Although....

Saying this, (here it goes...my 'story') I had a Vectra converted to LPG... I bought it on 100k and it had the conversion done at 10k.

It was a landi renzo (rover owned or so I was told). Also it was a quite old system.... but heres what happened...

Bought car at 100k... lasted 20more k then went bang and I was left with a rather nasty hole in the bottom end...

Got a new recon engine fitted (35k genuine miles)... head gasket went 10k later...

Throughout the period I had continuous changes of coil packs, plugs, leads just to try and stop it misfiring (on gas only).

All in all not a good experience, cost me more in repairs than the equivilent petrol engine, I've been told many faults are due to the fact they run so much hotter on gas than petrol. And the misfire is as stated previously - due to the fact that gas needs a much more effective spark to get it to ignite.

When I got the car it costed 18.00 for 240 miles in gas... towards the end (6months ago) it was costing me £24 per tank..

I would be tempted by the newer systems and the price of gas, there is definitely a saving for high mileage users... I just don't know if I could put with the constant diagnosis and fault finding... brr

44p a litre? Where from? It's 55p a litre round my way.

Don't worry, when the tax man cottons on that LPG is getting popular it'll cost more than diesel...............You heard it first on here!!!!

just for comparison my works van will do about 250miles from 80l of petrol and 120miles from 55l of gas

the mpg on our petrol transits is terrible on petrol let alone gas!

I've been running my 1.8T auto on LPG for 2.5 yrs. The auto is greedy with a petrol mpg of 24mpg combined. The LPG will pay for itself quicker if your're car does poor MPG due to the quantity difference.

Ive done 40,000 on LPG - no problems at all, had the valve lubricator extra put on.

Don't forget when comparing diesel, theyre usually more expensive to buy in the first place.

My car paid for itself at 22K.

does having lpg fitted affect your insurance good or bad?

LPG shouldn`t affect your insurance as it is done for environmental and cost saving reasons not a power upgrade.

If questioned i know nothing !

i know that but i meant more along the lines of possible repair work difference and safety in an accident, that sort of thing.

Don't worry, when the tax man cottons on that LPG is getting popular it'll cost more than diesel...............You heard it first on here!!!!

People have been saying that since LPG was first a realistic option , and that was a decade a go

i've just got back to back quotes from elephant.co.uk for a 2001 51 plate 4x4 estate using my own details as follows :-

6 years NCB

9 years driving

car garaged

upto 10k per year

26 years old

with lpg = £460.40

standard = £429.95

so remember to tell your insurance companies people

There is a list of insurers on the autogas site that don't charge extra for LPG. Most of the major insurers are on the list such as NU and DL.

Providing it's an approved conversion with certificate - it shouldn't affect your premium.

Don't worry, when the tax man cottons on that LPG is getting popular it'll cost more than diesel...............You heard it first on here!!!!

In the meantime I've saved a fortune.

Providing it's an approved conversion with certificate - it shouldn't affect your premium.

yes it does!!!!

i went to elephant and got a quote on the standard car then went back and changed nothing at all except adding LPG and it went up by £30(7%).

someone mentioned ved going down too,i'm fairley sure once set it is set for good regadless of what you do,the banding will allways be the same,tho don't flame me if i'm wrong as this has been known to be the case in the past:D

VED can be dropped but only on cars after a certain date and it's only by a tenner i think.

yes it does!!!!

i went to elephant and got a quote on the standard car then went back and changed nothing at all except adding LPG and it went up by £30(7%).

Hence the shouldn't.

We have three LPG cars in our family, none of them incurred an increase. Different insurers do different things I guess. Interestingly elephant for me was more expensive the standard car.

being environmentally friendly and well installed makes no difference though, a vehicle with lpg fitted has more to repair come accident time than a standard one. get rear ended with lpg fitted and there are more bits to replace simle as that thus repairs cost more.

should a company choose to charge more for this is upto them but you have to tell your insurance company otherwise your not insured much the same as fitting wheels/exhausts/turbo's etc etc

unless you do a lot of miles its not worth it.

my works van is LPG and swmbo has an LPG vectra that was given to her by her brother in law.

