My LS430 - Converted to LPG - Review

24-10-2013 12:06AM

daRobot wrote: »

Just thought I'd give a quick update.

Almost a year later, and a good few thousand miles, my conversion has been a resounding success. It's not missed a beat once, and has been nearly as efficient as running on petrol (maybe 10% less so).

Getting an effective 30 mpg in town, and 55 mpg on Motorway.

Got my car serviced recently, and the mechanic commented on how clean the old oil was. Can only be a good thing.

Getting the LPG service done in a few weeks, with LPgain.

Sub 80c fuel is the business

Cool, glad it worked out.

Imagine what sub 80C fuel would be like in a 60-65 mpg Prius ?

Stinicker · 24-10-2013 12:10AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Cool, glad it worked out.

Imagine what sub 80C fuel would be like in a 60-65 mpg Prius ?

It would be the equivalent of something close to a 100 mpg car when you consider the mileage it gets for the amount of money spent. I'm running LPG myself and am extremely happy and am running on the fuel over 1 year now and so far so good.

Esel · 24-10-2013 12:10AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Cool, glad it worked out.

Imagine what sub 80C fuel would be like in a 60-65 mpg Prius ?

A guy I met with a Nissan Leaf reckoned it was costing him 1c per km.

24-10-2013 12:26AM

Esel wrote: »

A guy I met with a Nissan Leaf reckoned it was costing him 1c per km.

Well 50 Euro's in a leaf would = about 2400 miles or more if you get more than 70 miles on a charge. Then you got free public charging.

Nothing comes close to electric for cheap to run. Though a prius on LPG would probably be 2nd.

Sam Kade · 24-10-2013 12:32AM

daRobot wrote: »

Just thought I'd give a quick update.

Almost a year later, and a good few thousand miles, my conversion has been a resounding success. It's not missed a beat once, and has been nearly as efficient as running on petrol (maybe 10% less so).

Getting an effective 30 mpg in town, and 55 mpg on Motorway.

Got my car serviced recently, and the mechanic commented on how clean the old oil was. Can only be a good thing.

Getting the LPG service done in a few weeks, with LPgain.

Sub 80c fuel is the business

Is it a v8 engine you are talking about

dh0011 · 24-10-2013 07:25AM

Stinicker wrote: »

It would be the equivalent of something close to a 100 mpg car when you consider the mileage it gets for the amount of money spent. I'm running LPG myself and am extremely happy and am running on the fuel over 1 year now and so far so good.

what kind of car/lpg system have you got?

padd b1975 · 24-10-2013 08:22AM

Sam Kade wrote: »

Is it a v8 engine you are talking about

Got to be cruising at well under 120 for the motorway numbers to stack up I would think.

Cleveland Hot Pocket · 24-10-2013 08:27AM

Sam Kade wrote: »

Is it a v8 engine you are talking about

Yes he is but he said "effective" mpg, meaning the notional MPG figure if the 80cpl lpg were actually 160 cpl petrol?

daRobot · 24-10-2013 10:08AM

padd b1975 wrote: »

Got to be cruising at well under 120 for the motorway numbers to stack up I would think.

Not at all. At 100, it'll do 30 mpg, 120 about 27-28, and say in a hypothetical 'end of the world' type situation, where I was forced to drive at 140'ish, I'd estimate it to be 24 :pac:

daRobot · 24-10-2013 10:22AM

Sam Kade wrote: »

Is it a v8 engine you are talking about

Yep, but you can half those numbers for the petrol mpg. I said effective as LPG is half the price of petrol, so the numbers quoted are the petrol equivalent.

Some big engines can be remarkably kind on fuel providing you drive them right, I once got 40 mpg (petrol figures) from a v12 e38 750i on a 120km journey driving it at 55mph (following an relative who was a nervous driver). I didn't think that would ever be possible.

tossy · 24-10-2013 10:37AM

How many miles have you put up since getting the kit installed ?

