has anybody LPG'd their Cooper S..?

[jackywhite]

Hi all..

I can't find any recent posts so..

..can I ask if anybody has LPG'd their pride'n'joy..? If so, which installer did you go with/what tank & system/etc..

Steven

[Angib]

I'm guessing that losing the whole of the boot - which is what you'd have to do to fit an LPG tank - has put most/all people off the idea.

[jackywhite]

Yes, yer right. Its to be my commuter.. And I don't carry much in my boot usually anyway.. I just reeeallyy fancy a mini... ..but I also rreeeaaaalllyy do 300+ miles a week..

S

[Hartge220]

Maybe you'd be better off with a Cooper or a One?

I've been around the MINI scene for over 6 years & never heard of anyone doing an LPG conversion on one.

[jackywhite]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hartge220 (original)

Maybe you'd be better off with a Cooper or a One?

Do you mean LPG'ing a One or A Cooper ..? If nobody has converted said 'S' I'll have to look into it myself. Gassing turbo cars aint a problem I'm reading so a SuperT shouldn't be a problem either..

J

[minicore]

This has been discussed before - primarily in relation to a first gen Cooper (here), and then a second gen Cooper (here), however there are mentions of at least one LPG Cooper S - see the first thread.

You may also find this interesting, from Modern MINI Magazine Q&A:

Quote:

Q - I intend to buy a second-hand Cooper S R56 automatic, either 2007 or 2008. Is it possible to convert the Cooper S auto to run on LPG without any loss of performance? Is it possible to do likewise on the older Cooper automatics?

A - We contacted LPG converter Auto Gas Northwest (01928 710011) who explained that an LPG conversion on a Cooper S automatic isn't particularly easy. Firstly, there's very little space to fit a tank: it can either be fitted inside the boot, which takes up most of the luggage space, or underneath the boot floor. Wherever you manage to fit a tank, it's going to be small, which means the fuel range will be limited (one MINI owner has a LPG tank in the boot, which returns a range of 80 miles). The performance drop will be marginal, but the economy gains are also going to be marginal as the Cooper S automatic is the least economical R56 model. LPG generally returns 20% less miles per gallon, so if you find your Cooper S returns 30 mpg on petrol, it's going to return roughly 24 mpg on LPG. Based on petrol priced at 94p/litre and LPG at 50p/litre, the equivalent economy is roughly 45 mpg. To put it another way, with the cost of a conversion at around £1650, it would take nearly 35,000 miles of driving to get your money back.

There are also a bunch of links on Google, including some YouTube videos: LPG MINI Cooper