FalconFN Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 I've been looking at diesel Saab 9-3s but I've just seen an older LPG converted one with 70k miles and I'm tempted due to low running costs. I know next to nothing about LPG so I need to know if it's worth looking at, what are the pitfalls are and any other things to know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loriusgarrulus Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 (edited) We had a car a few years ago that ran on petrol and LPG. The tank was were the spare tyre was, so we had to keep the spare tyre in the boot taking up space. Some vehicles have the LPG tank underneath so you don't lose any boot room. We got about 3/4 the mileage per gallon on LPG compared to running on petrol. At that time LPG was exactly 1/2 the price of petrol. The performance was no different on either petrol or LPG even when towing a caravan. You need the gas system checked and serviced separately to the petrol, current cost of that will need checking out and distance to nearest place to get the gas system serviced. There are websites that give you the locations of LPG supplies about. Plenty around even our local Morrison's has it.. The engine was quieter on LPG. If the weather was cold we would start on petrol then swap onto the lpg at the flick of a switch. The switch over was seamless. We used to keep about 1/4 tank of petrol in for this, but no more to keep the weight down to get best mpg, but if you wanted to go long distance without fuelling up you could fill up both tanks. Apparently running on LPG is supposed to put less wear on your engine. The more mileage you do per year and the larger the engine the better the savings compared to running costs like servicing. Some lpg systems are better than others. It would be best to check what system is fitted and see what is recommended on the web these days as it will have changed from when we had ours. Edited February 23, 2015 by loriusgarrulus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentalmac Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 Wow, what a reply Loriusgarrulus! Taught me some things there for sure - :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalconFN Posted February 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 Brilliant! Thanks for all the info, really useful and just what I wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walshie Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 The later LPG systems start on petrol, then automatically change over to LPG when the engine warms up, so you need to keep a bit of petrol in the tank for that. You should really get the system serviced once a year (filters etc) but that doesn't cost a lot. I couldn't justify the cost of having LPG fitted based on the mileage I do, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy a car where it was already fitted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andypaint Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 It can dry out the seals on some cars, mainly on the intake side, hopefully and bit of Internet search will reveal which cars are affected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalconFN Posted February 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 Thanks for all the info, but after looking online there are only a hand full of places to service LPG cars, and none seem to be very close to me. Not too many lpg service stations either, so back to the diesels I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuji Shooter Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 Just make sure its got the LPG certificate just incase your insurance needs it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted March 11, 2015 Report Share Posted March 11, 2015 Some of the early LPG conversions were truly awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.