how much to convert 760 gle to lpg

[mugatea]

Hi, I have a 760 2.8 gle auto. It's fuel costs are nuts. Would it be worthwhile converting to lpg and if so how much would it cost?

Jamie

[Oilydad]

The simple answer is that you need to get in touch with a few firms in your area that do these conversions and get some quotes.

Quotes will vary.

BUT, and it's a BIG but.....You've also got to factor in the following.

How long are you going to keep the car, bearing in mind its age and condition, and how long will it take to get back to a point where, having spent a lot of money on a conversion will you actually have made much, if any of a saving?

I doubt much. It's an expensive job.

Also......Don't forget that governments have a sneaky habit of encouraging us to use 'other fuels' (like they did with diesel), and then whacking the price through the roof. There's nothing to say that they won't do that with LPG at some point in the future. The cost of Calor, Butane and Propane has already gone up sharply this year. Do you trust any government?

I have run several 3 and 4 litre cars in my time. Jags, Shogun, Scorpio Ultima etc etc. Lovely motors, but fuel wasn't such a big issue back then.

Not any more!! Not with the price of fuel these days. It's a bit like pouring money down an open drain! Seemed to be forever at the pump. There's no pleasure in driving when you are constantly watching the fuel gauge dropping like a stone. None at all.

Personally if the price of fuel was worrying me........Bite the bullet and get rid of it. There's plenty of newer and far more economical luxury motors out there.

[Mike1967]

Originally Posted by mugatea

Hi, I have a 760 2.8 gle auto. It's fuel costs are nuts. Would it be worthwhile converting to lpg and if so how much would it cost?

Jamie

Give Mike Brace or Classicswede a buzz on here .......... they for me are experts when it comes to LPG on Volvos .

[mugatea]

thanks for the replies. I guess I cant really justify the cost of fuel or to get it converted to lpg. I'm just a dog walker an am going thru about £50 a week on fuel. It's very expensive. I bought the car for £400 and it's in great condition but maybe I'll have to just bite the bullet and sell it ... after a while.

Jamie

[Mike_Brace]

You would be looking at over the year for pay back to start saving. Or look at it another way - an outlay considerably more than you paid for the car but after that your fuel bill would be nearly halved.

Mike

[mugatea]

Does anyone think the government will increase the price of LPG? I think it would be harder for them than diesal cause people use LPG to fuel their homes aswell.

[Mike1967]

Originally Posted by mugatea

Does anyone think the government will increase the price of LPG? I think it would be harder for them than diesal cause people use LPG to fuel their homes aswell.

That question has been asked many times ...... when I owned my 240 which only ran on LPG ( there was no petrol tank ) LPG was about 47p a litre , this was about 3 to 4 years ago .

From what I have noticed LPG has only gone up a small amount since then .

[jjd101]

As far as I am aware, there is a government legislation to keep LPG at approx half the price of unleaded until 2015. I believe there is a 2 year lead time for any changes to this (So if they want to change the legislation it needs to be announced in 2013 for change in 2015)

I'm not 100% on this, so some more research may be needed

I have also heard that any new conversions from Jan 1st 2011 will not be eligable for exemption from the Congestion charge, however, anything previously converted will have a 2 year leeway (As long as they are on the Powershift register)

Again, I'm not 100% sure of this

[capt jack]

Originally Posted by jjd101

As far as I am aware, there is a government legislation to keep LPG at approx half the price of unleaded until 2015. I believe there is a 2 year lead time for any changes to this (So if they want to change the legislation it needs to be announced in 2013 for change in 2015)

I'm not 100% on this, so some more research may be needed

I have also heard that any new conversions from Jan 1st 2011 will not be eligable for exemption from the Congestion charge, however, anything previously converted will have a 2 year leeway (As long as they are on the Powershift register)

Again, I'm not 100% sure of this

Pretty much what I understood too. I have an LPG-converetd V70. The conversion was done 6 years and 180000 miles ago, and I reckon in that time to have saved over £12,000 in petrol costs.

The Govt is committed to maintaining a tax differential between unleaded and LPG - I think it's a part of one of their international climate change commitments (Kyoto maybe?) They do have the scope to reduce that differential over time, but 1p per year I think, and to give 3 years notice of any changes. The LPGA should be able to give the definitive word on this.

As for the OP's question, if you're spending £50 a week on petrol then you probably be spending around £30 were you to be running on LPG. The cost of conversion is likely to be between £1500 and £2000, so you'd need to keep the car for around 2 years just to recover your costs, and for a couple of years after that to show any real saving.

I drive between 25,000 and 30,000 miles per year, and when I got my V70 converted LPG was 29p per litre, petrol around 70p per litre, and I reckon to have recouped my costs in around 6-8 months. Then LPG was around 40% of the cost of unleaded, now it's around 52% of the cost of unleaded, which is great if you've already got a converted car, but it does extend the time it'd take to profit from a new conversion.

One thing you could do is to keep an eye out for a car that's already been converted. they do come up, and you could bag bargain. Don't bother with a factory-fit bi-fuel Volvo - they have a poor reliability reputation.

Cheers

Jack