Currently doing a 50-mile a day commute to work. half dual carriageway, half cross-country backroads. This was in a company provided Mini 1.6 Diesel. This is going back to the employer following a change in job.
Will soon be doing a 70-mile a day commute, and this will be almost all dual-carriageway and it will be in my car - 2002 BMW 540i, which upto now has only ever been a weekend toy. Its not worth a huge amount, but I would rather not change it - I love the car and don't reckon I would get anywhere near the same amount of performance+metal+toys by trading it in.
So.. bearing in mind "I love that car!" and "I don't wanna give up my V8" am I barmy for considering an LPG conversion rather than just selling up and buying a cheapy dag-dag diesel? I won't have the space to keep 2 cars.
Here's my man-maths..
Onboard computer says I'm averaging 22mpg.
So with a 70 litre tank (thats 15 gallons?) costing £80 to fill, and lasting for 330 miles.. so that's going to be 4.5 days fuel??
Taking an average of 200 working days a year.. that means 44 fillups at £80 a time. Or £3540 quid.
A conversion could cost £2000 from a reputable place. I'd never get that back in trade-in, resale or whatever, so its a sunk amount of money.
But I should save 40% in fuel bills? (That £3540 would become £2124)
I figure after a year, it would start paying for the cost of the conversion? And I'd still be wafting about in luxury barge with a stonking motor.
Will soon be doing a 70-mile a day commute, and this will be almost all dual-carriageway and it will be in my car - 2002 BMW 540i, which upto now has only ever been a weekend toy. Its not worth a huge amount, but I would rather not change it - I love the car and don't reckon I would get anywhere near the same amount of performance+metal+toys by trading it in.
So.. bearing in mind "I love that car!" and "I don't wanna give up my V8" am I barmy for considering an LPG conversion rather than just selling up and buying a cheapy dag-dag diesel? I won't have the space to keep 2 cars.
Here's my man-maths..
Onboard computer says I'm averaging 22mpg.
So with a 70 litre tank (thats 15 gallons?) costing £80 to fill, and lasting for 330 miles.. so that's going to be 4.5 days fuel??
Taking an average of 200 working days a year.. that means 44 fillups at £80 a time. Or £3540 quid.
A conversion could cost £2000 from a reputable place. I'd never get that back in trade-in, resale or whatever, so its a sunk amount of money.
But I should save 40% in fuel bills? (That £3540 would become £2124)
I figure after a year, it would start paying for the cost of the conversion? And I'd still be wafting about in luxury barge with a stonking motor.