Impreza on LPG for a number of years without issue). I would say if your getting 20mpg on petrol, then about 18 would be about right for LPG. but you can always switch from petrol to LPG so long journeys use the LPG and for quick blasts use the petrol.

Its worth it for me because the Jeap averages 15MPG round town and not much more on a run. Its always something I intended to do so its no great shakes for me as I've got no intention of selling it.

Fox - your attitude is appaling. The one and only person, I've felt the need for the ignore button.
 
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It does drop your MPG slightly, but costs half as much.

So you have still in effect halved the costs.
 
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