LPG users - real world mpg or miles per £?

LPG users - real world mpg or miles per £?

Author
Discussion

Chewitt

Original Poster:

1,041 posts

238 months

Monday 16th November 2009
quotequote all
considering LPG paperbag

i know the ready reckoning of 85% of petrol MPG and that I can't actually get lpg for 40 p a litre (not round here anyway!!)

but can you say model/engine/body type specific what mpg you get?


and if you know how much the conversion cost....


looking at a nice waft mobile type ideally

waits for usual "anything bar petrol is Satan's work" responses.........

eldudereno

997 posts

228 months

Monday 16th November 2009
quotequote all
3.0 S-Type Jag manual, equates to the equivalent of 44mpg average with lpg at 49.9p/litre. You've also got to factor in the petrol that you use until the coolant heats the vapouriser up so, say 40mpg average. Cost £1050 as I did it myself.

skenergysolution

285 posts

180 months

Monday 16th November 2009
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E30 325i auto, with a 50 litre lpg tank, gets me 200 - 250 miles depending town or motorway driving. This equates to 18 - 22 mpg and per litre where I fill up is 0.47p

I'm getting the equivilent of 40 - 49 mpg with todays price of petrol at £1.06 per litre biggrin

frosted

3,549 posts

178 months

Monday 16th November 2009
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Give it a few more minutes and braniac will come and tell you that you have to drive to the moon and back to get your money back from buying the kit

kprm77

417 posts

262 months

Monday 16th November 2009
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I had my old Saab 9-5 converted. Did around 30mpg on petrol, and 24mpg on LPG.

Turbo went soon after fitting LPG. Check Engine Light was always on. Hesitation problems.

Be very careful which installer you use, and also check that your car is one that takes LPG with few issues. Big 4x4 V8's seem to be fine on the stuff. My Saab wasn't frown

wpo750

152 posts

193 months

Monday 16th November 2009
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1997 Jeep Cherokee 4.0l which I bought with a single point system already installed. It has a supposed 70 litre tank into which I can only ever squeeze 52 litres which at 51p/l costs £26.52 to brim. This will return about 150 miles around town and 190 max on the run which equates to about 13 mpg urban and 18p per mile.

Considering that unleaded is over twice the price of LPG at the moment it makes it considerably cheaper to run as the daily hack and on petrol the thirsty Jeep will only return 15.5 mpg at best but performance is noticeably smoother and more responsive.

B19GRR

1,980 posts

257 months

Monday 16th November 2009
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Just had a depressing fill up, only 21.6mpg but I've had some pretty dreadful journeys recently due to every road I go near seeming to have roadworks. Average since install (nearly a whole 2 months ago!) is 23.6mpg or just over 11p/mile. Current price I'm paying is 57.9p/l, 40p/l is wishful thinking unfortunately, at least in my neck of the woods. My average running on petrol was low 30s so I'm looking at 66%. Best I got was just over 26mpg on a longish run but that did also include some A roads in the Pennines, if it was possible to drive the length of say the M1 at a steady cruise then more should be achievable. I'm filling up every 2 days, I deduct 6 miles from the odo reading as it seems to take around 2 miles in the morning before switching over and just 1 in the evening.

BMW E39 528i Auto saloon, BRC Sequent system, £1600 fitted.

Cheers,
Rob

cptsideways

13,565 posts

253 months

Monday 16th November 2009
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I've run several LPG cars over the years, few worked 100% all the time, mpg was generally only 70% of petrol. Plus you have to fill the effing thing up every 150m as you only get 200m on a big tank if your lucky (which means you have to start looking for an lpg station after 150m) or every two hours!

If your a high mileage driver get a Tdi, 600m between fills & you can choose when to fill up, much much less hassle. Our two Tdi's both get from Dorset to the Nurburgring & back on a tank! or Dorset to the French Alps in one go. LPG you'd be looking at 3-4 fills on route.

jr502

487 posts

175 months

Monday 16th November 2009
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used to get 21 MPG on petrol, and 17-18 on LPG, could do 220-240 miles on a tank, thats with a basic carb setup. my dad gets 18mpg on petrol adn 17 on LPG with a single point injection system.

you can often find vehicles already converted which makes the savings instant. I also got a discount on my insurance because of the LPG conversion.

TheRoadWarrior

1,241 posts

179 months

Monday 16th November 2009
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I've often wondered about LPG- it seems to offer a lot of benefits yet i've never seen a car from a manufacturer with it fitted as standard.. why? I mean they could presumably do a much better job of installing it and getting it running correctly, leaving the car buyer with a decent car with reliable LPG. Also the cost of fitting the kit would be rolled up into buying the car.

Chewitt

Original Poster:

1,041 posts

238 months

Monday 16th November 2009
quotequote all
TheRoadWarrior said:
I've often wondered about LPG- it seems to offer a lot of benefits yet i've never seen a car from a manufacturer with it fitted as standard.. why? I mean they could presumably do a much better job of installing it and getting it running correctly, leaving the car buyer with a decent car with reliable LPG. Also the cost of fitting the kit would be rolled up into buying the car.
volvo did and the odd Vauxhall -prob a few others.....

my biggest concern is the distance between fill ups - if the saving isn't big enough then 2 trips a week to the pilfer-illing station isn't worth the hassle.