Stinicker · 24-10-2013 01:00PM

dh0011 wrote: »

what kind of car/lpg system have you got?

I have a BMW e36 316i SE 1.6litre autobox, the lpg system is a Zenit Pro with a 59litre Donut sparewheel tank which can be filled to 80% of capacity giving a fuel tank of 47.5 - 48 litres.

tossy wrote: »

How many miles have you put up since getting the kit installed ?

I'm not sure if this question is directed at me but I have 12,750 miles ~(20,000kms) driven on the system since it was installed 1 year and 2 weeks ago.

The conversion has paid for itself and I am now saving away nicely. I track my usage on the iPhone app "Roadtrip" and I get 28.2mpg on LPG compared to 31mpg on Petrol so there is a 10% difference in fuel economy compared to Petrol.

I have burnt around €100 of Petrol in 2013 as the car must start on Petrol and will then automatically changeover to LPG once the engine has reached the optimal temperature. If the car is hot from being driven before then it will changeover within 10 -20 seconds and it is only when you are starting the engine from cold that it can take a little longer to changeover to lpg. I find it the winter it takes longer and in the summer it takes less time for the changeover to occur.

My car was converted by VVtech lpg.ie based in Kilcullen in Kildare.

daRobot · 24-10-2013 04:45PM

tossy wrote: »

How many miles have you put up since getting the kit installed ?

I've done about 8,000 miles now.

Cleveland Hot Pocket · 24-10-2013 04:53PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Cool, glad it worked out.

Imagine what sub 80C fuel would be like in a 60-65 mpg Prius ?

Certainly would not equate to getting a v8 lexus to do 50+mpg

jca · 24-10-2013 06:06PM

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

Certainly would not equate to getting a v8 lexus to do 50+mpg

Yes it would. I don't think you really understand how its calculated. What the op means is if the v8 is doing 30 mpg on lpg, thats the same as getting 55 mpg on petrol. When I ran an lpg car I always used miles per pound. I found people could relate to it more easily. On petrol I was getting 6-7 miles per pound and 13 miles per pound on lpg.

blancha · 24-10-2013 08:39PM

has anyone tried to reduce the tax for a vehicle converted to LPG registered after July 2008?

jca · 24-10-2013 09:04PM

blancha wrote: »

has anyone tried to reduce the tax for a vehicle converted to LPG registered after July 2008?

It can't be done. The motor tax band the vehicle falls into is decided using the co2 figures given by the manufacturer.

Cleveland Hot Pocket · 24-10-2013 09:05PM

jca wrote: »

Yes it would. I don't think you really understand how its calculated. What the op means is if the v8 is doing 30 mpg on lpg, thats the same as getting 55 mpg on petrol. When I ran an lpg car I always used miles per pound. I found people could relate to it more easily. On petrol I was getting 6-7 miles per pound and 13 miles per pound on lpg.

Not only do I know that, I have already corrected someone on thread and explained it.

Not sure where that is coming from (your post) tbh

blancha · 24-10-2013 09:19PM

jca wrote: »

It can't be done. The motor tax band the vehicle falls into is decided using the co2 figures given by the manufacturer.

even if you can prove that it is different?

jca · 24-10-2013 09:27PM

blancha wrote: »

even if you can prove that it is different?

Be lovely if it could be done. I know in the uk lpg vehicles get exemption from congestion charges etc but as far as I know nothing is different here.

jca · 24-10-2013 09:29PM

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

Not only do I know that, I have already corrected someone on thread and explained it.

Not sure where that is coming from (your post) tbh

It looked like you didn't belive the op.

Cleveland Hot Pocket · 24-10-2013 09:31PM

jca wrote: »

It looked like you didn't belive the op.

No it was mad_lad and his prius suggestion I was (jokingly) rebutting

jca · 24-10-2013 09:35PM

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

No it was mad_lad and his prius suggestion I was (jokingly) rebutting

Ah ok. My mistake. Anyone here give advice on buying a prius??? (Only joking)

My LS430 - Converted to LPG - Review

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