LPG on a clio sport

[cliosportheth]

hi all,im thinking of puting lpg on me clio sport,has any of ya's done it,thinking about it? the reason as to why im asking is in considering getting it done,i need a rough cost plus adv's and disadv's of it. also if you can recomend anywhere in the north east which is a reliable place to get it done.

cheers all

 

[Hollister]

http://www.autogasuk.ws/rallyclio.htm

 

[Don]

There was a lad who had his Cup done...don't know the goods or bads (apart from running costs)

Someone on here might be able to help tho'

 

[manicmonkey]

i briefly considered it, but i think it costs a couple of grand... it would take a good few years to reap the investment

 

[Martin_172]

how much extra weight does it add to the car?

 

[rags]

i had one on my old car, but you would have to do alot of miles to gain any benifit as it costs a cuple of grand to do

 

[cliosportheth]

ah.it mite be worth it for me cos i had the car a yr and done bout 20k on it already.i use it for work too so... i just dont fancy a hidius cap hangin out the sid eof the car too

 

[Saundo]

ah.it mite be worth it for me cos i had the car a yr and done bout 20k on it already.i use it for work too so... i just dont fancy a hidius cap hangin out the sid eof the car too

The cap can be hidden inside the car.

 

[The Hoff]

Do the government no longer subsidise the cost of conversions for LPG?

 

[Monkey_beast_182]

Problems with LPG is you'll be down on power.
Bio-ethanol is an alternative we should ALL consider when it becomes more available (think it's only available in London at moment). It gives MORE power and torque, AND is cheaper than regular petrol.

 

[GordonD]

LPG is great from a fuel cost point of view. The nuisance on small hatchbacks like the Clio is the tank. It uses up most of the boot.

 

[Laura]

iirc the gov only agreed to keep the cost of LPG low for a certain number of years, as i understand thats coming to an end very shortly and there is a posibility LPG will become as expensive as normal fuel

 

[Clio_dci100]

Just done a little research cos i'm planning on doing same thing, thing to watch out for is aparently LPG is 20% less MPG than petrol & prices may wel rise soon as they were guaranteed to be kept low by the goverment for 3 years which was back in sept 04

 

[Dcds4]

LPG probably wont rise much, ive driven a 1.2 8v kangoo with lpg, even more gutless than it is running on unleaded but returns the equivalant of around 65ishmpg, 6-7p a mile... If i drive the clio nicely on a run ie cruise at 80 i can get around 10p a mile

 

[GordonD]

Just done a little research cos i'm planning on doing same thing, thing to watch out for is aparently LPG is 20% less MPG than petrol & prices may wel rise soon as they were guaranteed to be kept low by the goverment for 3 years which was back in sept 04

Correct, there is less energy in a gallon of LPG than in a gallon of petrol.

What might also be important to the sort of person who drives a sporty car is that depending on the installation you may also get less power. It is possible to do an installation that results in the same power as a car with multi-point injection, but the usual installation just involves fitting a single point injector which reduces power. The absolute best installations use stealth gas injectors, ie, a second set of injectors is fitted side by side with the petrol injectors and controllled by the car's standard ECU - it thinks its controlling the petrol injectors - through a computer that maps the signal being sent to the petrol injects so its got the right duration and voltage for the gas injectors to feed in the equivalent amount of LPG. With an installation like that on a high CR engine like the Clio Sport's you get no power loss and only slightly more fuel used.

LPG is high octane. It loves high CR engines. If you were willing to dump the dual-fuel option (for example for competition use) you can change the ignition map and get more power on it. But it takes a brave man to say you never need to run on petrol on the road.

 

[Monkey_beast_182]

GordonD - Are you sure you're not getting that mixed up with Bio-Ethanol?
LPG doesn't give as high an octane as normal petrol. It's bio-ethanol which is around the 105 RON mark. I've just been looking to it, and as the more I read about bio-ethanol, the better it sounds. REDUCED ROAD TAX! Just gotta find a nearby petrol station that has it...