S'why I asked!

scotty_d

6,795 posts

195 months

Monday 16th November 2009
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1994 Jag XJ6 3.2L On LPG owned it for 2 years covered 35k in it and averaged around 45MPG/cost equivalent depending on lpg prices it was 29.9p /Litre when i first put the kit in and did 50MPG on a run worst it did was low 40's, on petrol it did 20-29MPG so was very good IMHO


My dad has ran a Volvo 850 2.0l for 9 years on Gas and it costs him £16 for 230 miles of driving which is not too shabby.

scotty_d

6,795 posts

195 months

Monday 16th November 2009
quotequote all
My jag had a 90L tank in it and a range of around 270-300 miles and my dad as said above has a 40 or 45L tank and gets around 230 ish to a tank.

We had a Factory fit LPG vectra this year for only a short time as it was a pile of junk engine wise was running fine just needed too much spent to be worthwhile and only did around 40/MPG cost equiv so not very good and most of their range are not great either we were told.

There are two gas systems direct injection and wet, direct is more efficient of the two but more expensive to buy and fit in the first place. I had single point i.e through the air intake and never had any issues and same with the old mans Volvo.

these were both tartarini systems we use


Edited by scotty_d on Monday 16th November 20:21

XitUp

7,690 posts

205 months

Monday 16th November 2009
quotequote all
cptsideways said:
I've run several LPG cars over the years, few worked 100% all the time, mpg was generally only 70% of petrol. Plus you have to fill the effing thing up every 150m as you only get 200m on a big tank if your lucky (which means you have to start looking for an lpg station after 150m) or every two hours!

If your a high mileage driver get a Tdi, 600m between fills & you can choose when to fill up, much much less hassle. Our two Tdi's both get from Dorset to the Nurburgring & back on a tank! or Dorset to the French Alps in one go. LPG you'd be looking at 3-4 fills on route.
The garage up the road from me sells it so that's not an issue.

Diesels are horrid.
I thought you couldn't take LPG cars on ferries/the chunnel?

TheRoadWarrior said:
I've often wondered about LPG- it seems to offer a lot of benefits yet i've never seen a car from a manufacturer with it fitted as standard.. why? I mean they could presumably do a much better job of installing it and getting it running correctly, leaving the car buyer with a decent car with reliable LPG. Also the cost of fitting the kit would be rolled up into buying the car.
You can get factory fit Focus's, I've been looking at a few. Plenty of cars in other countries come with them too.


Right, should I get a 1999 Alfa 156 twin spark on lpg for £1500? Good buy or not?

scotty_d

6,795 posts

195 months

Monday 16th November 2009
quotequote all
your ok on ferries with LPG but not the Ctunnel

XitUp

7,690 posts

205 months

Monday 16th November 2009
quotequote all
Ah, that's nice to know, cheers.

scotty_d

6,795 posts

195 months

Monday 16th November 2009
quotequote all
Not 100% the reason but i did read that it was not allowed. it might be because gas is heavy and would sit low in tunnel if it got out?

But LPG is safe stuff the tanks are very clever and do not explode just look at those idiots that tried to bomb Glasgow airport using lpg tanks= Epic fail thank god.

redtwin

7,518 posts

183 months

Monday 16th November 2009
quotequote all
eldudereno said:
3.0 S-Type Jag manual, equates to the equivalent of 44mpg average with lpg at 49.9p/litre. You've also got to factor in the petrol that you use until the coolant heats the vapouriser up so, say 40mpg average. Cost £1050 as I did it myself.
Would you mind elaborating on your system?, make, type, time spent fitting etc. It is always something I have thought about and felt competent enough to handle, but wasn't sure if the DIY savings would be worth it.

A local firm advertises a multipoint V8 system fitted for £1200ish. If DIY will only save me £200 and means forgoing any warranty, after sales support or insurance friendly certificate then it wouldn't make sense.


P10DGR

91 posts

186 months

Monday 16th November 2009
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My company run lpg for all their cars, mine is an astra which wasn't a good place to start! As far as i'm concerned there are no benefits to it, you fill up everytime you see an autogas sign, where i am there aren't many stations that supply it, you get 200 - 250 miles out of a tank for £35(my v70r can do that!), performance is blunted unless you have a decent sized engine but i'm sure you'll still notice the difference, I believe the wear on the engine is increased and they are bloody unreliable and if you are doing short trips you still use alot of petrol as they have to start on petrol until the system feels there's sufficent heat in the engine to get it to work. Also in the dis'astra the fuel guage is so unreliable that you almost can't afford to drive past a petrol station (that could just be a vauxhall issue)

dangerous brain

128 posts

236 months

Monday 16th November 2009
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If you don't have a cherished motor that has to be kept then I don't understand the issue here. If you want an LPG'd motor then buy one thats been done allready. Poll your local LPG installers they will know of cars that are for sale before anyone else does. Keep an eye on the classifieds here. Be prepared to travel for a car. Keep the damn thing for years before you get shot of it. As for CPT's comments about availability in Europe, the Europeans invented LPG. Yes you have to stop more often and can't use the chunnel but there is sh*t loads of LPG in Europe.