Clio on LPG

Alx · May 4, 2014

So, my work has moved to a location which means it is no longer realistic to commute by train. Car is my only option, it would be around 90 miles per day and it would have cost a fortune in my R26. For that reason it is now sold and I'm looking to get a commuter car. Skoda fabia vrs was the car in question but the limited edition (leather, blue) is around £4500+ so not cheap and does not stir any emotions lol.

So... because of this ive thought maybe the way forward could be to buy a clio 1*2 and have it converted to lpg, this would still work out less to purchase than the Fabia but be a car I actually have some passion for as i've run one in the past. Does anyone have any experience with this fuel type? I'm really hoping this would make financial sense and isnt a case of bad man maths lol...

Thoughts?

Sargara · May 4, 2014

The 1*2 is already economical in comparison to other cars of this nature, I really don't see what would be gained by LPG. The way I see it you have 2 options really:
- buy something that's already been LPG'd
- bangernomics where you pickup a diesel car for peanuts and run it into the ground

Alx · May 4, 2014

Ok so I don't think i can face driving a s**t heap. A 182 will do 40 mpg on a run and if it was running lpg it would be nearly half the cost of using petrol.... no?

Ianboom · May 4, 2014

How much fuel could you buy for the price of an LPG conversion?

Tough call for a 90 mile commute, if it were me I'd buy a 1*2 and leave it standard, you'll probably average 36mpg on a good run.

Banger would be a good option, but if you keep a nice car for the weekend, you'll end up with double the running costs.

Ray Gin · May 4, 2014

LPG for a big V8 jeep yes…..for a 2 litre, economical renault clio, no. Not worth it.

imprezaworks · May 4, 2014

lol. There's one on ebay, been there for sometime too.

Ol’ Tarby · May 4, 2014

Liam. said:
LPG for a big V8 jeep yes…..for a 2 litre, economical renault clio, no. Not worth it.

This

Alx · May 4, 2014

Hold on, i dont see why people dont see it how i do. You take a clio 182 1k cheaper than the skoda fabia vrs spend the 1k saving on lpg conversion and end up with better fuel costs than the skoda and have a nice car to drive. Or am I missing something?

RTSportdTi · May 4, 2014

Alx said:
Hold on, i dont see why people dont see it how i do. You take a clio 182 1k cheaper than the skoda fabia vrs spend the 1k saving on lpg conversion and end up with better fuel costs than the skoda and have a nice car to drive. Or am I missing something?

or use the 1k on petrol instead?.. :S

Alx · May 4, 2014

Which would be about 3 months fuel so wouldnt last long. Its 1800 miles per month

imprezaworks · May 4, 2014

Get a diesel then

sambk24 · May 4, 2014

I do about 400 miles a week a week in 172 cup and average about 36mpg, which is pretty awesome. Why dont u just get the clio 1.5 diesel?

W M Autos · May 4, 2014

LPG burns valve seats (well it used to), costs a fortune to have installed and give less mpg to the standard fuel. You'd be far better off with a diesel but I wouldn't recommend a Skoda. Yes yes I know they're VAG but doesn't mean anything to joe public. All they see is SKODA and all they remember is the bad press from years ago so you have a nightmare selling them on and they depreciate rapidly.

Lozza-p · May 4, 2014

There's 2 on autotrader with LPG conversion

imprezaworks · May 4, 2014

Just buy a diesel. Assuming the LPG tank sits in the boot?

Alx · May 4, 2014

Yes but it would be cheaper to run than a diesel while costing the same as the skoda to buy

imprezaworks · May 4, 2014

So assuming you don't need boot space? That's also assuming the tank isn't small?

Haston · May 5, 2014

Lpg only burns valve seats if they are not hardened, or if you don't fit the valve lube kit. Owned an LPG'd rover coupe turbo (best car I've owned) but considered Lpging the clio on my own.

Diagro · May 8, 2014

I am also intrested in adding LPG to my 172. Seems a perfect way to get a Diesels MPG on a Stupidly quick hatch

Can get some nice Multipoint Kits on ebay for £300.

Advikaz · May 8, 2014

W M Autos said:
LPG burns valve seats (well it used to), costs a fortune to have installed and give less mpg to the standard fuel. You'd be far better off with a diesel but I wouldn't recommend a Skoda. Yes yes I know they're VAG but doesn't mean anything to joe public. All they see is SKODA and all they remember is the bad press from years ago so you have a nightmare selling them on and they depreciate rapidly.

Friend of mine sold his evo to a bloke on the Isle Of White who converted it to LPG! idiot. It lasted less than a month.

LPG runs very hot as well which I don't imagine would be great for a high performance motor.

imprezaworks · May 8, 2014

Diagro said:
I am also intrested in adding LPG to my 172. Seems a perfect way to get a Diesels MPG on a Stupidly quick hatch

Can get some nice Multipoint Kits on ebay for £300.

But it's not a stupidly quick hot hatch though. I really can't see the appeal of adding LPG to a Clio.

mikeh · May 8, 2014

Advikaz said:
Friend of mine sold his evo to a bloke on the Isle Of White who converted it to LPG! idiot. It lasted less than a month.

LPG runs very hot as well which I don't imagine would be great for a high performance motor.

Do you know who this was or what the Evo was?

Advikaz · May 8, 2014

mikeh said:
Do you know who this was or what the Evo was?

