LPG Conversion & Congestion Charges

[MartyB]

Hello all, New on the site and hoping you can give me some info - I did a quick search on the FAQ's and came up with nothing on the subject.

Has anyone had, or even seen, an LPG conversion done on a Cooper?

Interested as presently LPG / Dual Fuel Conversions beat the London Congestion Charge which as you may know is going up to £8/Day AND being extended - this will cover the area where my girlfriend works.

I don't think she can stand the thought of getting rid of her beloved Margo, (I know....girls!!!), and is considering this mod.

Can anyone tell us if it's a good conversion? - does it affect performance? - how much it costs? - where does the tank go / does it use up all the boot space? I've heard of a toroidal tank being fitted where a spare wheel would go but since the Cooper doesn't have a spare wheel ?????

Any info at all would be appreciated.

Thanks,
MartyB

[shazam]

One arguement against the LPG conversion is that at a click of the govts fingers you could find that the tax breaks on the fuel are lost- a lot of the car mags report that many modern petrol and diesel engines are as good with regard to particulates and pollution etc.

If the govt falls out of love for lpg it could be expensive.

[Wondaboy]

Marty

Unless the rules have changed you only qualify for zero rated Ccharge if the car is alternative fuel from new, not when converted. I had a 4.6 Range Rover converted some time ago, and even in that it took ages to save the £1500 conversion cost in fuel gains. Personally I would only recommend a conversion if you do stupid miles or are a tree hugger. Another issue with lgp is that unless you are prepared to loose your petrol tank altogether, you need to find space for a secondary tank, which is not easy in a mini. A 50 litre tank is the smae size as a Range Rover spare wheel.

Regards

Piers

PS Please put me right if I have got the zero rating thing wrong.

[dcfkan]

Eurotunnel will not allow any car using LPG to use the tunnel, and I believe similar restriction may apply to the Blackwall tunnel etc., however, I could be wrong.

DK :apple:

[Bad Dog Mini]

Bit late but I'm currently running a LPG converted Cooper. It's currently as cheap to run as a diesel car doing 84mpg!

Also the government have promised to give at least 3 years notice before they raise the cost of the fuel.

Performance 0-60 is down by 0.5 secs, a large percentage of the boot space has gone but that's only half of next to nothing anyway. Check out my gallery for pictures.