FAO Dav1d

[SimonP]

Hi there,

Did I recall a threat not so long a go mentioning that your Vectra had been converted to LPG?

If so, can you tell me about the pros and cons? I.e, was it worth it etc etc etc.

Cheers

[Dav1d]

Well, if you're planning on keeping your car for a few more years & if you don't plan on modding your engine you'll be fine.
If you do, then you may need to get a new reducer.
Find a company that doesn't go bust within 7 months of fitting it (like mine did).
Or do it yourself.
Car Mechanics magazine did a feature on it a few months ago and they're doing another next month.

This response would be about 500 times in length if I went into every detail, so I cut it down.
That was too long too, so I had to cut it down again (above).
If you want to know anything else, let me know.

[SimonP]

Thanks mate, erm, maybe considering on my next car, not my current car thought. Does it matter on age / milage of the vehicle?

[Dav1d]

Apparently not. Car Mechanics mag put their system onto a G reg Volvo!
What car you looking to get next ?

[SimonP]

L / M reg Astra Cabrio.

Interesting, cat or no cat, milage and age don't make much of a difference.

I do quite a bit of milage (all motorway) and would love to spend less on fuel!!!!

[Dav1d]

There are downsides though.
First is the actual mpg you get, rather than the mpg you're expecting to get/told you'll get.
On my Vectra, I used to get around 30mpg on petrol (standard car).
On lpg, it should work out that you get 80% of your current mpg, so from the above, I should have got around 24mpg, whereas I usually got 20-22. Only saw 25 mpg once, when I drove to the lake district (from MK).
Currently I get 26-28 mpg (car modified) so I don't dare think about what I'll get when I get it sorted again.
Spoke to a taxi driver while filling up once. He had a Skoda Octavia, and he was moaning that he was ONLY getting 30mpg, whereas he was told it'd be 40mpg !

Then there's the tank.
I have a 100ltr tank (max fill 80ltrs, which takes forever), and it's quite a monster, taking up about a third of my boot (on the plus side, it lowers the rear of my car real well!), though you might want to consider a spare wheel well type round tank, and a can of tyre-weld (unless you want the spare in the boot).

LPG has a higher ron than petrol (over 100 apparently), so it does your engine good, helping to clean it up internally (apparently, ..............more sales talk).

[SimonP]

Mmm, interesting pros a cons there. Cheers.

In the end though, what even slight difference in MPG you get you are still paying a damn sight less than you would if you were buying petrol.

[Dav1d]

Damn right. And it's a good laugh watching everybody panic around you trying to get petrol during a fuel crisis
So you' re gonna go for it then.