Hi folks, I'm looking around for a new doggy van and have seen one that runs on dual fuel - lpg and petrol. Does anyone have any info on LPG? I know it's much cheaper but do you get the same or less miles per gallon? How reliable are the conversions? Is there anything I should look out for? This is an LDV convoy with 6 seats, wood lined, nice big borzoi space, side window - perfect for me in all other ways :)

Hi,

We looked at these recently - anything that keeps the fuel costs down when travelling to shows HAS to be a good thing BUT we have recently discovered that it was probably just as well we couldn't find what we wanted for this reason -

Quoted - LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) and dual powered vehicles (i.e. vehicles fitted with an LPG tank as an alternative fuel) cannot be accepted for transport by Eurotunnel.

Would have made showing abroad more difficult as I loathe ferries! :-(

This, of course, may not be at all relevant if you have no plans to go through the Chunnel!

:-) :-) :-)

Thanks Debs, no plans to go through the chunnel but good to know - I assume they can travel on ferries???

:)

Yes they can travel on ferries you have to shut off the LPG before sailing

:-D 

I can't help you on that one.....I get seasick just looking at ferry websites!!! :-) :-) :-)

LOL you obviously haven't been on any of the"North Sea super ferries"Came back from The Netherlands once in a gale force 8 & with the stablishers deployed hardly noticed different from the little channel ferries though ;)

Our pool cars at work are LPG, both vauxhall one is a corsa and one and astra they both to me
sound like tanks very noisy even when using in petrol mode, maybe this is just vauxhall.
However they run ok, but there is no accelleration and the fuel tanks are dodgy they are full
one second and empty the next, i understand they are very good on fuel though.
Sharon

My Galaxy runs on LPG.  It's fantastic.  No drop in power and is very reliable.  No comlaints here!!!

Sarah.

Thanks everyone - something to think about, obviously I would test drive it before making any decisions.

Sharon - what sort of mpg do you get? I'm wondering if although gas is cheaper to buy it doesn't get the same consumption figures??

HI, I worked for a large courier company a few years ago. Most of the drivers had their vans and cars converted for ecconomy reasons. The boss even had his family car done, which he drove to spain and back no probs. There are maps available at most lpg stations as to the location of suppliers these do include international as well. He claimed about 400 miles per tank of gas. He drove a renault saloon so it can't have been that big a tank.
Happy motoring whatever u decide.
Best wishes
Vikkie & shadow

"He claimed about 400 miles per tank of gas."

I get about 450mpg from my little 1.0 (yes that's one point big-fat-nothing) Corsa but thats a gas guzzler of the petroleum variety ;)

and not forgetting that the tank will take up a lot of "dog space" as they are pretty big. Friend paid to have his rangerover converted & then when t was done, the tanks was so bulky he could no longer get his dogs in the back!!

I drive an LPG converted N reg BMW 518i touring, and hubby has a P reg Vauxhall Omega 3.0i estate.  Both have been 'after market' converted (ie by a local garage rather than being purchased with the conversion - they cost around £1500 each for the conversion)  I get around 300 miles from a tank full of 55 litres costing around £24 and hubby gets around 130 miles from a 45 litre tank.

Tanks do NOT have to take up 'dog space' - both of ours are 'donut' tanks which fit in the spare wheel well - yes this does mean no spare wheel, but I carry an aresol to deal with punctures  - blow outs would be a call out to a rescue anyway.  Hubby carries his spare wheel tied in the boot - but he rarely carries loads anyway. Both cars run perfectly well on LPG - there can be a very slight 'blip' when they switch automatically from petrol to LPG on start up, but acceleration and engine noise is almost identical to running on petrol.  Both cars will have paid for themselves within a year of conversion, even though the price of LPG has gone up 10% since we started buying it......

For me, there is an added bonus in that I can claim 40p per mile tax free for my business mileage, even though the fuel only costs me around 7 p per mile. Insurance remained unchanged (although if the car should be written off in an accident, the insurance company won't replace/refund the cost of the LPG equipment)

HTH

Excellent reply - thanks very much, very helpfull :)