Any of you on here know much about LPG? A mate of mine had a conversion done last summer and he's been banging on about it since. Seems to think that it is the best thing since sliced bread and has saved him serious money. Are any of you in the know about this? Is it worth looking into further or has it already had its day? I know that LPG is no where near as cheap as it used to be, but does still compare reasonably well against petrol.
Any suggestions or knowledge imparted would be greatfully received!
LPG is about 30% less efficiant that petrol, so if you can do 30 miles on a gallon of petrol, you'll need 1.3 gallons to do the same on LPG, so to do a cost comparison multiply the current price of a litre of LPG by 1.3 then compare it with the cost of a litre of petrol, you'll still save but it won't be as much as it first appears.
I've only ever driven a LPG Proton, and it was seriously lacking in power, but other people with LPG kits haven't had the same problem so chances are it's just that Protons are not great.
Just did a quick look and LPG prices have been up around the 75-80ppl mark (national average), which would be like petrol at about £1/l so you're saving what? About 30ppl which isn't bad (you have to take into account you'll also be using some petrol)
1.9TD+ SX Xantia Estate (Cassy) running on 100% veg
1.9TD SX Xantia Hatchback (Jenny) running on 100% veg for sale
Laguna II 2.0dCi Privilege (Monty)
having done a bit of research the end result is dependent on how good the conversion was and what kit is used, i.e. a monopoint systems isnt going to be as good as a fully sequential system.
I shall be putting LPG on my activa soon and i'll be getting the XM running this weekend as well so i shall be reporting in my threads how successful (or not) i am
2006 C5 HDi 170
1998 Xantia Activa S1
1971 D Special
2018 Renault Zoe,
I've run it on my old coupe that was running some mods and power well above stock.
It was circa 30p/l at the time and optimal was just nudging over 92p/l.
It cost me 2k to get installed and was a multipoint system.
I Saved that money back well within a year I got about 20-25mpg out of it and not much more on petrol. My mods likely helped this as it burns hotter than petrol so cooling helps
If you do it get the cat removed and then get the system setup so as to allow you some clawed back power.
Get the biggest tank fitted that you can live with as well. Mine was 45l and was tedious after a while but still ot me around 200miles depending on how I drove it.
You can usually force start on a modern system so you dont use petrol and I did this for a while, went 2 months with just a 1/4 petrol tank before I needed to do a long run so had to fill her.
Hi I am in the process of having LPG fitted to my 2009 C5 ,I have had a vectra c on it before,you have already had some posts which have pointed out the advantages,I have to say I can only think of a few disadvantages ,first the garages insist on putting the LPG pump on one of there pumps so you get some dick on it using petrol and then going into the shop to fill his basket thinking why doesn't that idiot use one of the other pumps which are empty,sometimes I enlighten them as to why when they come back after 15 mins,filling up with lpg will take longer than petrol and in the cold weather your hand pushing the button will get frost bite,but all that is compensated by the pure joy of filling up for about £28 while the petrol erks are fumbling in there pockets seeing if they can afford another litre,there are lots of scare stories about LPG if you run a Citroen,Vauxhall.Saab,Ford you will have no trouble with valves if you run a Jap motor I would not change it to LPG as you need a lube system and I am not sure it's a good idea,I suppose the bottom line is with a car like the C5 1800 or Vectra 1800 you will get about 35mpg on petrol,on LPG you will do at least 60,if you do 12000 miles a year you will save about £850 a year there are some great deals at the moment as money is tight for LPG and you can have a top quality system fitted for between £1000-£1250,then if you subscribe to the green idea you will also be doing your bit for mankind it makes double sense,there are enough garages about now that have LPG that you never need run out,you can also download them to your satnav which makes it even easier,one of the things people say is that the tank takes up the spare wheel which can be a problem with boot space,well I suspect I am typical in as much I have the boot full of luggage about 3 times a year so for them you have the tyre weld other than that I have the spare in the boot.
Best Regards
I just thought of another plus my vectra used to do 6.5 miles to a litre of LPG as this system was from 2005 I hoping/expecting to get more from my C5,the only way to work out what you car is doing is not do the complicated maths just fill up at the same garage a few times and always set you trip as the LPG gauges are not that accurate,the reason I say the same garage is there are no weights and measures on gas unlike petrol so you can get a bad pump I remember in south wales I stopped pumping at 44 litres as I had a 45 litre tank and you cannot fill a LPG tank right up as there is a airspace just like a petrol tank,so I knew that pump was wrong.
I shall be putting LPG on my activa soon and i'll be getting the XM running this weekend as well so i shall be reporting in my threads how successful (or not) i am
Look forward to hearing about this Chris. You could claw back some of your rebuild and parts money mate on fuel savings.
All interesting. The insurance thing varies? Some cars are on LPG register. Some ins.coms. ask for certs and some don't?
Lpg V6? Sounds perfect.
Citroen C5 1.6 HDI 110bhp Estate 06 plate
French Mistresses gone.
Citroen C5 HDI Mk 1 hatchback
Vel Satis 3.5 v6
ZX 1.9D Est.
ZX 1.9DHatch
Xantia 1.9td est.
Xantia 2.0 hdi Est.
Xantia V6 MK1
Xantia V6 MK 2
hi Lexi, I did get one for it but wouldn't fit, so I resold it... .. possibly the saloon ones do and I got an estate one..
certainly there are TB's on coupes..
wish I knew what to do with her.. I need to mot and then make a plan.. My Xant is beginning to sound a little rough now.. just a bit..
but still ot me around 200miles depending on how I drove it.