Backroom readers may be interested in my experiences of converting.
I bought a new Punto Auto in Jan 01 hoping to get it converted but Landi-Renzo could not get a system to work because of the complicated electronic control of the gearbox.
So I bought a tidy K-reg Astra auto and got it converted for £1150 by Mike Drew in Nailsworth Glos.
The car cost me £2400 in Dec 01.
Petrol consumption was 37mpg over 2000 miles before I could arrange the conversion.
Since then I have got about 29 mpg on gas.
I buy gas with a card from Listers at W. Bromwich near work for 25.96p/Litre.
I am billed by credit card weekly in arrears and they round the volume DOWN to the nearest litre so its even cheaper.
I can drive 240 miles on £10 worth of gas.
This is the conversion to make when comparing running costs.
There were a couple of teething problems early on.
The tickover was too fast and the engine warning light would come on after 20 secs stopped in traffic.I found the idle adjust on the vaporiser and this light now never comes on even when the engine heats up in traffic in warm weather.
I found a loose pipe connection and tightened it up.
Since then -no probs.
I have done more than 250000 miles on gas now and so far it is just great.
The engine oil has stayed clean and I have not changed it yet-just about to.
THe conversion paid for itself in 9 months at a mileage of about 2500 per month.
I save 55% on fuel costs, including the cost of driving to fill up with gas.
I must be "pinchy"-See last weeks Motoring Telegraph.
In my view the only cheap way of running on LPG is to buy a fairly old and cheap car,in good nick, otherwise with depreciation the cost of conversion may not be worth it.
You also need to be doing at least 25000 miles per year to make it worthwhile.
I just need this car to last until I retire in March 2005 commuting from near Stroud to Birmingham each day.
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Sounds ike you've done very well and I'm sure there are many people who do higher mileages for whom the cost of an LPG conversion is well worth it.
However, with this government changing the rules and moving the goalposts as often as they do, I'd hesitate to invest in LPG because I can't help thinking that they'll soon be increasing the tax on it substantially to raise some revenue for some pre-election 'generosity' from Mr Brown.
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I think you're being a tad cynical, Volvoman, at least I hope your're not right.
The government have undertaken not to consider increasing the tax on lpg until the 2004 financial year (I think). As lpg is percieved to be a 'green' fuel because the emissions are less (despite the fact you get less mpg) I think they are more likely to increase other fuels to encourage people to buy lpg cars. The road fund licence is already less for lpg cars and the government run a scheme whereby you get 40% of the conversion cost back for certain cars under 5 years old. So it seems they are more likely to smile on lpg and perhaps increase diesel and petrol tax. The recent fuel tax protest might stay their hand though. The tax on lpg is currently 6p per litre so even if they increased it by 100%, which I don't think would be politically possible, it would still be dirt cheap compared to petrol. If you do a big mileage, the payback time can be less than a year and you're in profit after that, so it's definitely worth it.
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Cynical certainly Nick but when did this lot last tell the truth about anything or honour a pre-election pledge ?
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"tough on crime & the causes of crime", "we're not going to raise taxes", "the NHS is safe in our hands", "we will be whiter than white", "we'll bring illegal immigration under control" etc., etc. etc....
Sorry Mark, I just couldn't resist it but I won't post any more on this OT subject ;-)
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Just for the record, I am giving serious consideration to buying an LPG car next.
However...
The number of LPG cars on the road has increased a lot recently, though not to anything that would even scratch the surface of the fuel taxes G Brown Esq manages to screw out of us all. The number of LPG cars is likely to increase drastically over the next couple of years though and once that happens just watch that tax get lumped on left right and centre.
What are my reasons for thinking so? Simple, the London congestion charges. Instead of paying £5 per day, if you own a suitable (and admittedly Powershift registered) LPG car, you can instead pay £10 a year admin charge and waive any other costs.
Just wait for the massive expansion in back street and dodgy garages doing cheap conversions on everything they can get their hands on. There'll be a significant increase in the number of LPG cars in the city trying to dodge the charges - The government will notice a drop in fuel revenue and hey presto, just like the diesel scenario of 10-15 years ago, just watch that tax roll on!
Of course I am happy to change my mind if I can be convinced so fire away!
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You may well be right Dan. The answer is to jump on the bandwagon quickly and enjoy cheap (relatively) motoring for a few years before whoever is the chancellor twigs!
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I must admit I was considering getting an LPG car, or getting mine converted. However, I wonder if it's really worth it. I only do about 9k miles PA and even at the moment when I'm doing a lot or longer journeys, I'm only putting about £20 a week in to the Yaris. LPG doesn't seem that cheap around here - about 36p/l, so at best I'd be halving my fuel costs, so would save no more than £500 a year, probably less. Not sure what the conversion would cost, but I'd imagine it would take me a long while to make the cost back on such a low mileage. Also, I'm not too keen on the idea of losing half my boot for the tank - it's small enough as it is!
OTOH, is it worth looking at a diesel either? The D4D Yaris comes at a fair premium over the petrol, so again it would take a long time to make back this amount.
Is there really no realistically cheaper option than petrol? Even a hybrid (and I realise technology is a good few years off being able to produce one this small) would cost a lot more up front.
Is there *anything* us 'average' drivers can do to cut the cost of motoring and / or do our bit for the environment? (Apart from the obvious of using PT of course!)
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I wouldn't have thought LPG would be worth it for you Steve. It would take you 3-4 years just to break even. IMHO it's only worth it on a high annual mileage gas guzzler, and only then if you prefer a petrol engine to a diesel, which I do. You don't have to lose your boot space though, tanks are available which fit in the spare wheel well, so you have a huge range with the lpg and the petrol tanks. You then have to carry a can of puncture repair stuff, like the MINI. Or you can replace the existing petrol tank with an lpg tank and a small petrol tank. Some 4x4s have plenty of room underneath for lpg tanks.
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IMHO LPG will only have "Come of Age" when manufacturers offer as a matter of course vehicles which run exclusively on it.
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