LPG Conversion any good ?

WHAT!!!

WHAT!!!

WHAT!!!

Associate
Joined
5 Aug 2004
Posts
1,783
Location
S Wales
Hi all

Well recently I have bought a 2002 Nissan Micra Tempest 1.0 which has only done 3500 miles.

What im thinking is as the car is basicaly almost new due to the low milage im looking at an LPG conversion for it as a way to save a lot of money on petrol, i have had a quick look and it seems to get it fitted would cost around £1600 :eek:, I have seen kits being sold for around £400-£600 which is a mighty saving.

My questions are

are they easily fitted ?
any places in the south wales area or 100 mil radius of swansea which can do a LPG conversion for cheaper ?

Any advice or past experience with LPG conversion would be great to.

Thanks
 
A 1 litre Micra won't use much fuel anyway though? Certainly not worth spending £1600 on really.
 
Duke said:
A 1 litre Micra won't use much fuel anyway though? Certainly not worth spending £1600 on really.
Click to expand...

It does like 32 mpg in towns and 55 on motorways i think i read, if i could get it done for £1000, or maybe do it my self which would be £400-£600 then i think it would definately be worth it as LPG is 43p to 56p as apposed to petrol at £1.04p or more.

I want cheap as possible running costs as it means i can go where i want, when i want and not have to be confined by how much cash I have to spend on petrol.
 
I'd of thought it would be a bit of a waste of time on a 1l micra.

How much the conversion will cost, and how much would you actually save. I'd of thought you'd have to do an awful lot of miles to justify the cost of it.
 
It's pointless. It will take you 5 years to get your money back and by then you'll be earning more anyway.
 
If you want to do I can suggest two things

Make sure you get somebody decent to fit it even if it costs more.

After fitting keep the car until you run it into the ground to make sure you get the most for your cash.
 
You'll get less MPG so while it may be half the price, you'll only save around a third.

So saving 30p per litre, work out how many miles you'll need to do before you even pull even on a grand.

*n
 
WHAT!!! said:
It does like 32 mpg in towns and 55 on motorways i think i read, if i could get it done for £1000, or maybe do it my self which would be £400-£600 then i think it would definately be worth it as LPG is 43p to 56p as apposed to petrol at £1.04p or more.

I want cheap as possible running costs as it means i can go where i want, when i want and not have to be confined by how much cash I have to spend on petrol.
Click to expand...


£1000 for an LPG install is an awful lot of petrol! (I'd reckon your insurance company won't be happy with a DIY install.)

Stick the £1000 in the bank, use it to pay for your fuel!

Rather than spend £1000 to save on petrol! What if you fancy changing the car 2 years down the line? You still won't have recouped the installation costs!
 
You have to notify DVLA of a change to dual fuel, some insurance companies won't insure a DIY job or even a pro job if its not an insurance approved certified company.
expect 20 -25% less mpg with gas, you still need a petrol tank as you have to start the engine with petrol & then switch over
 
And you do realise that the price of LPG will continue to rise? It won't always be as cheap as it is now. But, imo, its absurd to spend £1000 on an LPG conversion for a micra.
 
izzy eckerslike said:
expect 20 -25% less mpg with gas, you still need a petrol tank as you have to start the engine with petrol & then switch over
Click to expand...

I would expect the mpg improvement not to be as good with such a small car as a micra. The extra weight of the LPG equipment will affect acceleration, braking and handling a lot more than it would for the heavier/larger cars that are usually converted.
 
A friend of mine runs a Micra 1l LPG. To fuel it costs 6p per mile so it IS very cheap to run. However, it is painfully slow.
 
All government holds of duty discounts on LPG have been removed afaik so don't expect it to keep being so cheap and they are apparently planning on removing the free congestion zone entry LPG currently has.

Honestly i wouldn't bank on LPG being around or at least much cheaper in 2-3 years time so unless your going to make your money back in the next 2 years seriously think again.
 
Thanks a lot all for the advice, I think i will stick with what i got then, current situation has changed for me so im going to be doing less milage now so looks less likely i will get any money back if i went for a conversion.

Would still like something with better MPG but will just keep an eye out for something to get instead of the micra i guess, would love a 206 1.4 diesel providing i can find a good one at a nice price :D.
 
Tomsk said:
I would expect the mpg improvement not to be as good with such a small car as a micra.
Click to expand...

You wouldn't see an improvement anyway, LPG means less mpg. It just costs less to buy it so it can work out cheaper than running a petrol if you're using it correctly.
 
This was a nice idea thinking out load but in practice i dont think its a good choice for your car.

I have a 3.5 V8 landy with LPG conversion. In that its worth wile as even when my dad drives it can only manage 13-15mpg so LPG is a must to afford to run the vehicle. In your micra the running costs are just simply to low in the 1st place to justify the expensive. You wont get your money back.

Cost wise for fitting you are looking at around £1000. My strong suggestion is DO NOT FIT YOURSELF!!!! (unless you are a very experienced engineer of course) The landy had it fitted by a professional despite despite the fact i had already rebuilt the V8, changed the chassis, suspension, refurbed the interior etc etc if that gives some impression on my view on who should fit LPG. The LPG is not something to mess with.

Equally one thing that seemed to have been missed so far is where are you going to put the tanks in such a small vehicle? Usually the conversions are done in a land rover or a big jag or something and even then can be a bit of a pain. In your micra you will loose at least all the boot space. Often a small tank can be put in place of the spare wheel but then the tank is quite small but then i dont know if this is an issue or not. Equally it is still not common enough to not worry about where you will find it. If for example taking the landy to wales to go drive over some mountains we need to plan where we will stop for LPG as its a hassle to find.

Final point is the bloody government as ever as useless and cant make up their mind in time. After every1 spending loads of LPG conversions and the like they are currently loosing favor with LPG and the duty is starting to rise slowly on it so unfortunatly even with crazy petrol prices, we could find in few years time the gap between it and LPG will be less than it is now.

Hope if can be bothered to read through what i said some of that will help
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom