We would have been just as happy with the 2 litre, it was finding the right low mileage car with an automatic box at a sensible price that was the thing, the one we bought was 2008 so last of the facelift SG9 (square) model, so it has the 2.5 engine instead, time will tell.

What is endearing the car to her is the design, huge windows, relatively narrow pillars, large square door mirrors, high roofline, its so roomy with fantastic visibility all around, and you can see all 4 corners easily.

One bonus is the then brand new spare set of winter alloys and tyres that came with the previous Outback fit the Forester too, so the new set of Fuldas already fitted to the Foz should last several years, and the OE alloys not be subject to a salt battering every year.

The LPG conversion ran faultlessly with the Outback (H6 engine), here's hoping this conversion will be as good over time.

One small hiccup, many LPG installers have left the industry, literally vanished, thats the local one at Finedon who converted our Merc, and the one out at Tewkesbury who converted the Outback, and we would happily have returned to either for this conversion too.

It would appear LPG is becoming even more a niche installation than it was before, is that due to so many cars being on long term rent via PCP or lease, or are people not keeping cars longer, or so many new cars being direct injection which is a more complicated and expensive install, or is there some other reason?

There are very cheap installers about, but after doing some research there is invariably a reason or three to avoid them.

Edited by gordonbennet on 17/05/2018 at 08:42

Yes MT, SWMBO has every intention of running this one into the ground, hence why i started the rustproofing a few weeks ago..so far only rubbed down and painted the subframes and suspension and brakes etc in hard black two-pack, i doubt the LPG installer would have appreciated a fully still sticky freshly rusproofed chassis and underbody to work around..:-)

I have little to no idea whether such engines as the latest Mazda petrols you describe could be LPG converted, must be a nightmare for the installers to keep abreast of progress.

One of the big problems now is the disappearance of the full size spare wheel, so where to fit the LPG tank.

Its why we ended up with another Diesel Landcruiser, ideally i wanted a 4.0 litre V6 petrol 120 series, or 4.5 litre V8 100 series, converted to LPG, but many of the 120's have the petrol tank mounted at the rear end as on our 90 series, so to convert with a sensibly sized LPG tank means either the tank goes in the boot (not ideal) or it means a new very small petrol tank being constructed to sit beside the barrel gas tank, massive cost, and rare as hens teeth the vehicles anyway so finding one in good condtion with the fuel tank amiships like the Diesels might never have come up, hence the very good one i saw i snapped up pronto, no regrets so far, luckily old enough not to have a DPF.

Well, the installation (BRC) is exceptionally neat, flashlube system is different to what i've been used to, this one pumps the lube straight into the gas supply pipe instead of drip or pump feed into the inlet manifold, this should mean a much better and even supply of lube for the valves.

Car runs well, can't tell when it changes fuels, still goes like a scalded cat, so far so good, they didn't enjoy changing the spark plugs at all, but better them than me eh? :-)

I had a chat with the installer, the demand for conversions is very low now, from 10 a week some 10/15 years ago he now averages one a week (keep in mind other installers have vanished so it's even less demand than his numbers), they have an interesting range of other vehicles they work on there, they have a huge American pick up in for LPG and were doing other work on a 1965 Morgan when we collected the car.

He wondered if the move away from Diesel might see a resurgence in demand, but as so many purchases are on some sort of PCP, and so many people simply not keeping cars long term he's not holding his breath.

Interesting, he asked for a £200 deposit when i booked the car in 2 weeks previously, no problem, but he didn't take it, he said he can tell if the booking is going to turn up soon as he asks for the deposit, those not likely to turn up suddenly can't lay hands on their card, if they have no problem with a deposit he knows it's genuine...can't say i blame him, there's 3 days work he'll have to find suddenly if the car doesn't appear.

Fair point Chris M.

This installer does lots of other work too, seems to be the owner and at least 2 employees and has a decent number of good reviews on the good garage guide, where the ones i used before were one man bands basically (and none the worse for that) and relied on LPG work more than this one.

The previous two conversions have been utterly reliable, servicing is basically a filter change and inspection, if it needs recalibrating (shouldn't as this system is a piggyback on the vehicle's ecu) then even if the installer goes out of business another should be able to do the necessary as it's a common enough system.

Yes it was a consideration, and it's not a conversion that would suit everyone for a multitude of reasons.