Views from RoadTestReports.co.uk

I recently read this article on roadtestreports.co.uk that covers the basic premise behind LPG and why it is classed as 'green':

LPG

LPG, also sometimes know as autogas produces fewer emissions than petrol and diesel but fuel consumption is worse. It has been popular in the past due to its cheaper cost; it retails for roughly around half the price of petrol and diesel. However there are not many cars that are LPG ready, a conversion costing around £2000 is necessary for most vehicles. It has a simple chemical make-up meaning LPG produces significantly less carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen emissions as well as a smaller percentage of carbon dioxide emissions than petrol. LPG also emits 90 per cent less particulates, in weight, than diesel engines. LPG is also a natural by-product of gas production meaning that there is a plentiful supply. However there are limited numbers of service stations from which you can refill. From an environmental view point, LPG will quickly evaporate in the event of a fuel spill meaning that unlike petrol and diesel, there little risk of ground or water contamination. It also offers a quieter ride, noise levels are around 50 per cent quieter than diesel engines. There are other fuels that can be used in an alternative combustion engine to provide a substitute to conventional petrol and diesel such as compressed natural gas (CNG), Coal-to-Liquid (CTL), Biomass-to-Liquid (BTL) and a whole host of biofuel related sources such as rapeseed or palm oil.

Thinking Green, ThinkGreen

I recently took on a new job based in Sheffield, that's a 47 mile one way journey for me. A roundtrip of just under 100 miles a day, 21 days a month, 12 months a year..... even allowing for holidays a year that's more than 22,000 miles per year commuting.
Add to this a personal mileage of around 17,000 miles and you're looking at an annual mileage of close to 40,000 miles!
I needed to find a cost effective solution.
Our other commuting car is a Diesel Mitsubishi Colt 1.5 AMT that does 16,000 miles per year and averages 51 Miles per Gallon (MPG). That's pretty impressive BUT it's only a small car, in fact it's based on a Smart Four Four and so it's low value and low resistance to high mileage residual impact make it impractical to get another one of those for the much higher mileage.
The other consideration is that the Colt is a small car (Did I mention it's based on a Smart car?) and on the various self catering holidays we have to Scotland and visits to parents where various load lugging is required we need a much larger vehicle.
So, I needed something large(ish) and Cheap(ish) that's also cheap to run. Mission impossible? Well, only time will tell but I think i've got the ideal compromise.
After doing some investigation it was clear that to come into budget for overall running costs i'd need to find a car worth £5000 running on Diesel that returned 45mpg or an LPG vehicle worth around £6000 that would do 21mpg.
That meant buying a Mondeo estate with 60,000 miles on the clock and a lowly spec OR have a look at the LPG option.
Some more google work later and I found ThinkGreenCars based in Grimsby. A very helpful bunch of guys who were happy to talk me through my options of LPG vehicle regardless of if I bought from them or not. Luckily Grimsby is within an hours drive from home and I was able to book some time to go and test drive a couple of their vehicles.
ThinkGreenCars have a long history of not just selling LPG and LPG vehicles but doing the conversions themselves. They therefore have a lot of experience with different systems and have spent time refining the installations to give the best performance/economy compromises.
I did look at a Land Rover Discovery V8 that they had in. While the retail price was lower than budget by enough to compensate for the lower MPG of the 4.0ltr engine the fact that even with twin 76litre LPG tanks on board they told me I wouldn't be able to do more than 180 miles between fill ups. Given that my commute is 100 miles, that would mean filling up more than once every other day!.
The other vehicle I looked at and test drove, before eventually buying, was the Mitsubish Outlander. This vehicle was a petrol only model that ThinkGreenCars had acquired and would convert to LPG after agreed sale. This meant that not only would all the gas equipment be brand new but it would also be warrantied by them in line with their standard vehicle warranty. In addition I was able to make some cosmetic choices on the installation like the location and colouring of the filler point.
The work was completed in under a week and I when I collected the car I was given excellent instructions on the differences with running an LPG vehicle and in particular the method of filling the tanks.
At this point I must point out that the vehicle was not 100% ready and I had to return the following week to have some remedial cosmetic work completed. All of this was done without fuss and I was compensated for my additional journey.
Overall I have had exceptional service from ThinkGreenCars and will be using them to service the gas equipment at a 20,000 mile interval.
I only plan to keep the Outlander for 12 months to keep its overall mileage well under the 100,000 mark and at this stage I plan to return it to ThinkGreenCars to trade in.

Over the coming months I plan to keep a record of the running costs and practical experiences of running an LPG vehicle in the UK