Anyone got any ideas? Next year I'll most likely be starting a job where I'll be driving 25-30K a year, and I fancy a big comfy but swift barge, running on LPG. I'd need at least a 400 mile range on gas, and have a fairly decent sized boot to take the tank and various gear. Cars I fancy are as follows:
Impreza / Legacy / Forester turbo wagons. Merc W126 SEC Jag XJ8
Any other ideas for cars, what conversion costs and how soon I can expect to see a payback doing that sort of mileage?
And some more bits and bobs:
AWD would be an advantage, and a big boot really is needed as you can end up transporting yourself and 3 passengers + muddy s**te, so it needs to have room for several sets of clothes etc. in the boot. Leather would be good for ease of cleaning.
I wouldn't go for LPG, go for a diesel that you can run on vegetable oil and get the conversion kit. It costs less to do than LPG and the economy is far better. The problem with LPG is best described as - cut a piece of cake in half, it's half the calories, so you can eat twice as much! You might pay less for LPG but the equivalent distance you will travel is the same as you would spend on petrol and half of what you would on diesel. I tried it with factory fitted units on new cars and ended up buying a diesel. The amount of stations selling LPG was very small, so when I needed it I wasn't able to find it and filled with petrol. It just wasn't convenient. I would go for something like a Jeep Cherokee and do the vege oil conversion on it. With LPG you lose the spare wheel and performance is rubbish compared to petrol. A diesel engine running on vegetable oil is not that bad, it's far cheaper to run and savings depend on how long it would take you to get through £1k of diesel. Is it really worth it? Don't forget those cars you mention are taxed heavily, some 4WD are now £300 rising to £400 a year road tax. It depends on your job, but if you need to transport people and gear about, buy a diesel transit and get that converted. I did once see a Jag on LPG, it had similar performance to a garden shed.
Impressive. So much bollocks in such a short space.
What? That's just total bollocks. You can expect 75-80% of the MPG using even the early not very good LPG kits, modern ones will give 90%. But I would agree an old low pressure injection derv would be a good idea as you can just stick veg oil into it without any work.
This week I used around 150 litres of diesel. That's well above the 50l/week that you can produce and put in your car tax free. And the thing about LPG is that I can actually fill my car with it when I'm down the other end of the country, a few hundred miles from my shed and tank of veg oil.
You're wrong.
I'd rather eat glass than drive a Jeep Cherokee for 30K a year.
And another thought - any reason why I couldn't pull the original fuel tank, replace it with say, a 15 litre tank, and then have a BFO LPG tank to give decent range without losing boot space?
That's remarkably honest of you. Couldn't your misses do half the mileage and use her allowance in your car as well? Then you only have to pay tax on 50l a week. That's only if she dose do 1/3 to 1/2 the mileage I wouldn't suggest defrauding the tax office.
I'm not aware of any reason - guy I know did exactly that on a Mk1 Mazda RX-7 (actually, he's got no petrol tank at all, but a fairly fancy LPG system that allows him to start the engine on LPG as well).
range 400 miles fuel flow= 20l / 100 miles => meaning 80 l useable.
Well that would depend on where the tank is, it's not uncommon to have a tank moulded to the underside of the car, you won't get a pressurised LPG tank in that is anything like as big as the one that comes out. I did see an interesting install where quite a lot of the rear seat padding was removed and a series of small bottles installed to take the gas (though that was nitrous oxide the theory should work). You couldn't tell from the appearance or really form sitting on them they just felt a bit firm. Have you considered an A6, Phaeton or Superb.
Phaeton and A6 would be too pricey I think, whilst I'd quite like the technical goodness of either (not sure about how they'd drive). The superb doesn't really appeal that much. I'd rather have a 15 year old Merc that looks evil and has RWD.
Shows what a k*****ad you are then. A Cherokee is one of the vilest driving experiences, ever. Not only that but they are about as reliable as a chocolate teapot.
I could probably cope with less, but it's a PITA to have to stop and fill up every other day.
The XJ has got a particularly small boot for the class of car though.
Hmm. Looks like an LPG conversion like that (2.5K is big money for a conversion, must be a fairly shit hot one) would pay for itself in around two year and then start saving me around £1500 a year after that. Which would be nice, but OTOH isn't earth shattering.
Have you driven an A8? I could fancy one of those...
No but they are big and soft, I guess you are talking the previous shape (as in last floor pan not pre facelift). Like a lot of cars in it's class they drop residuals like a stone over the first 5 years and can be considered a bargain after that. Are you thinking of the V8? Supposed to be a smooth engine with good torque.
Volvo did a range of cars with LPG from the factory, LPG tank displaces the petrol tank so you get a much better range on LPG. And you can't get much more comfy!
If you want LPG, 400 mile gas range and boot space, then you probably want an estate. True luxury estates are rare. Luxury 4x4s on LPG will do the job, but cost a lot more.
Yeah, Yeah, tiscali, barryboy, dangerous vehicle, non qualified mechanic, repeat ad nauseum.
No you don't. I've been driving around in my mates 4 litre Cherokee for the last 3 weeks. Not that much difference between LPG and petrol. It has an 80 litre tank under the floor, and a smaller specially made petrol tank. Still runs well, easy cruise at 110 on the continent
Mike P
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