LPG CONVERT OCTAVIA VRS 06 REG

[HC1001]

Hope someone can help me decide, we are looking at selling both of our cars Fab vRS and Octavia vRS as we have just had a baby 6 months ago and when the wife returns to work she can work from home, now she doesn't want to sell the red Octavia ( family car) as she is really nice and drives like a dream, the Fab is too small for all the bits we need to carry round with us. the only reason we were getting rid of her was I work in Manchester (50 mile) round trip and it would cost too much in petrol, If i was to convert her to LPG and sell the Fab would anyone recommend LPG?? pros and cons? and who would you recommend to do it?

I have noticed Karlbar2k has his converted but can't send him a message for some reason.....

Thank you in advance Howard

[Auric Goldfinger]

How much will it cost to convert to LPG, even though LPG is cheaper than petrol, but creeping up slowly, you may have to do mega miles to recoup the cost.

I had a Volvo XC70 that was converted to LPG and I was told to run 3 gas tank full's to 1 full tank of petrol as gas dries out the engine. True or not I don't really know

[HC1001]

Thank you, any more info from anyone ???

[Im gouki]

Don't know anything about lpg , but have you investigated selling/trading both the fabia and the Octavia and buying a diesel Octavia vrs instead ? Rather than spend money on a conversion , use it with both cars and get a diesel octavia. Only a thought

[andyvee]

Don't do it!!!!

It isn't worth it unless you are doing a lot of mileage (20K +).

The best system is Prins, and a well fitted system will cost you well over £1500. Work out how long it will take you to recoup the investment, but keep in mind that fuel economy will be approx 15% worse on LPG as it has a lower calorific value than unleaded. Steer clear of any far-eastern kits as they are awful. The italian kits are OK (Zavoli etc), but Prins are by far the best.

Not sure on the Octy, but some cars suffer excessive valve seat wear as it is a dry fuel, and you need a flash-lube kit fitting as well.

There are a lot of cowboys in the LPG industry, and LPGA registered means nothing, other than your insurance company may insist on it having a certificate of installation from a LPGA member.

Your hands will stink after every fill up, you will actually de-value the car as it will be difficult to sell to anyone other than a LPG convert.

I converted a 3.2 V6 Isuzu engined 4x4 and I was doing 20K a year at the time. It took almost 18 months to recoup the initial outlay, and that was on a vehicle that averaged 24mpg, and the savings are greater the less economical the vehicle.

Feel free to PM me, LPG was 39p per litre and unleaded about 90p when I converted mine, the gap has narrowed as the government is slowly reducing the tax subsidy on LPG year by year. This means it will take longer to get your money back.

There are plenty of filling stations, but never one when you need one, so you end up filling up more often just to keep the tank brimmed. You will need to go for at least a 60L tank, and keep in mind that 10% of this is expansion space, so you only get 54L in it. If you can get a tank of that size in the spare wheel well then great, otherwise you are going to lose boot space.

Even a well fitted installation means wires and pipes everywhere.

Also, the evaporator has to reach a certain temperature before it automatically switches to LPG, as it is liquid at pressure and needs heating when it expands to the lower pressure used by the injectors. This means that in winter you can end up driving the first 5 miles on petrol before it switches over to LPG - so you don't end up saving as much as you think if you don't do a lot of longer journeys. A short run to the shops can end up being 50% petrol, 50% LPG.

You won't be able to go through the channel tunnel either, even if you empty the tank. Kind of silly, as you can take a caravan through with gas cylinders on board, which have exactly the same gas in them!

[HC1001]

Don't know anything about lpg , but have you investigated selling/trading both the fabia and the Octavia and buying a diesel Octavia vrs instead ? Rather than spend money on a conversion , use it with both cars and get a diesel octavia. Only a thought

Hi Mate, Thought of that one, we actual have the Octavia for sale at the moment but the wife is in two minds as she has very low miles, fully loaded, great wheels and the diesel's are coming up quite expensive for the same spec as ours. So thought I would enquire and see what people thought

[firemike]

I had a year 2000 Vectra 2 litre sri dual fuel which was factory fitted. I ran her for 8 years and bought her because LPG was half the price of petrol only 30p a litre back then!

It only had a small tank which was fitted where the spare wheel used to go and the boot had a raised false floor so i lost boot space.

She used to average about 24 to 26 mpg which wasnt that bad considering she returned 26 to 28 mpg on petrol.

I didnt notice any difference in power between LPG and petrol, but you must ensure that you always have some petrol in the tank at all times because they need to start on petrol before switching over to gas. I got caught short a few times over the years of owning her!

As the years passed the cost of LPG has crept up to over half the price of petrol and the cost of an LPG service has doubled too, so when she reached 12 years old I parted with her and purchased my Octy vrs.

I never regret buying an LPG car but I doubt I will ever buy another one.

[HC1001]

Don't do it!!!!

It isn't worth it unless you are doing a lot of mileage (20K +).

The best system is Prins, and a well fitted system will cost you well over £1500. Work out how long it will take you to recoup the investment, but keep in mind that fuel economy will be approx 15% worse on LPG as it has a lower calorific value than unleaded. Steer clear of any far-eastern kits as they are awful. The italian kits are OK (Zavoli etc), but Prins are by far the best.

Not sure on the Octy, but some cars suffer excessive valve seat wear as it is a dry fuel, and you need a flash-lube kit fitting as well.

There are a lot of cowboys in the LPG industry, and LPGA registered means nothing, other than your insurance company may insist on it having a certificate of installation from a LPGA member.

Your hands will stink after every fill up, you will actually de-value the car as it will be difficult to sell to anyone other than a LPG convert.

