Paging Mr Hardware.

I have a mate who is doing the sums for a LPG conversion on a 2008 2.5L 4cyclinder Petrol Nissan X Trail.

What should be watching out for?

Do you know where he can find out what kind of fuel economy he can get based on current petrol l/100km (10.3L/100km mixed usage) information?

Yeah I did rough sums on converting a Falcon.

Converison was $4,500, less rebate of $1,200... so $3,300 out of pocket.

I worked out it would roughly take 50,000km to break even, you'd then save around $3,300 per 50,000km thereafter - assumeing fuel costs remain the same and that the LPG system does not require any additional maintenance (which it likely will) that you would not have incurred if the vehcile was petrol only. Also the opportunity cost (lost of interest earned on the $3,300 if you had it sitting in the bank or interest on loan or you had to borrow it) of the $3,500 you shelled out needs to be accounted for.

You'll also have to locate the tank somewhere and get a decent size tank. A 60 litre would only last a few hundred kays so you'll get to know you local servo attendant quite well.

I think LPG would be a viable alternative if the upfront cost wasn't so high. Unless you are smashing out the KM's I personally don't think it's worth the hassle.

I drove a factory LPG falcon ute the other day (not the new system Ford has just released) and it seemed pretty good, perfectly driveable. The owner did say hes had about 5 LPG utes from AU onwards and hes had some dramas with all of them, but he assured me his FG ute was fine... for the moment :)

The new Falcon ecoLPi look like a winner though.


last edited by mission at 10:13:37 05/Dec/11

you won't get significantly better economy from an injected system. vehicles built after certain dates have to conform to different emissions standards which typically means an injected system because that's all people are manufacturing now. 2008 is euro4 so you won't find anyone trying to fit a vapour system to it when you can sell them an injected system based on emissions laws.

only worth it if you're going to be doing bulk kms.
prolly should have got a turbo diesel.

well that new falcon has got all the pluses, and none of the normal downsides (like the lack of power, boot space is still robbed, but hey, it is a full sized car and cheaper to run than the petrol version

The new falcon has a full boot, 409nm 198kw and goes further than a Toyota Corolla on the same $'s of fuel.

last edited by mission at 23:07:03 05/Dec/11

mission, you only get a full boot if you dont have a spare, (a can of goo and a pump does not a spare wheel make)

if you have a spare wheel, it goes in the boot, because the LPG tank is in the wheel well, therefore you are robbed of boot space, however now where near what you used to lose, and on the plus seat fold and access is still a shitload better than the crappy ski port that holden thinks is okay

The new falcon has a full boot, 409nm 198kw and goes further than a Toyota Corolla on the same $'s of fuel.

The new Landcruiser has a 4.5 litre Twin Turbo Diesel v8 with 195kW @ 3400rpm and 650Nm @ 1800rpm - does 10.3L / 100km (Source)
The Falcon does 12.5L / 100km with a 4.0l six (Source)

teq, thats 12.5l/100km on LPG, and when you are talking dollars per Km the falcon wins

whats the cost of gas (I honestly dont know, but i'm guessing about 70c/l
and diesel, about 130c/l

and that is without going into the fact that the landcruiser's running cost would be alot higher than that of the falcon,(tyres, rego, servicing) and the purchase price is twice that of the falcon

also, on a side note, the ADR results on 4wds are seemly lower than real word figures, (because the adr testing last 10 minutes and is bullshit)

one thing this new falcon does show (i know we have gone well off topic,) is how much ford has thought about the local market,

holden, ford, and toyota got some sweet arse government green car money

holden gave us........ sidi (which was a global engine change anyway so it was happening with or without the green car monies) e85 engines (again was global), and the cruise (which is a fucking daewoo anyway, same as the captiva)

toyota gave us the hybrid camry, which while a good bit of kit, you can't get a factory tow bar, (not so great for those who would like to tow, or even those who like those bike racks)

ford has given us a diesel territory (which should have been around alot longer, as it is an old global motor anyway) and now a great new bit of tech in way of the LPi faclon,

the xtrail is sorta hard, as it is one of the newer style soft roaders (I hate the term SUV) all of which lack ground clearance, you can't sling it under the back end (or maybe you can?) so i'm guessing boot it would have to be

also, while it is a four pot, it is a bigger engine, bigger bore seems to be better suited to lpg

all said and done the best option (cost wise, with out losing too much function) might be http://www.webwombat.com.au/motoring/news_reports/volkswagen-tiguan-review.htm

converting, not economical imo, unless you intend on keeping the vehicle a long time. i will only buy a vehicle that already has LPG in it