LPG

[stek]

First week of the new stek LPG fitted contactor-mobile, motorway run mainly, 285 mile trip one way, returned an impressive 32mpg at a steady 70/80mph, LPG 65p a litre, effectively 65mpg or so.

Not bad for a 3.6 litre auto.....

And best of all, my first car with cup holders!

[Freamon]

I had an LPG car back in 2006 when it was 32p/litre. Barely worth it now.

[Old Greg]

The cup holders seem great the first two times you use them, but after that you just have two used cups cluttering up the care.

[stek]

I had an LPG car back in 2006 when it was 32p/litre. Barely worth it now.

Mebbe so, car already had it fitted so a no-brainer for me. I'd rather pay 60p a litre rather than £1.40.

[stek]

The cup holders seem great the first two times you use them, but after that you just have two used cups cluttering up the care.

They're perfect for Special Brew tins and as there's four of them that's just enough to get me on Police Interceptors on Channel 5...

[wim121]

I had an LPG car back in 2006 when it was 32p/litre. Barely worth it now.

I had an LPG conversion back in 2007. Car died 2 and a half years later.

Not worth it now at all.

Mebbe so, car already had it fitted so a no-brainer for me. I'd rather pay 60p a litre rather than £1.40.

But that isnt quite how it works!

Most LPG vehicles, have a lower mpg while using LPG compared to petrol. Most retrofitted injection systems and even worse, carb systems can use up to one and a half times the amount of fuel resulting in lower mpg. In some cases, almost double the amount of fuel depending how badly it's been tuned.

Also year on year, tax relief is taken away by 1p per year so, year on year, the price margin will narrow. Another thing is, at least where I live and all places I see in the north west, LPG is 65p or so per litre and unleaded 119p.





Then for those who dont have LPG vehicles, you have to shell out for a conversion, then keep topping up your flashlube and replace fuel manifolds or make sure they installed metal ones. When petrol was rising sharply from 80p to the £1 mark and above and LPG was still at 35p-40p, it was great, happy days, took a long while for it to raise to 50p.

But now, the margins are so tight, it takes a while for most to make their money back, unless you buy a new vehicle designed with LPG in mind or get a multi-injection conversion which can get very expensive.

[Freamon]

Mebbe so, car already had it fitted so a no-brainer for me. I'd rather pay 60p a litre rather than £1.40.

I was quite lucky with mine as I knew very little about LPG, but purposely sought a second hand car with it already fitted. The bloke I bought it off was a dodgy looking asian bloke in slough who sold off old lease cars he picked up from Lex. The car itself had a good history but the bloke knew nothing about the LPG conversion, and it didn't have a fitting certificate.

A few months later I took it to the specialists Autogas 2000 in Thirsk to get it checked over and they said it was one of the best conversion jobs they'd seen, and the bloke said he used to know the guy who fitted it down in Biggin Hill (since retired). He told me a couple of horror stories about the bodge jobs he usually saw. He also plugged his laptop in and reprogrammed the controller to make the fuel gauge for the gas tank work properly.

Rather good really. Had to get rid of the car in the end though after I stopped using it every day because various non LPG related things went wrong (unsurprisingly, it was a Renault).

[Freamon]

Another thing is, at least where I live and all places I see in the north west, LPG is 65p or so per litre and unleaded 119p.

Where is this that I can get unleaded for 119p?

<frantically googles places to hire petrol tankers from>

[stek]

All I know is this car based on my two weeks of using it and running out of LPG twice is it performs the same on gas as on petrol roughly, I think I read the difference is less on larger engined cars.

It's a multiple whatever, six injectors, fitted almost from new and with a cert!

No need for flash lube, hardened valve seats, US engine.

The LPG led gauge is pants, hence running out twice. Let's not forget the tenner reduction on RFL too!

I'm very pleased with it, saving me a fortune on my 650 mile weekly commute, only thing that freaks me out is the mega hiss of gas when you take the pump head out, I'm never prepared for it.

[wim121]

All I know is this car based on my two weeks of using it and running out of LPG twice is it performs the same on gas as on petrol roughly, I think I read the difference is less on larger engined cars.

It's a multiple whatever, six injectors, fitted almost from new and with a cert!

No need for flash lube, hardened valve seats, US engine.

Ahhhh sounds like you have a good/pricey installation. Was it from new from the dealer or someone converted before selling the vichle to your company?

I hear newer cars are far better with fuel economy but never had the luxury to try it.

I'm very pleased with it, saving me a fortune on my 650 mile weekly commute, only thing that freaks me out is the mega hiss of gas when you take the pump head out, I'm never prepared for it.

Hahaha yea it freaked me out the first time. By the way, im sure you know, but always wear plastic gloves or fabric ones on both hands when refilling. It's been known for people to get pretty nasty cold burns.

Only thing I missed on LPG was the smell of unleaded. 4 star, followed by unleaded smells good, however deisel smells like dirt and LPG smells like brussell sprouts, ewwwww!

Oh, one other thing that annoyed me is I had an old carb car, so every time I ran out of LPG before getting to the station I had to switch to petrol, which means dumping the carb contents and engaging the petrol switch, very tricky to do at slow speeds without stalling/flooding.