jackso11 Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Is it worth converting to LPG yet do you think? With the rising price of petrol I am now considering buying a second car to use on a daily basis but checked out the price to convert to LPG and some companies are now doing it for £750-£999. Maybe its worth switching the Supra to LPG? I know nothing about LPG other than its cheap. Does it effect the performance at all? or the possibility of modding in future? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Attero Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Apparently it's just as good as unleaded, if not better. I believe you can do everything you can do with an unleaded Supra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackso11 Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 I just read on an old post you can't go through the channel tunnel with LPG, is that right? strange! I guess its allowed to explode on a boat but not in the tunnel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Attero Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I didn't know there were LPG location restrictions in the first place. Hmm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamesy Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 thought it was about £1850 to convert it ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Attero Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 It's probably being pushed further (with all the petrol prices rises and stuff), so they've halved the prices. Does it really cost nearly £2k in labour (mainly) to do a conversion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supra steveo Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 i know purity14 had his done and he said it was hardly any different Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonB Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 It's like anything else, there are cheapo poor quality conversion kits and decent more expensive ones. Remember there is what is basically a piggyback ECU that controls the fueling when on LPG - just like with normal ECUs the cheap ones are limited in their functions and reliability which makes it harder for the fitter to map it correctly. Same with the injectors, the decent ones are quite expensive but very reliable, cheapo ones aren't! My Merc commuter car has been running on LPG for 18 months. It runs no different on LPG than petrol really. You do lose some performance, and the other thing to remember is you lose MPG. So the Merc for example used to do 28mpg on petrol and does 22mpg on gas. You also still need to put petrol in every now and then because it starts from cold on petrol for the first mile or so before switching to gas. So it works out something like 2/3rds the price of petrol. The main thing you pay for is the expertise of the fitter. Just like if you had a normaly piggyback ECU if the map they put on is rubbish it won't drive properly on gas. Think mine was just shy of £2k but it was a V8 and therefore needs 8 injectors. If you convert a 4 or 6 cylinder engine it obviously will be a bit cheaper. Some cars are harder to do because squeezing the kit under the bonnet or mounting the tank is more difficult and you'll get charged more for those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abz Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 It's probably being pushed further (with all the petrol prices rises and stuff), so they've halved the prices. Does it really cost nearly £2k in labour (mainly) to do a conversion? I put up a thread about this recently. http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?236055-Lpg&highlight=LPG When I was in Bangaldesh, nearly all the cars were running on LPG. Cost about £50 to fit (that included fitting & LPG system). They had a 4 light LED system & all the cars were running well, didn't notice much difference in performance or anything. Been looking at LPG cars myself actually, though LPG price has risen, I remember it was 35p when it first came out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackso11 Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 Yeah I thought it was still about 35p until I started look at it. I think petrol prices will come down a bit at some point but it will only be for a very short amount of time. Like last time it went up to 118p then took a drop back to about 100p.....lasted about a month then it was back up again. Petrol prices are crazy in england, looks like LPG is a solution, but not as good as it looks at first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr lover Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I have 2 lpg vehicles, an Audi 2.8 V6 quattro and a Mitsubishi L200 3.0 V6 both run fine on gas no problems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobUK Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 You can't go on Euro Tunnel if you have LPG! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supra steveo Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I have 2 lpg vehicles, an Audi 2.8 V6 quattro and a Mitsubishi L200 3.0 V6 both run fine on gas no problems how much did it cost and who fitted it ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hp006 Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 dont forget the petrol rise in april. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonB Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 It's true you can't use the Eurotunnel, but you can use the ferry no problem. Also worth remembering that when petrol duty goes up so does LPG in proportion. In fact it tends to follow petrol prices but a bit behind. So when petrol went up recently so did LPG. It's 79.9p per litre at my local (expensive) station now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Attero Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 That's some expensive LPG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonB Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Yeah, fuel in general is expensive round here. Think the cheapest LPG is 75.9 round here at a Shell but it's a bit out of my way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nasoup Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Does having LPG affect the cost of insurance? I'm assuming you have to declare it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonB Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Does having LPG affect the cost of insurance? I'm assuming you have to declare it Yes you do, and no it shouldn't normally provided it has been done by an approved installer that's UKLPG registered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerous brain Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Simon the gas at texaco just outside ringwood is 71.9p mate and I think the shell at St Leonards thats now a BP is the same price if you are passing that way. My aristo vvti shows no difference in consumption between petrol and gas mile for litre. Gas on charged cars is better than on N/A's due to the RON being 102 etc. Mine cost me £1650 for a BRC system and electronic flashlube system and a toroidal tank ie spare wheel. Basically it means that I can choose either my diesel sh*tter or my aristo as there is only a penny a mile in it on fuel costs. I really don't think I'd go with a £900 instal as the tanks going to be one of them crappy sausage ones that sit up taking over your entire boot in a very unsightly manner. It will be more than likely single point injection which has its own issues blowback being one and it isn't as efficient as multi point either. I doubt that any time or effort will be put into cosmetics during the instal either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy442 Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Speak to DangerousBrain on here, his TT Aristo is running LPG. The only saving for LPG is the cost, the MPGz are equal to or less than on petrol. *right on cue Bry * Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr lover Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 how much did it cost and who fitted it ? bought them already converted mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJI Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 At 72p per litre and about £1,500 to convert...how many years of ownership is that before you break even? In most cases it means its a non-starter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonB Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Simon the gas at texaco just outside ringwood is 71.9p mate and I think the shell at St Leonards thats now a BP is the same price if you are passing that way. Cheers, the Shell at St Leonards is the one I was thinking of, that always used to be the cheapest. It's a trade off between cheaper fuel and having to sit in the A31 traffic instead of going up the A35 like I normally do. Normally laziness wins... At 72p per litre and about £1,500 to convert...how many years of ownership is that before you break even? In most cases it means its a non-starter. Less than a year for me. In any case I factored the conversion cost into the price of buying the car. I wanted a commuting car that was actually comfy and had some toys since I'd be sitting in it for the best part of 2 hours a day. So I could buy a tinny horrible diesel or a big fat luxury V8. Big engined cars are now really cheap because nobody wants to run them. The price of the Merc + conversion was still less than an equivalent "economical" car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerous brain Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Cheers, the Shell at St Leonards is the one I was thinking of, that always used to be the cheapest. It's a trade off between cheaper fuel and having to sit in the A31 traffic instead of going up the A35 like I normally do. Normally laziness wins... Less than a year for me. In any case I factored the conversion cost into the price of buying the car. I wanted a commuting car that was actually comfy and had some toys since I'd be sitting in it for the best part of 2 hours a day. So I could buy a tinny horrible diesel or a big fat luxury V8. Big engined cars are now really cheap because nobody wants to run them. The price of the Merc + conversion was still less than an equivalent "economical" car. That was exactly my reasoning. I picked up an aristo TT VVTi for about a grand cheaper than market value with some nice mods on it so I bit his hand off and factored the gas conversion into the price. The more expensive petrol gets the quicker you'll get the money back. I'm now saving 65 pence a litre over SUL. Just over 10k miles to cover the cost. I'm 3/4s of the way there already......... I don't justify it that way though. I justify it with I couldn't run the TT daily at the cost of fuel now so I'd have a sh*tter to run instead. The annual saving on tax, MOT, insurance and other running costs of older unreliable motors is saving enough, and I get to sit in my nice car daily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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