I'll pm you bud.

Diagro · May 8, 2014

Advikaz said:
Friend of mine sold his evo to a bloke on the Isle Of White who converted it to LPG! idiot. It lasted less than a month.

LPG runs very hot as well which I don't imagine would be great for a high performance motor.

But with the correct cooling and lubrication shouldnt it be ok?

Have read of people who had taken a 172 from 100k miles to 200k with no issue on LPG.

Ray Gin · May 8, 2014

imprezaworks said:
But it's not a stupidly quick hot hatch though. I really can't see the appeal of adding LPG to a Clio.

Me neither. If I was doing moon milage I'd rather be sat in a comfy 3/5 series derv than in a noisy, rattly, high revving tin can that has LPG, lol.

Diagro · May 8, 2014

imprezaworks said:
But it's not a stupidly quick hot hatch though. I really can't see the appeal of adding LPG to a Clio.

Say you had some cash to spend, on the kit. Then save a good amount in fuel after

imprezaworks · May 8, 2014

And hate the car no doubt. I still see zero point in doing it.

Diagro · May 8, 2014

imprezaworks said:
And hate the car no doubt. I still see zero point in doing it.

Why would said person who stuck LPG in the car hate it? lol

imprezaworks · May 8, 2014

On a big car yeah. Small car like a Clio no. It's all IMO mate, each to there own.

105e · May 8, 2014

Sorry but seems like a pretty good idea to me, fun of a clio with half the price of petrol (once its been converted)

George182 · May 8, 2014

Although the fuel cost is cheaper - the car will do less MPGs and have reduced performance.

Then there are the impracticalities of have a boot filled with an LPG tank and the trouble of finding stations that sell LPG.

I can't see that there is much overall benefit to be honest.

imprezaworks · May 8, 2014

What George said. Anyway, good luck.

Simon_16v · May 8, 2014

Get a diesel, will run better in the long run.

st3ve · May 8, 2014

Definitely get a diesel barge over an LPG'd Clio.

imprezaworks · May 8, 2014

I know it's no true example but we hired an LPG Clio 4door thing in Turkey, it boarded on migrane level. If anyone suffers from migraines they will know how bad the comparison is, lol.

Diagro · May 8, 2014

imprezaworks said:
I know it's no true example but we hired an LPG Clio 4door thing in Turkey, it boarded on migrane level. If anyone suffers from migraines they will know how bad the comparison is, lol.

Why?

I dont get whats so bad about it? If you can get a decent kit fitted for under £500 then i cant see any problems with using LPG i for one dont mind a small outlay and each week have less costs.

Webby. · May 8, 2014

Liam. said:
Me neither. If I was doing moon milage I'd rather be sat in a comfy 3/5 series derv than in a noisy, rattly, high revving tin can that has LPG, lol.

This completely... why would you want to do a 90 mile trip every day in a clio when you could be sat a lot more comfortably in a 3/5 series... or keep the clio and buy a cheap dci?

imprezaworks · May 8, 2014

Diagro said:
Why?

I dont get whats so bad about it? If you can get a decent kit fitted for under £500 then i cant see any problems with using LPG i for one dont mind a small outlay and each week have less costs.

Are you thinking of doing it?

Diagro · May 8, 2014

imprezaworks said:
Are you thinking of doing it?

Well i was yea, But all you chaps and chapets have made me think i would be doing something mental if i did lol

Darren S · May 8, 2014

W M Autos said:
LPG burns valve seats (well it used to), costs a fortune to have installed and give less mpg to the standard fuel. You'd be far better off with a diesel but I wouldn't recommend a Skoda. Yes yes I know they're VAG but doesn't mean anything to joe public. All they see is SKODA and all they remember is the bad press from years ago so you have a nightmare selling them on and they depreciate rapidly.

Even more reason why I'd buy one. Where's TomSx??

Advikaz said:
Friend of mine sold his evo to a bloke on the Isle Of White who converted it to LPG! idiot. It lasted less than a month.

LPG runs very hot as well which I don't imagine would be great for a high performance motor.

Wasn't a purple coloured VI was it? I saw one for sale up here a few years back - actually struck me a quite a good idea on a car like that. It was switchable though - the boring commutes on LPG, then flick to Super-RON when you got on the A-road.

George182 said:
Although the fuel cost is cheaper - the car will do less MPGs and have reduced performance.

Then there are the impracticalities of have a boot filled with an LPG tank and the trouble of finding stations that sell LPG.

I can't see that there is much overall benefit to be honest.

^^^ - yep, I understand that there's a 25-30% drop in performance too? I don't see the point in something like a Clio myself.

Diagro said:
Why?

I dont get whats so bad about it? If you can get a decent kit fitted for under £500 then i cant see any problems with using LPG i for one dont mind a small outlay and each week have less costs.

To have this on a Clio to me, is like having a -1% less sugar can of Pepsi. Load-luggers, cars that absolutely drink fuel and more importantly, cars with plenty of space - I understand. On a pretty sensible hot hatch that does mid-30s to the gallon to begin with, just seems a pointless exercise to me. And its not like the Clio has a particularly large boot to begin with.

Oh, and have fun trying to sell it. I personally wouldn't touch an LPG converted car. One straight from the factory is another matter entirely.

D.

Clio on LPG

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