LPG (gas) cars, any advice?

[WWWeed]

Have you ever considered having your diesel converted to run on vegetable oil? It's not a complicated conversion and of course fuel costs are VEEEERY low

I recently was disgusted to find out that if you did this you could be arrested if you dont pay the govverment a slightly reduced fuel tax rate on the vegetable oil like what you pay on petrol!

Oh and you can use hemp seed oil

 

[Space Girl]

The easiest way to achieve all of those things is just to drive a bit less. Can you lift share to work sometimes? Take the bus or train a little more? Cutting down from say 10,000 miles a year to 7k would save 30% of fuel bill, lessen depreciation a tad, space out the services more, save tyre wear etc...

do you not think that I have thought of this I live 67 miles from my work, I have no choice but to live this distance as I can not afford to live any closer and don't tell me to get another job as I have a specialist job that I can only do in a few places and if I were to give it up I would be lucky if I could get a job in Tescos!

I start work at 7am and workl a 12 hour day, there are no buses and no trains, the earlest train gets me into Waterloo at 8am and then I would have to get a train back west to get to work, the journey is nearly 3 hours long one way and costs £40 a day, I can't get there in time nor can I get home, my day would be 18 hours long !

There is no option, as for lift sharing, I live in the middle on nowhere and I don't know anyone who lives on route, there was one guy who used to work at my place who I used to pick up on route but he had to get to the motorway and ended up having to pay for parking which was more that the petrol for him to drive, also I often finished 2 hours earlier than him so I had to hang around when we shared a lift, basically I have no choice but to drive but I am trying to get my costs down and the effect on the enviroment be lessened

 

[clv101]

With 134 miles a day a >70mpg small diesel seems like the only realistic option.

 

[Space Girl]

that's what I already have but the reality is that they don't do 70mpg that's why I thought of going lpg

 

[clv101]

What do you have?

 

[Space Girl]

pug 306

 

[clv101]

pug 306

If you can get 45mpg out of an old 1.9 turbo diesel 306, >70mpg from the Clio, Yaris or C3 is certainly reasonable.

 

[Space Girl]

If you can get 45mpg out of an old 1.9 turbo diesel 306, >70mpg from the Clio, Yaris or C3 is certainly reasonable.

but I won't get that out of them that's the point, I have already been in touch with the dealers about the milage I would get from certain types of cars, I am not willing to travel at 48.95 mph (or whatever they say you have to travel at to get that millage per gallon) to get that millage, I would spend hours on the sodding motorway at that speed and I am also not getting a new car so that's why I am looking at alternatives...and no, I am not going to get a motorbike

 

[clv101]

I think you're being too hard on the new small diesels, they are much more efficient than the old 1.9 lump in the 306, even for the same 70-80mph motorway duty cycle. I have a 130bhp VW diesel engine in a 1315kg Skoda that returns 52mpg on 80mph motorway runs, these small 70-80bhp engines in ~1000kg cars will do much better than mid fifties. Doesn't have to be new, 2 years old 15-20k on the clock they are almost half the price of new and still just getting run in.

 

[Poi E]

Thing is with LPG is that when things go wrong, things can go VERY wrong.

A Discovery in another fire. Nothing new there...

Beware the Citroen C3, the only car I've ever driven with a blind spot at the front. Bad fit and finish, too.

 

[ICB]

We've got a big heavy 406HDi 110 estate that's often loaded with people and stuff. I drive with a very heavy right foot (accelerate hard, 80-90 on mway) and have never got under 45mpg from it, usually about 48mpg.

Woudn't fancy LPG myself. Definitely wouldn't fancy an A class.

What about a Toyota Prius hybrid?

 

[Space Girl]

Woudn't fancy LPG myself. Definitely wouldn't fancy an A class.

What about a Toyota Prius hybrid?

I am going of lpg myself at the mo, as for the Prius, a work colligue has got one and that's what spurred all this getting a new car mode that I'm in, the trouble with the electric cars is that they are no good for motorway driving, they switch to petrol when you go over a certain speed, they are only good for town/city driving lovely cars though

 

[nogoodboyo]

They're not cheap either, those Prius numbers.

I reckon a decent diesel is the way to go. New ones are more efficient; old ones would give you the option of running biodiesel (which I understand new high-pressure diesels like less) and you'd get a bit more car for your money.

 

[snadge]

It's not too sluggish, 92bhp, 0-60 12.1 sec... the other ones to look at are the Clio dCi 80 (0-60 11.6) or 100bhp or the Toyota Yaris D4-D 75 bhp. All these cars will be cheaper to buy and run (>70mpg is a reasonable expectation) than LPG and whilst not very fast will certainly be happy on the motorway.

See http://www.dieselcar.com/ for group test. Click 'Articles' then 'A-Z Test Drives' and find the Toyota Yaris D4-D group test from issue 173.

these are excellent options, stay away from LPG the fallacy that it is cheaper to run is just that, miles per litre is greatly reduced and if you notice the price for LPG is slowly creeping up, soon their won't be a cost advantage because that is the only advantage LPG has at the moment, notice when diesel cars first become popular, the price of diesel was 5p cheaper than unleaded, true if you think, diesel is cheaper to make, now it's 5p more, LPG will go that way as well

 

[ICB]

They're not cheap either, those Prius numbers.

