hey guys, I am new to the forum and have said hello in the welcome bit. but im ash from sheffield.
i plan to buy a used clubman in the next couple of weeks and I am just weighing a few things up.

my budget is quite low with a 10.5k maximum and I am deciding whether to go diesel or petrol.

I plan to keep the car for 5 years and will be covering 8-12k miles a year.
my views are lower tax and better mpg for the diesel but my budget will be at its top end and vehicle will prob have higher miles too.

petrol is cheaper to buy up front, will prob be able to get lower mileage car and as I repair cars myself petrols are a lot easier to work with than diesels usually (slthough I havent worked on new mini).

I am also considering petrol and then getting an lpg conversion, has anyone done this? if so how much did it cost and was it all ok.

any feedback would be great and I look forward to contributing to the forum

Ash, welcome and as you already know its all about how you drive and what your normal every day route is like.

Petrol wise are you looking at the natually aspirated or turbo engine?

hi, I eould be looking at the normal 1.6 120bhp engine. or even the 1.4 however the mpg figures between the 1.6 and 1.4 are so slight I feel 1.6 would be better option.

the route will mainly be the work run, driving at 30-40mph usually alright run but does have stopping and starting and traffic.

hey guys, I am new to the forum and have said hello in the welcome bit. but im ash from sheffield.
i plan to buy a used clubman in the next couple of weeks and I am just weighing a few things up.
my budget is quite low with a 10.5k maximum and I am deciding whether to go diesel or petrol.
I plan to keep the car for 5 years and will be covering 8-12k miles a year.
my views are lower tax and better mpg for the diesel but my budget will be at its top end and vehicle will prob have higher miles too.
petrol is cheaper to buy up front, will prob be able to get lower mileage car and as I repair cars myself petrols are a lot easier to work with than diesels usually (slthough I havent worked on new mini).
I am also considering petrol and then getting an lpg conversion, has anyone done this? if so how much did it cost and was it all ok.
any feedback would be great and I look forward to contributing to the forum

Hi there,

Welcome to the forum.
I do 12-14k per year and couldn't justify the extra cost of a diesel MINI, don't be blinded by the lower road tax, it's a small part in the overall running cost of a car, fuel is much bigger.
But be careful with LPG conversions, there are alot of bad ones out there, and good ones aren't cheap, also not all conversions are insurance approved, so check with your insurer first.
Even with the lower cost of fuel it'll take you quite some time to get cost of the conversion back, also remember how much petrol the cost of the conversion could buy!

ATB.

I do 12-14k per year and couldn't justify the extra cost of a diesel MINI, don't be blinded by the lower road tax, it's a small part in the overall running cost of a car, fuel is much bigger.ATB.

The big advantage of a diesel isn't the running cost but the much better torque curve that gives easy overtaking and a generally more relaxed drive than petrol.

(It's not quite as good for aggressive traffic lights grands prix though!)

yeah I reckon I could get a 57/08 plate petrol for £8500 - £9500 as oppose to £10500+ for same diesel.

Hi Ash,
I had a 4lt grand cherokee(6cyl) witch i autogas'd before my 1st petrol cooper,
In total the conversion cost £1800 but i was getting 18mpg so i made the money back VERY quickly !.
I now have the dooper clubby and find the day to day driving so much easier with a car that has a good torque curve rather than good BHP, for me i'd bite the bullet and buy the diesel over the petrol as i average 61mpg on a mix of town and motorway driving so you save every fill but its differant for everbody so take your time and enjoy whatever you buy,
welcome.

As with any LPG conversion, you should make sure that it installed and setup by a qualified engineer. With the type of kit that would be fitted to a Mini, it would be a sequential injection system which has it's own ECU. This obviously needs to be setup with the correct fuel map as the LPG ECU will override the original car ECU to manage the fuelling of the LPG. I am considering convering my R53 over to LPG, but amd just wondering at the moment where the additional fuel tank can go!