 

[skny]

I'll be putting a 4th gen. sequential lpg STAG 300 on my 197, the dude from clio197.com got it, done over 40 000 km and says it works just fine,

a donut gas tank will not take that much room in the trunk, and it is lots cheaper to run then.

I got a deposit down on a 2006 197, with 10 000 km on it, and whats my choice, buy a 1.4 and drive it on petrol, or get a 197 and drive it on LPG
and still get a few quid left in my pocket.

In poland a cost of install is around 600 pounds, then the lpg is 2 PLN/litre in comparison to 4,35 PLN/litre for Pb95

I made my choice

will let you know how it works, cause I do drive a lot about 30 000 km a year.

geez cant wait to pick my baby up.....

 

[Andyman]

As already stated LPG gives poor MPG and the price of it has shot up recently! Add that to the instalation costs and the draw backs and it really isnt worth doing.

Can see where your coming from but if fuel costs are that much of a problem to you on a Clio then i think you should maybe think about switching cars

 

[skny]

bought the car, decided not to go for the lpg at the end of it, thought there was a place for a spare wheel

now it would leave little space left in the boot, so it will be fed with 98,

but still, I would go for it if it wasnt for the space in the trunk,

 

[MillerLight]

i wouldnt want it in such a small car as a clio. if you get rear ended it could go bang

 

[OldClio172]

Let me clear up a few points here as I have LPG on my Clio 172.

It does add a bit of weight, but not massively, unless you run with full petrol as well as LPG tanks. The LPG tank is made to a much higher standard than petrol tanks as it needs to hold a pressurissed fuel, so is heavier

The government no longer give a grant.

It should cost between £1250 - £2000 for a clio

I cannot notice the difference in power, most modern LPG systems are multi point injection systems. I have tried switching between petrol and gas and cannot notice the difference, although I had it tested on a rolling road and it gave 4 bhp less on gas

You can have a tank that fits in the wheel well - as I have - that saves boot space, only trouble is spare wheel has to sit in the boot.

The government are reducing the subsidy on LPG, but only at 1p per year more than petrol. I pay between 50-54p per litre. I get about 25% less MPG (20% is common as LPG has about 15% less energy than petrol )

Gordon D is correct, about LPG, but I think that the multi point sequential LPG system is more common now, LPG octane is as much as 110 RON.

There are many factors to consider when choosing LPG, one of the most important is the scarcity of LPG stations and the variation in price. Make sure that it available near you at a reasonable price - half the price of petrol or less.

Despite rumours to the contrary, LPG is very difficult to light and the ignition system has to be top spec to ensure no misfires.

I do about 650 miles a week and save about £25 per week, so my system took about 1 year to pay for itself. Am I glad I converted - yes. Is it for everyone - no

Main advantages are it's cheap.
Disadvantages are it's more difficult to find, slower to fill up, reduced range and potentially reduced boot space.

Choose installer carefully, there are plenty of cowboy LPG fitters

Graham

 

[skny]

no worry, the tank is good for extremely high pressure and is very strong, if you get rear ended it is more likely to get petrol-bang than the lpg- one,

 

[Neil G]

iirc the gov only agreed to keep the cost of LPG low for a certain number of years, as i understand thats coming to an end very shortly and there is a posibility LPG will become as expensive as normal fuel

That doesn't surprise me at all

Once people start converting to LPG to try to get round the silly price of petrol/diesel that'll get taxed to f**k too

 

[caister]

^^ similar to when they got everybody on the diesel band wagon now look at the prices!!

 

[stan*]

It has a higher knock resistence than petrol, but a lower calorific value....hence it would like higher Cr, and returns lower MPG.

Also because it provides no lubrication to valves etc, who knows on long term effects of constant use.

I know with my old LPG van, it ran best if i done 50miles on petrol intermitantly, maybe once a week.