I reckon a decent diesel is the way to go. New ones are more efficient; old ones would give you the option of running biodiesel (which I understand new high-pressure diesels like less) and you'd get a bit more car for your money.

Early ones are under 6k now and I reckon they'd still be very frugal even with a fair bit of motorway driving.

Agree that diesel would probably be a better option than LPG tho. Anyone know how long the tax break on LPG is assured for?

 

[snadge]

Early ones are under 6k now and I reckon they'd still be very frugal even with a fair bit of motorway driving.

Agree that diesel would probably be a better option than LPG tho. Anyone know how long the tax break on LPG is assured for?

see my previous post, not very long now I'll do a search

 

[nogoodboyo]

Cheaper than I thought, I must say.

 

[snadge]

I must add I have a 90bhp audi 80 tdi 1.9 with 250k on the clock, it cruises all day at 90, does 125mph, returns almost 70mpg if I stick at 70mph and is good on acceleration as well, a small renault clio hdi will fly, gone is the image of dirty slow diesels with these modern frugal diesel engines

 

[Space Girl]

So, LPG is out the window along with electric cars, which diesel should I get, I like cars that are high up (due to visibility and my knees), I want 4 doors and a small boot, electric windows, central locking, air con, it must be powerful and it must be ecconomical and I would prefer something that required a service every 10,000 miles rather than every 6,000, I don't really want to spend over £5000 but would prefer something around the 3k mark, it must also be extreemly safe

 

[Poi E]

So, LPG is out the window along with electric cars, which diesel should I get, I like cars that are high up (due to visibility and my knees), I want 4 doors and a small boot, electric windows, central locking, air con, it must be powerful and it must be ecconomical and I would prefer something that required a service every 10,000 miles rather than every 6,000, I don't really want to spend over £5000 but would prefer something around the 3k mark, it must also be extreemly safe

On Ebay for around £3000

 

[Space Girl]

On Ebay for around £3000

well there we go then, fuck the fuel costs, lets just look cool instead, that certainly will put a stop the the 'I'm a man in a fast car and how dare a woman in an old beat up hatchback dare to overtake me even though I am sitting in the middle lane doing 68mph"

 

[Poi E]

women in powerful/large cars=

 

[nogoodboyo]

High up and small is a tricky combo, as is powerful and economical really. And extremely safe means modern, which reduces the choice at that price.

Focus Tdci?

Some on autotrader

You might need to be logged in too see that search though. The focus isn't especially high up, but it's a good modern car that's reasonably priced. There are loads, so find one with the spec you want should be ok.

Or you could get a Zafira if you want something more mini-mpv ish? 4k for 2000/01 2l turbodiesel. A citroen xsara picasso would be a tad cheaper probably, very similar but French.

A skoda octavia would be better value and have a good VAG diesel engine and generally be a very sound choice. The "Laurin&Klement" trim is very plush. Or a Skoda Fabia if you want a smaller car - supposed to be a very comfortable small car, what car? small car of the year twice I think.

The seat Ibiza is similar - VAG engine on the polo/fabia/ibiza platform.

Actually, I reckon a Fabia or Ibiza turbodiesel ticks most of the boxes, but not the height one. I do think you'll have to compromise on some of them - a 1.9tdi for VAG will be powerful but more expensive and maybe 50 mpg, whereas a 1.4 will be frugal but not that plush or quick.

If it was me I'd be looking at Focus, Ibiza and the Skodas, but it really depends what you like best.

 

[Space Girl]

I hate the focus, I drove one the other day and had a hire one on holiday, I found the visibilty very poor, there seemed to be a great big pillar right int he way at the side, nice drive mind you

the mercedes A class seemed to tick all the boxes but everyojne seems to be putting me off it as it's basically crap, a car like that would be my first choice, otherwise shall I say fuck it and get a little sports car instead? as long as I can get the kids in the back ?

 

[Space Girl]

women in powerful/large cars=

tis isn't is,

you should see me in the serena, most people think the gypsies have turned up

 

[nogoodboyo]

I hate the focus, I drove one the other day and had a hire one on holiday, I found the visibilty very poor, there seemed to be a great big pillar right int he way at the side, nice drive mind you

the mercedes A class seemed to tick all the boxes but everyojne seems to be putting me off it as it's basically crap, a car like that would be my first choice, otherwise shall I say fuck it and get a little sports car instead? as long as I can get the kids in the back ?

Well the A class has a poor rep, but if you like it, why not? 5k minimum for diesel though. Might as well get a kitted-up xsara picasso if you want that sort of car imo, but if you like them that counts for something.

What about an Ibiza/fabia or Golf/leon/Octavia with Tdi and £400 remap from Jabbasport or Revo? Very nippy motors on the road they say, and some report better fuel consumption too. So that would be semi-sporty but stilll frugal.

 

[Poi E]

Why not check out ebay and see what sort of cars are being sold at the different price ranges you can meet? All sorts on there.

 

[ICB]

shall I say fuck it and get a little sports car instead? as long as I can get the kids in the back ?

*wheeze*

*cough*

*splutter*

*choke*

 

[Poi E]

oooohhh RX7. WTF with the RX8?

 

[Space Girl]

*wheeze* very nice

*cough* yuk, too 80's (like a TR7)

*splutter* just need some fluffy dice

*choke*nice but it looks like the childre's legs will ahve to be removed (hey, then I could use the disabled spaces in tescos ;-)