LPG CONVERSION - REWIEW 10

Advantages: Low cost fuel, cleaner engine,cheaper tax

Disadvantages: None so far

I purchased a BMW X5 4.4 6 MONTHS ago and had the conversion done a week later. The conversion was priced at £2300, whilst it was the most expensive quote I had been given, the person came with a glowing referal so I went ahead. A doughnut shaped tank which holds 60 litres of gas was fitted, this replaced my spare wheel, (A punctur kit from BMW £70 needed) the only other change to my car was the suspension pump had to be moved to allow the fitting (no visible change inside or out) this is an X5 issue only. Since having it fitted I have only encountered one problem - the car cut out on me without warning - the fitter traced it down to a faulty injector and I havent had issues since. I am paying 50.9 pence per litre and have the choice of 3 stations with 3 miles (one being a Morrisons - save the points and you soon rack up the credits) I have worked out I am getting about the equivelent of 36-40MPG because of the price of petrol (104p a litre).

Filling up takes a bit of getting used to - totally different system - but once you have used it a couple of times its easy

I havent noticed any loss of power and although I was advised you lose about 10% off your top end MPH figure - I never drive at 125 MPH anyway!!

Just taxed my car and it cost £195 for the year - a saving of £25 on the cost of a mondeo's tax (now £220) and £105 on the cost of a 4x4 (now £300) - so another saving!

Overall I would recommend getting the conversion - petrol isnt going to get that much cheaper if at all and whilst they may want to put up the tax on LPG - the fact it is classed as a green fuel might keep them from doing it. One thing - the person who fitted my system has been doing it for 15 years - he is Romanian - nd told me that everyone who buys a new car in his country gets it converted almost immediately

'the only reason it isnt so popular in the UK is because people are too rich' he told me.

I spoke to him 6 weeks later as I was getting my 1000 mile check and he said he was now booked solid for the next 3 months with conversions and whilst there 2 people showed up in their cars to ask when they could be converted!!

Tips:- 1. Get a recommendation 2. check where your nearest filling stations are (Most Morrisons stores have them) 3. Get converted 4. Feel smug when filling up at the petrol station

LPG CONVERSION - REWIEW 9

Advantages: Grant Given,Cheap fuel,Quick conversion

Disadvantages: None that I have found

Recommendable Yes:

If any people are fed up with petrol prices I suggest having your car converted to run on Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG)for short.If the car is less than 1 year old you may possibly qualify for a grant from the POWERSHIFT scheme which is a government scheme which pays a percentage of the cost of conversion.This ranges from 50%--75% of the cost pre VAT.I had my car converted and I now have the best of both worlds,being able to run a car on both gas and petrol.As gas is only about £1.80 a gallon it makes sense to convert.Although the MPG and Performance are slightly down on petrol the cost of fuel far outweighs this minor drawback.I personally had a SKODA OCTAVIA GLXi converted.It took only three days in the garage and the job was superb.The only external difference on the car is a filler cap on the rear bumper about "2 wide.If anybody is interested in finding all about this scheme go to www.est-powershift.orguk.You can still have an older car converted but unfrtunately you do not qualify for a grant.Incidentally there are more LPG filling stations opening all the time.I have two in my town.

LPG CONVERSION - REWIEW 8

Advantages:
Cost, Improves range, Energy reliance, green, improving technology

Disadvantages:
Small amount of petrol to start

Recommendable Yes:

My LPG conversion was installed a year ago I had being toying with the idea for a while. after hearing my partners uncle had it on a Lexus I took the plunge. 2 grand a small wheel like tank in tool slot at rear of vehicle and it was installed. The LPG can be switched between petrol and LPG and the fact you can have a tank of petrol and a tank of Gas gives your car a longer range. The LPG tank is full for £20 as oppose to £30 for half a tank of petrol - such a big difference but the car needs a small amount of petrol to start so I keep a quarter of a tank of petrol in usually just for that purpose. If you get the LPG system installed correctly the car doesnt suffer much loss in power. I was made aware of rally cars with 200hp engines running on gas and I also drove a converted vauxhall calibre that really flew, overtaking was easy lets say.

A person I met through ebay informed me of widespread use in Australia because of cost primarily . The fuel is getting more recognition and more popular here I would think because of cost. The other benefits include not relying on oil diesel and petrol so much. I like to spread my bets with energy having a wood burner a gas fire and central heating incase of losses in energy. We experienced a cut off of electricity when Russia stopped supplying Europe and this showed me the benefits of using traditional/alterative energy sources perhaps a solar panel on a roof will be commonplace in a few years and windmills a common site.

As I see it the LPG is there as an optional fuel it really shows its worth when we go on a long trip to my parents. It has become the fuel we use most but having the petrol is essential as we found to our misfortune when we first got the car not realising the need for a little petrol. I dont like having to rely on a little petrol but its just a little niggle once you get used to the fuel system. Also you lose space in the boot where a spare wheel maybe kept or tools in my case. Apart from these small problems its been very good and very cheap so far. I must have saved £1000 in fuel costs so far which is half the instalation fee and I get a free service after one year so it seems a pretty safe bet. I will keep you posted because obviously things can happen and I wont count my chickens. This is the tale of a man who took a risk which has paid off so far hopefully in a year the cost of installation will be fully paid off and Ill be saving more. Sam signing out..

LPG CONVERSION - REWIEW 7

Advantages: Cost if done right

Disadvantages: Cost if done wrong

Recommendable Yes:

I have been running on LPG for a little over five years now, and covered a shade under 220,000 miles in two cars.

