S60 2.0T LPG performance

[jp11]

I've got an 06 D5 185, thinking of changing to an LPG-converted 05 2.0T. How will the performance and fuel consumption differ?

[capt jack]

That depends on all sorts of things, but to give yourself a yardstick, take the offical 'combined' fuel consumption figure for the diesel, and using the current pump price (say £1.42 per litre, £6.42 per gallon) work out a pence-per-mile fuel cost.

Take the equivalent figure for the petrol car, and reduce it by 20%, so if the offical figure is 36 mpg, round it down to 30 mpg as LPG ain't as economical as petrol.

Then use the current pump price of LPG (72p per litre, £3.28 per gallon) to work out the pence-per-mile figure.

At a guess you'll probably get about 14p per mile for the diesel, and about 13p per mile for the petrol/LPG car.

As for performance, the LPG car will drive exactly the same as the petrol model, less a tiddy bit of oomph, the diesel car will drive like a diesel! It's up to you to decide which you prefer!

Overall condition for both cars, at 6 or 7 years old, will be a big factor. Some cars of that age are fit only for Scrapheap Challenge, others will be virtually factory-fresh! Mileage and history will matter a lot.

If it's an LPG conversion then you'll have to put up with having less boot space, if it's a factory-fit LPG you'll have to put up with it being a bit less than totally reliable

Finally, what about values? I'll bet the LPG/petrol car will cost you less to buy than you'd sell your diesel for, all other things (mileage etc) being equal.

Which means that when you come to sell the petrol/LPG car, it'll have depreciated faster than your diesel will have done over the same period.

If you're doing this to reduce fuel costs I'd bet it won't make that much odds. If you're doing it to better enjoy the drive, then personally I'd argue that diesel cars don't offer quite as good a drive as do petrol/LPG cars. If you're doing it to pocket the difference in current values, just remember that when you come to sell, you'll take a hit then.

Hope these ramblings help a bit!

Cheers

Jack

[jp11]

Thanks for that Jack. A pretty comprehensive ramble. I do 600 mile per week commute, and my brim-to-brim consumption is fairly constant at about 46mpg (detailed and recorded for the past three years!). My D5 now has 154k on it, and without any significant problems. But it's a diseasal, and you never know....
I was really wondering how the 2.0T performs, then allowing for a slight reduction with LPG.

[capt jack]

My pleasure!

46 mpg is 13.9 pence per mile at current pump prices (on this side of the water anyway), so my 14p guess wasn't too far out!

I reckon, based on my 2.5 V70 with just over 220,000 LPG miles up, that your LPG fuel costs would be very similar, so it does come down to driveability.

I know that modern diesels are way better than the oil-burners of old, but having driven a couple of more recent diesel cars (mid-and late-noughties VWs) I reckon that on balance, a petrol-engined car makes for a more comfortable drive.

Some people say that there is no difference between petrol and LPG, but again, based on well over 200,000 LPG miles I'd beg to differ. Cruising at 60mph and above you'd notice no difference, and pootling around in urban traffic, where you don't really ever test the car's ability to accelerate, again, there's no difference.

However, I do find that for mid-range acceleration, say from 2500rpm to 4000rpm - for example when overtaking from 40-ish to 60-ish mph, or accelerating to join a motorway, then my car is marginally (but nevertheless noticeably) a little less lively on LPG than it is on petrol.

My V70 is quite a few years older than your 2006 S60, plus it's an auto and non-turbo, so I could never expect it to be quick. But we also have a 1998 petrol S70 with an identical engine and gearbox to my car, and that is definitely a bit quicker than my old bus.

Another factor to bear in mind is that LPG cars are quite heavy on ignition components, so you need to make sure that the plugs and leads are in good shape. I change my spark plugs every 10,000 miles, and the difference again is noticeable.

At 600 miles a week, if you feel that the performance of a petrol-engined car would suit you better than a diesel, then you'd very quickly recoup your outlay if you decided to buy a standard petrol S60 and have it converted. That's always assuming that LPG local to you is priced at around 50% of petrol and diesel prices, and that you can get the conversion done for between £1500 and £1800. The one drawback is that you'd lose some bootspace to the LPG tank of course.

Hope that helps

Cheers

Jack

[jp11]

I'm looking at an 05 facelift 2.0T with 98k and recently-done conversion (in GB) costing £1300 apparently. The fill point is on the lower rear bumper valence. For sale at £3k. But I haven't looked at it or researched it yet. I have LPG available at either end of my commute for 74p.

[capt jack]

One very quick check you can easily do is to see if the car is on the UKLPG register:

http://www.drivelpg.co.uk/advice-and...icle-register/

£1300 sounds a bit on the cheap side; fill points in plastic bumpers need to be done properly, ie: re-inforced, as the plastic would probably otherwise flex too much to support the repeated coupling and uncoupling of the LPG filler hose; and on a very recently converted car at that sort of price someone is losing a fair slice of cash, so you have to ask yourself why.

And you still need to do all the usual car checks that you'd otherwise do on 100k 7 year old car.

Good luck and good hunting, but keep your wits about you.

Cheers

Jack

[jp11]

Thanks Jack.

[capt jack]

Do let us know how you get on.

cheers

Jack

[The Thong]

I get approx 25mpg out of my 52 plate S-60 on LPG. That's combined usage too. I do lose a bit because it's an auto but I'd be surprised if you got 30mpg. I'm very happy with my S-60. I do 60 miles per day to and from work. Saving money over my 1.4 Civic though

TT

[htomi]

I have an 2003 S60 2.0T, manual & converted to LPG back in Feb this year. The car had 140 k miles on the clock when the conversion was done. Since then, I'm seeing a huge savings every month compared to the prices I was paying for petrol before. (fuel costs went down nearly to the half). Similar to your driving amount/week, I do aprox 500-550 miles. My overall AVG consumption since the conversion: 24.72 MPG. The best was 27.64 MPG. The car has a 120L tank fitted into the boot. The only drawback: I lost the nice big boot space ( but the remaining space is still bigger than our Mini Cooper boot can offer ) I'm living in ROI and the LPG price varies from 0.79-0.81 EUR/L in our area.