Thought you may all be interested in some work I have just had done to my new Mini.
I have a daily commute of 230 miles (round trip) so the price of fuel for me is obviously too much. So, once I made the decision to get a Mini (and glad I did
) I decided to get an LPG conversion to cut my fuel costs in half.
Here is how it all worked:
Found an LPG Association approved installer in my area and took the car along to have a chat with him to see if a conversion was possible.
The price came to £1450 for the conversion and the installer had my car for four days to undertake the work.
As you can imagine, the Mini is quite compact anyway so we had discussions on what the work would be, size of gas tank etc.
In the end I settled for a 60l tank. This basically fills the boot space, but the choice was mine and it means I only need to fill up every two days on my commute to work. Smaller tanks are obviously available.
Well I got the car back last weekend and to be honest it wasn't running properly. It spluttered and had more flat spots than Norfolk. I took it back today for a retune and it has come back like a new car. I will report back on this, but for the moment, everything is good
and you don't notice the switch from unleaded to LPG as it is automatic. As of getting the car back today I haven't noticed any drop in performance.
A few things to note on all this.
1. My car is on a PCP. However, I did tell the dealer that I intended to convert the car to run on LPG and confirmed that my warranty, service and recovery service would not be void . However, parts contained in the LPG conversion would not be covered, nor would any fault which has been caused by the conversion, which is understandable. This wasn't really a problem as the installer has put a two year warranty on the conversion.
2. If I dedcided to give the car back at the end of the PCP it must be 'as new' (not the case for part ex, or balloon purchase). In other words, I need to remove the conversion. Obviously a fuel tank gauge needed fitting to the dashboard, so this has had to be done in such a way that it could be removed without marking the car interior. Also, I have had the fuel filler put on the bumper, as if needed, this can be replaced, unlike a rear quarter panel.
In all, looking at the costs associated with this, I will save over £2000 during the time I have the car. So for me, this was worth doing.
You do need to tell the DVLA and inform your insurance company (which cost me £12).
It is drab dark and miserable outside at the moment, but I will at the end of the week post some pictures of the conversion. Attached is one of the car before the work.
Any questions, just ask!!
