Just wondering about the feasibility of this as opposed to switching to diesel. Is the Octavia spare always a full size job, which would permit the use of a doughnut tank?

Jez

I have had a response from the Greenfuel Company which says that their system will work on a 1.8t up to 250bhp, so I could remap a VRS, do a few other mods and still run LPG. Very tempting, though the conversion costs around £1800.

Don't know if it's still going on, but you can get a grant from the government to convert you car.

Only for a few cars, none of which you'd want!!

Only for a few cars, none of which you'd want!!

actually, as far as i'm aware, any vehicle up to 6yrs old can be subsidised...

Alex (wrightyvrs) on here runs a LPG converted octy vRS. As far as I am aware he has had no problems with it since it was converted despite covering a fair few miles.

Looks like the grants are no more....

About EST - FAQs

Alex (wrightyvrs) on here runs a LPG converted octy vRS. As far as I am aware he has had no problems with it since it was converted despite covering a fair few miles.

Great, thanks for that - I'll PM him.

Yep.

My 1.8t auto, has run great for 20,000 miles on LPG.

Ive got a 60 litre tank in the tyre well. It cost me about 2000, but it has now paid for itself.

Do you want to know anything else?

they stopped the grants a while ago and unless you do a hell of a lot of miles is the cost of LPG and the possible insurance rise as its modified worth it?

if it costs £1800 to convert it and your insurance goes up by £200 then thats 2k in fuel alone you need to recoup in order to just break even.

at an average of 30mpg over 20k you'd spend about £2,730 on petrol, LPG although cheaper returns lower mpg so its half the price per litre but reutrns about 3/4 the mpg so would cost about £1,800 saving you around £900 a year. so at a cost of £1,800 for the conversion you'd need to drive for 40,000 to break even on the conversion alone let the extra things to break down and any affect it may have on teh wear and tear of the engine and any possible insurance hike.

but thats just my opinion and i think the same about swapping to diesel to save money, you need to do enough miles to save on fuel bills to cover the cost of change first.

Insurance shouldnt change for LPG conversion (on a petrol). It is not qualified as a performance enhancing type modification.

That said the rest of bengies post about price etc is very much true

i thought any modification could make a difference as it changes cost of repair etc

but maybe not.

re: insurance, with tesco as long as it's an authorised installation with certificate - it didn't add anything to the premium.

(though if you make more than 1 change to your policy during the term I think they charge you

thats good, i have never looked into it but know that insurance companies can be complete A-holes if they want to be

Yep.

My 1.8t auto, has run great for 20,000 miles on LPG.

Ive got a 60 litre tank in the tyre well. It cost me about 2000, but it has now paid for itself.

Do you want to know anything else?

Thanks, Rone.

Questions are principally,

- Where did you get the car converted?

- Have you had any problems since conversion?

- Has it made any difference to performance?

I accept for most people, it might not make sense. But...

a mk1 VRS with a LPG conversion would give me the performance I am looking for, combined with the right type of sporty car, fantastic fuel consumption and reliability. I'd buy an Octavia diesel if they did a VRS in the Mk1, which they don't.

Remember that I'm not converting an already owned car; I'm considering this as an overall package when I purchase my next car. Indeed, I'll actually be putting money back in the bank as I will be going from a 9 month old Focus ST (worth 16 grand) to a 5 yr old Skoda.

We do find that we use MrsF's car more on long journey's (50 mpg compared to the Focus's 25!), so if I get an Octavia and LPG it, the decision as to which car to take will be purely size and not fuel consumption related. As I'm sure most of you know, a bit of extra space with a freshly arrived baby is pretty handy!

I intend to keep the car for some time to re-coup costs and at the same time, be friendly to the environment too.

Jez

but reutrns about 3/4 the mpg

Sorry, but I don't believe that. Anyone I know who has ran LPG has suffered approx 10% reduction in MPG. If it's 25%, the installer doesn't have a clue what they are doing.

Jez

Questions are principally,

- Where did you get the car converted?

A local service station in north notts, they've been doing it a long-ish time now.

- Have you had any problems since conversion?

Nope. Zero.

- Has it made any difference to performance?

Yes, it defo has less grunt - but is a lot quieter. And you lose about 10-15% MPG. But my octavia is only 150bhp and auto, so it's a bit slower than the VRS anyway.

Thanks for that. Interesting that you have lost power as with turbo engines; it is common to gain a little due to the higher RON. But, again, that will depend on the system and the installer.

I certainly know one old 2.0l auto Saab 9000 that had LPG and did 248bhp at a rolling road session with a re-map and a sports exhaust. The guy was on about 250,000 miles the last time I saw him on the original engine, so a damned good advert for LPG.

I know LPG can cause valve seat recession in some engines, but typically, it is good for engine longevity as it is a cleaner burning fuel.

Sorry, but I don't believe that. Anyone I know who has ran LPG has suffered approx 10% reduction in MPG. If it's 25%, the installer doesn't have a clue what they are doing.

Jez

believe what you like mate but i DO drive an LPG vehicle all day every day for work and the mpg of it is terrible compared to petrol.

its a ford supplied LPG transit with a 2.3 petrol engine and returns about 115 miles from 50litres of lpg or 250 miles from a 70 litre petrol tank so in the region of 10-11mpg on gas and about 16-17mpg on petrol. i've been driving this vehicle for over 2 years and covered 26,000 miles in it so i think i should know about the fuel economy of LPG

Well, as I said, it's a bad installation if you are getting that much less mpg even if it is a Ford system.

then ford must be terrible with LPG installations as all the vans are the same.

Thanks for that. Interesting that you have lost power as with turbo engines; it is common to gain a little due to the higher RON. But, again, that will depend on the system and the installer.

I certainly know one old 2.0l auto Saab 9000 that had LPG and did 248bhp at a rolling road session with a re-map and a sports exhaust. The guy was on about 250,000 miles the last time I saw him on the original engine, so a damned good advert for LPG.

I know LPG can cause valve seat recession in some engines, but typically, it is good for engine longevity as it is a cleaner burning fuel.

I have had the optional extra (flashlube) to lube the valves put in, it was only £50.

Between my family we have three LPG conversions, all different installations - I have the newest and most reliable. However we are all down on power a little - this is typical in my and the installers experience.

power wise i can't notice any difference when my van is on gas or petrol but some of the other vans in the fleet notice lower power and a less responsive engine on gas, it seems a bit hit and miss really.

Bengie/Rone, many thanks for your responses.

Perhaps Ford run their LPG conversions on the rich side to ensure reliability? I'd certainly be worried if I spent £2000 extra on a conversion and lost 25% mpg as it starts to negate the cost of the conversion.

Hmm, I'm still tempted, but diesel is starting to look more attractive again!

Jez

I've had my conversion for over 50K miles now.

I have had no problems with it to date.

I have a 60 Litre tank which gives a capacity of 48 Litres when full,this cost approx £20-£23 dependant on cost per litre.

From this tank i usually get 230-240 miles depending on the driving conditions.

It costs nearly £50 to fill up on petrol and i get 310-320 miles from that.

So yes there is a difference in MPG but when my Octy is doing between 800-1000 miles a week it was the most sensible option.

I would recommend a conversion as long as you do the mileage,otherwise i don't feel its worth it or getting a diesel come to think of it.

Unless your going to keep your car for a reasonable period of time and do a resonable amount of mileage in it stick to petrol.