The first car was a Honda Accord 2.2 Coupe that had 65,000 miles on the clock when I had it converted to gas. Used was a cheap and basic OMVL kit. This basically converted an injection engine, into a carburretor engine by inserting little more than an open pipe into the inlet manifold, allowing the engine to suck the gas into the cylinders for combustion. Luckily the engine was powerful enough to start with to compensate for the resulting drop in power. There was a cylinder in the boot behind the back seats which made the boot one foot shorter, but I still retained the full sized spare wheel. The engine was from the ultimately reliable Honda stable so; all the problems that I could/should of have had with such a cheap and quite frankly nasty conversion I didn't. I eventually sold the car still going strong with 245,000 miles on the clock and the engine had had no work done on it what so ever. The engine used to get little more than oil and filter change every 12-15,000 miles instead of the recommended 6,000 miles. This I feel says more for the benefits of buying a Honda engine, rather than the benefits of LPG, however the car returned some 22 miles to the gallon at an average price of 30 pence per litre in those days (5 years - 18 months ago).

Car number 2. Volvo 2.3 T5 (240 bhp) Kit used A G Multi point injection vehicle-specific. Cost £2200 including a doughnut tank in the spare wheel well. Converted at 55,000 miles now just passed 91,000 in 18 months. Miles to the gallon 26.6. Cost of fuel now 34 pence per litre. So by my calculations I am around £600+ in profit at the moment and going up every mile. Can I tell the difference between running on gas and petrol? Yes. The car runs smoother on gas. Can I tell the difference in performance? No. Well yes actually. It accelerates better from low revs on petrol and better on gas at high revs. This I am reliably informed comes from the fact that I now have an extra 10 bhp (250 now) But I have less torque. As my car is an automatic, when you start running out of the torque stuff, it just changes down and away you go. [My information comes from the kit retailers who have converted the Humberside Police Volvo V70 T5s to gas and they did some rolling road tests.]

So do I recommend YOU converting your car? NO. Not until you have done your sums. The vehicle needs to have a large not very economical engine. Forget doing a V.W. Polo 1.0. You will scrap the car before you make your money back. Big engined Fords, Jag's, BMWs, Volvo s 4x4 s and the like are the cars to choose. Then how many miles YOU will do in the car.(as a guide 15,000 miles plus a year) Lets be straight here You are converting the car to save YOU money, not to save the planet. (Not a right lot of difference in the CO2 levels). If like me, you do a fare few miles a year, like a bit of comfort and performance and tend to keep your cars for a while, you would be a MUG NOT to do it. The best kits on the market at the moment are PRINS and AG in my humble opinion. However, even the best kits can be made into the worst by poor fitting, so take recommendations, and do not rush into this until you have done your homework.

LPG CONVERSIONS - REWIEW 6

Advantages: Cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap . . .

Disadvantages: Availability in some areas

Recommendable Yes:

I have a 1999 Hyuindai coupe 2.0 SE which I had converted to LPG around two years ago. The coupe was not particularly thirsty petrol wise, however as I did around 20,000 miles a year I decided that converting to LPG would save me a considerable sum of money.

The LPG tank is a 65 litre 'doughnut' shaped tank which fits snugly into the spare wheel housing underneath the boot carpet, and therefore does not take up any boot space. I don't carry a spare wheel anymore, instead I carry a can of Tyre Weld. Tyre Weld is a aerosol that in the event of a puncture, you screw it onto your tyre valve, invert the can, and spray it. It seals and inflates your tyre without the need for jacks or compressors, and takes seconds. Anyway, back to LPG...

I often get asked whether LPG improves my car's fuel economy. The answer is no. In fact, car's that have been converted to run on LPG actually have slightly worse fuel economy when compared to petrol. However, when you consider that LPG is roughly half the price of petrol, the savings more than make up.

My coupe still has a petrol tank, making it duel fuel. In fact, it always starts up on petrol. To switch to gas, you ensure that the switch on the dash is set to gas, then blip the throttle above 2000 RPM. The system will automatically shut off the petrol and begin feeding gas. Unlike the old systems, you do not have to wait for the engine to heat up before switching accross.

In terms of driving the car, it is true that the power of the car when running on LPG, is slightly reduced. However, unless you are the type of driver who likes racing around town all night, trying to out accelerate everyone in your one litre Nova, you won't notice the difference.

The main difference that you will notice, is on your bank balance. LPG will save you roughly 45% over petrol. The initial cost of conversion can range from £750 to £2000 depending on the type of car, and size of tank. Government grants are available for some new cars, details available on www.powershift.uk.org however be aware that you have to apply for a grant BEFORE you buy the car. For company car drivers, in order to reduce the tax that you pay, buy a production duel fuel car. Daewoo, Volvo, Vauxhall and I think Citroen currently make them. More to follow I hope.

Most people probably haven't noticed the large number of LPG pumps springing up in their local area. The availability of LPG is improving every day. Shell and BP have LPG pumps on many of their forecourts, and I believe that Sainsbury's intend to install LPG pumps at all of their petrol stations. In addition to this, there are many other outlets at places such as farm shops, gas suppliers and small independant garages (often where they convert cars as well). A full list of LPG outlets is available at www.autogas.co.uk.

Safety wise, LPG is not a problem. The tanks are rigorously tested, and are far less likely to rupture than a petrol tank. In the event of a fire, the tank is unlikely to explode, instead the gas will vent and burn, well before the pressure builds up to an extent where the tank will rupture.

I am going to sell my coupe soon as I am getting a company car. Will it be dual fuel? Definitely. I have absolutely no intention of ever running a petrol car again.

I hope this little report is useful, and if you have any questions on this subject, please feel free to ask.