Local Driving, Petrol or Diesel

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Local Driving, Petrol or Diesel

What to do!

  • Stick to the ST

    Votes: 2 20.0%
  • Get a 1.6 petrol

    Votes: 4 40.0%
  • Get a diesel

    Votes: 4 40.0%

  • Total voters
    10
I'm starting to think lpg'd petrols are the best of both, I do love diesels for economy but there no where near as nice to drive with the low revving short power curves, that said I still wouldn't choose a petrol version of a diesel version if buying another big car.
 
I'm starting to think lpg'd petrols are the best of both, I do love diesels for economy but there no where near as nice to drive with the low revving short power curves, that said I still wouldn't choose a petrol version of a diesel version if buying another big car.


I think thats a really good option! but I have heard some horror stories of lpg conversions gone wrong so I dunno if I would buy second hand lpg converted.
Any idea on prices?
 
I think thats a really good option! but I have heard some horror stories of lpg conversions gone wrong so I dunno if I would buy second hand lpg converted.
Any idea on prices?

Get a serviceable unconverted car, if your wanting something bigger you will be able to pick a petrol version up cheaper than the diesel and have change after converting it to lpg, that was the case with a jag x type I was looking into :) for the age and type of car I wanted the diesels were £2k more! Your looking at about £1k for a conversion with a warranty too, that way you have all the plus points of a petrol cheaper than a diesel and more economical, like I say that was the case when I was looking into v6 jags v diesel ones ;)
 
I take a 12 mile 15 minute commute, about 10 miles of which is motorway. Using the trip computer, as there's no other way, the average fuel figure goes down steadily until around the half way stage where it sits until I'm nearly at work whereupon it goes up slowly until it's around the same level as it started. Given a longer motorway run I'm certain it would have ended up higher than it started.

On the other hand, Mrs. Beard's Alfa 156 doesn't have a trip computer but on filling the tank brim-ful and working out the fuel mileage it returns around 30mpg, which doesn't sound great, but bear in mind it is a 2-litre 150 bhp petrol version and is 10 years old. Her daily commute is only around 3 miles each way. On a longer motorway journey it gives 35mpg.

The Panda gives 55 to 58mpg. But in winter, in other words now, it struggles to best 50.

Personally, for local commutes I'd go for the small petrol. You shouldn't need to rev the engine above 2000 - 2500 revs even in a 1.2 or 1.4 petrol which should give you pretty good fuel returns.
 
Iv just thought, doesnt the benefits of LPG kick in once the engine it warm? if so its pointless for me really.

We both have a heavy foot, esp in the ST as its fun to drive with the 170bhp. We usually change at 3000 revs tbh.

I think the route is a 1.4 or 1.6 petrol. I think whatever car I have I will have to expect the low mpg. the short journeys and hilly area doesnt help!
 
Iv just thought, doesnt the benefits of LPG kick in once the engine it warm? if so its pointless for me really.

We both have a heavy foot, esp in the ST as its fun to drive with the 170bhp. We usually change at 3000 revs tbh.

I think the route is a 1.4 or 1.6 petrol. I think whatever car I have I will have to expect the low mpg. the short journeys and hilly area doesnt help!

I ran LPG in the days when you could get it and given its lower energy with at least a 10% drop in fuel economy plus as you correctly pointed out the 'delayed swop', the loss of 'spare tyre' or boot space you would want to be doing much higher mileage with less short runs.
Currently running a 1.6 petrol Marea weekender and it's surprisingly good on fuel on a country run and taking it easy on the motorway will return 45mpg. Around town it drops to around 28mpg.
How about an 8V 1.4 - that would give you a bit of torque and it supposedly does better in the real world than a 16V 1.4 on fuel - hopefully someone might confirm if that's the case or not - also it would be a non-interference engine. Plenty of Fiat models with that engine choice.

P.S. Voted 1.6 petrol since there was no 1.4 option.
 
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Iv just thought, doesnt the benefits of LPG kick in once the engine it warm? if so its pointless for me really.

We both have a heavy foot, esp in the ST as its fun to drive with the 170bhp. We usually change at 3000 revs tbh.

I think the route is a 1.4 or 1.6 petrol. I think whatever car I have I will have to expect the low mpg. the short journeys and hilly area doesnt help!

You seem to want the best of both worlds.:confused:
 
You seem to want the best of both worlds.:confused:

To some degree, but when I had my modded Seicento I could have fun driving it without feeling the fuel bill, its obviously a different story in a 2.0. even with that said, changing at 3000 instead of 2500 isnt too bad, if I had it my way id be shifting at 7000 every gear, but would probably got banned by now! :D
 
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