it doesn't run as well on gas(either vehicle) and although the cost of fuel is lower the mpg is also far lower. the vectra will do about 200-230 miles from its 50litre tank and costs about £25 to fill up but it'll do 400 miles from £60 of petrol driven in the same way so over 400 miles you can possibly save £10 at best.

how much is the conversion going to cost and how does it affect your insurance?

if it costs £1500 to convert and no difference on your insurance then thats going to take 60,000 steady miles just to break even. but if it costs nearer 2k then expect 80,000 steady miles to break even.

not only that but lpg is much more picky about weak ignition systems so if your ignition system is only running at say 85% petrol won't care and it'll work fine but you'll get misfires and knock from lpg.

my 4 year old lpg transit has had 4 new sets of coil packs so far at least just because it missed on lpg but ran fine on petrol.

at last someone else with an lpg tranny

i cant believe it and the same trouble i have running well on petrol not so good on lpg

i have to agree lpg is not all its cracked up to be not enough filling stations for a start

also my tranny does no more than 14 mpg on gas

at the council we have a fleet of something like 30 lpg transits

its all down to the coil packs apparantly.

The maths do add up if you have a) A Good conversion and Your petrol car offers poor MPG.

If your petrol car is already very efficient - then there would be very little financial incenctive. On LPG your savings are made on the cost of the fuel not the MPG. For instance if you can get LPG for 51.9 or even 48ppl as I can - then this is 60% less than petrol. Assuming an average loss of MPG of 15% per fill up then you should still be way cheaper.

how about some of you lpg converted 1.8t boys actually do brim to brim mpg checks of your cars as i know what our factory lpg transits at work and the factory lpg vectra are like, way cheaper isn't the description i'd use.

It's not that easy to do brim to brim, because of the expansion needed (20%) and differing filling cut-offs per pump.

But I did the best I could for 12 months and kept extensive logs of all my mileage and fill-ups. (240 - 270 per 50L tank). It averaged about 23 on LPG and 26 on Petrol. (Auto 1.8T)

Whether you subscribe to way cheaper or not is subjective, but I'm more happy paying 52ppl than 115ppl. Especially as it's now paid for itself.

There is no debate here for me. Some vehicles make good candidates, and not all conversions are equal - which may explain your discrepancy.

Hi , i ve run a 1.8 turbo from new on lpg no problems in 55000miles and it was chipped by JS to 210 BHP

current got a 4x4 est on lpg which is running perfect to , no one can tell when its on LPG , Its all down to who fits it , a well set up/ fitted kit runs perfect only go for the new er kits which take the fuel injector signal and modd them for lpg injectors

Exup, who did your conversion and what make is the front end system? Ive been quoted for a Romano system with Stako tank and just looking for some comparative quotes for my 1.8T 4x4, Mint LPG in South Wales are supposed to be the main Importer of the kits and a training centre for LPG technicians so presume they should be right up there with the best in terms of fitting quality? and they seem to be really busy at the moment. cant get booked in till mid September?

I've got a 4x4 turbo estate on a landi lpg kit in standard trim. It came that way, but ended up needing a new head which I got off a junked TT225. Just as well the car was only just over £2k to buy, because the repairs cost another £1k. Be very careful about who does the conversion and definitely use the flashlube as a rebuild will cost plenty. In fact, as I found out a replacement 2nd hand head is cheaper.

Most insurance companies don't even ask now, but the rest will need to see the certificate or a safety check before covering you.

Others are rights about the savings though - it's nowhere near half price motoring. I often have to drive the same 100 mile road a couple of times a week. At best, I get @32-33mpg on gas, but get around 40mpg on standard unleaded. But it's better in your pocket than Darlings'.

I have a 60L (max fill 52L for expansion) tank in the spare wheel well which also needed a foam insert to raise the boot floor level with the top of the tank. No big loss of space, in fact by cutting out bits of the foam inset, I have created places to hold things like the jack, tyre weld, etc.

Have been begining to think about upping the power so will be installing a K+N and a stainless exhaust soon, then getting it lowered as it feels a bit floaty when pressing on and then maybe a chip remap.

Cheers,

G.

you will be able to remap for less money than an intake and exhaust for a far better gain and no effect on long distance cruising ie sound levels.