I converted a 3.2 V6 Isuzu engined 4x4 and I was doing 20K a year at the time. It took almost 18 months to recoup the initial outlay, and that was on a vehicle that averaged 24mpg, and the savings are greater the less economical the vehicle.

Feel free to PM me, LPG was 39p per litre and unleaded about 90p when I converted mine, the gap has narrowed as the government is slowly reducing the tax subsidy on LPG year by year. This means it will take longer to get your money back.

There are plenty of filling stations, but never one when you need one, so you end up filling up more often just to keep the tank brimmed. You will need to go for at least a 60L tank, and keep in mind that 10% of this is expansion space, so you only get 54L in it. If you can get a tank of that size in the spare wheel well then great, otherwise you are going to lose boot space.

Even a well fitted installation means wires and pipes everywhere.

Also, the evaporator has to reach a certain temperature before it automatically switches to LPG, as it is liquid at pressure and needs heating when it expands to the lower pressure used by the injectors. This means that in winter you can end up driving the first 5 miles on petrol before it switches over to LPG - so you don't end up saving as much as you think if you don't do a lot of longer journeys. A short run to the shops can end up being 50% petrol, 50% LPG.

You won't be able to go through the channel tunnel either, even if you empty the tank. Kind of silly, as you can take a caravan through with gas cylinders on board, which have exactly the same gas in them!

Thanks mate for all this info think you might of made my mind up !! , will speak to the wife and PM you later or tomorrow

:hi:Howard

[Im gouki]

Hi Mate, Thought of that one, we actual have the Octavia for sale at the moment but the wife is in two minds as she has very low miles, fully loaded, great wheels and the diesel's are coming up quite expensive for the same spec as ours. So thought I would enquire and see what people thought

Well might suggest check the calculations again and in the short term , it might be better to sell the Fabia and see how the bills go ....I get between 270 -320 miles out of a tank and thats mainly city driving + a lead foot. ......good luck!

[andyvee]

Don't get me wrong, at the time when LPG was just less than half the price of unleaded it was worth doing. A well set up LPG system drives just as well as on petrol.

I wouldn't do it now, but I wouldn't have been able to afford the fuel bill on the V6 if it wasn't on LPG. If you are doing 50 miles a day, 5 days a week, your annual mileage is likely to be around 13K, it would probably take about 2 years to recoup a £1500 investment. It is selling the car on that would worry me the most though. If you intend keeping it another 3 or 4 years then it might be worth doing.

You need to keep about half a tank of petrol in at all times, as the petrol pump keeps running and just pumping the fuel round the lines and back to the tank so that if it switches back it is seamless, and so that you don't get any ECU errors logged for low fuel pressure.

I ran with about a gallon in the tank on a long journey on a hot day and the petrol fuel pump overheated and failed as the fuel got hotter and hotter as it was pumped round. Only noticed when I couldn't start the car the next day and had to force a start on LPG!

[skippy41]

There was a 1.6 LPG Octy for sale on the trader I test drove it a bit under powered for my liking

[andyvee]

There was a 1.6 LPG Octy for sale on the trader I test drove it a bit under powered for my liking

Properly set up, you shouldn't be able to tell the difference. In fact, a lot of the Vauxhall Zafira GSi owners doing 1/4 miles like LPG as they actually get more power on LPG! It has a higher RON value than super unleaded, so a turbo engine can take advantage of this apparently and gain a few extra horses.

[willskoda]

I have an LS400 which is LPG powered - I filled up on the Holland/Belgium border and made it to Pudsey, Leeds on that tank (£46!! - LPG is cheaper in Belgium). A company called Leeds LPG is highly rated on the Lexus forums and convert a 4 cyclinder for £899 in one day with a premium kit. They hide the gas connector in you current fuel flap too so no nasty filler cut into the side of your car. A trip to Prague and back cost us (including petrol - of which we used half a tank - mainly through choice) cost us just less than £300. LPG is half the cost of petro, (65.9p at my local Morrisons) you'll get very similar economy (this does vary - our Lexus was better on gas than petrol strangely). If you're going to keep the car more than a year then I reckon it's a good choice to make. I'd certainly consider it for any of my future cars. Mine has the Prinns system which swithces to gas after about 3 or 4 minutes and as long as it's warm it will continue to fire up on LPG every time you stop.

[LancsvRS]

Had my 06 petrol Octavia converted to dual fuel 2 years back. Runs a treat and no probs so far - other than slight rough running for those first few miles while she heats up, but more 2 miles than 5. Be warned - the kit I have (Italian, gone blank on the make) still requires about 25% petrol. Having said that, it's paid for itself now and it's so nice filling up for £25 a tank most of the time. The biggest drawback is the lack of filling stations - check you have choices before any conversion. Total range of the car is now 500 miles if I went through both tanks - about 230 miles off a 44ltr lpg tank (toroidal and in the spare well as the cars too low for an underslung tank). The second filler is up on the side near the petrol. If you're in the NW, check out F1 automotive at Bolton as they specialise in higher performance cars (the octy photos on the site are my old girl if they're still there). The icing on the cake is getting a discount from my insurance company for a mod that has actually improved the performance slightly.

[andyvee]

If you can get a Prins system for under a grand go for it as they are the best system on the market. At 66ppl for LPG and about £1.33 for unleaded it is still about half the price for the fuel. Factor in the 10-15% loss of efficiency though with the lower calorific value before you do any sums.

I found selling on an LPG converted car a pain in the proverbial, as the only people interested where already LPG converts so it does limit your target market somewhat. In most peoples eyes it actually devalues the car, which is madness.

I reckon you still need to be doing 15K+ per year to make it worthwhile. You will also need an additional LPG service every year, and you can't go through the channel tunnel (even if the tank is empty) which is also odd as you can take a caravan through with LPG bottles on board?????