What do you drive?

[chrisp65]

36 minutes ago, og1874 said:

A rubbish 2016 Dodge Journey that relinquished the ability to accelerate at an acceptable rate many years ago

Why would it be rubbish?

Genuine question, for an ordinary person doing ordinary driving under ordinary conditions, what would it be noticeably less good at?

[og1874]

1 minute ago, chrisp65 said:

Why would it be rubbish?

Genuine question, for an ordinary person doing ordinary driving under ordinary conditions, what would it be noticeably less good at?

See the second part of the quote

[chrisp65]

So that’s it?

It’s rubbish because it takes an extra 2 minutes to get to Morrisons?

[og1874]

2 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

So that’s it?

It’s rubbish because it takes an extra 2 minutes to get to Morrisons?

No, it's rubbish because it takes dangerously long to get up to the speed limit when joining a motorway

[Davkaus]

1 hour ago, av1 said:

 

I don’t really understand LPG, but I do a 50 mile round trip to work and from basic research it seems that LPG is about 60p per litre, so my fag packet maths have determined that the fuel saving will effectively pay for the car. 
 

But I’m an an idiot when it comes to cars, am I missing something really obvious?

Not at all. Most cars just don't run on LPG, and we have very poor infrastructure for it. If you can fill up with it locally, it's a sensible move and allows much more affordable motoring

[og1874]

2 minutes ago, og1874 said:

No, it's rubbish because it takes dangerously long to get up to the speed limit when joining a motorway

Also, the longer it takes to accelerate the longer it takes to get through the gears, the more fuel you burn

[chrisp65]

7 minutes ago, og1874 said:

No, it's rubbish because it takes dangerously long to get up to the speed limit when joining a motorway

 

Are you talking about one specific model?

I just looked it up on What Car and Auto Express sites and they quote 0-60 of 11 seconds for a few of the models of the Sandero and the Stepway. That sounds perfectly ok to me? It’s not as if you’d often be starting from 0mph to join a motorway.

It’s also claiming 50mpg.

There will be a lot of cars far worse than that. 

I don’t have one btw, I just wouldn’t put ‘acceleration’ as my number one item on my list. i wouldn’t say that fairly average acceleration makes a car rubbish when they are usually used for getting to work or going to the shops. 

[Guest av1]

24 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

Not at all. Most cars just don't run on LPG, and we have very poor infrastructure for it. If you can fill up with it locally, it's a sensible move and allows much more affordable motoring

Thanks. I did look at that earlier mate, and don’t quote me about figures because I’ve already forgot. But apparently there are about 8000 petrol stations in the country, and apparently only about 1200 sell LPG. So obviously the connivance has to be taken into account, but I do have a station 5mins from my house that sells it.
 

The other bonus is that the car has two tanks, so even if I was in the shit in terms of finding lpg. I could just top up with petrol.  

Edited April 10, 2022 by av1

[Davkaus]

1 minute ago, av1 said:

The other bonus is that the car had two tanks, so even if I was in the shoring terms of finding lpg. I could just top up with petrol.  

Sounds like a good setup then! I'd be slightly cautious about the best way to handle there being 2 tanks to keep the second one maintained and not let fuel idle in there unused for months at a time, but if they're selling them, it's presumably not a massive problem

[Guest av1]

1 minute ago, Davkaus said:

Sounds like a good setup then! I'd be slightly cautious about the best way to handle there being 2 tanks to keep the second one maintained and not let fuel idle in there unused for months at a time, but if they're selling them, it's presumably not a massive problem

Like I say mate, I’m not a car buff so with the absolute greatest respect I don’t even know what you mean by that, although I get the idea of something not being used may not be the most efficient

 

So in layman’s terms, (remember you’re talking to an idiot) - if I have a LPG garage 5mins from my house, do you think this is a good idea? 
 

Thanks again for your input mate

 

 

[Xela]

1 hour ago, av1 said:

I don’t really understand LPG, but I do a 50 mile round trip to work and from basic research it seems that LPG is about 60p per litre, so my fag packet maths have determined that the fuel saving will effectively pay for the car. 
 

But I’m an an idiot when it comes to cars, am I missing something really obvious?

It's a tech that hasn't really ever taken off in the UK compared to France, Spain or Italy. Usually it older gas guzzlers like classic Range Rovers that have been converted by aftermarket companies to run on LPG. I don't think any manufacturer has ever sold an LPG car in the UK officially*

It makes sense if you live near a garage that dispenses it. I think the number of garages is reducing though.

 

* before Dacia

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Xela

[og1874]

23 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

 

Are you talking about one specific model?

I just looked it up on What Car and Auto Express sites and they quote 0-60 of 11 seconds for a few of the models of the Sandero and the Stepway. That sounds perfectly ok to me? It’s not as if you’d often be starting from 0mph to join a motorway.

It’s also claiming 50mpg.

There will be a lot of cars far worse than that. 

I don’t have one btw, I just wouldn’t put ‘acceleration’ as my number one item on my list. i wouldn’t say that fairly average acceleration makes a car rubbish when they are usually used for getting to work or going to the shops. 

Yeah, talking about the 2016 Dodge Journey. I get about 400km from a full tank, which I believe is 65 litres, (granted, town driving these days - it used to manage about 550km/tank on the motorway)

Again, we're not talking average acceleration - we're talking absolutely no power in the pickup at all. Ever let the handbrake off and rolled down a slight incline? That's what the first 8 seconds of foot to the floor acceleration are like.

Oh, also, Dodges in general are renowned for having absolutely terrible transmission issues 

Edited April 10, 2022 by og1874

[Guest av1]

Just now, Xela said:

It's a tech that hasn't really ever taken off in the UK compared to France, Spain or Italy. Usually it older gas guzzlers like classic Range Rovers that have been converted by aftermarket companies to run on LPG. I don't think any manufacturer has ever sold an LPG car in the UK officially. 

It makes sense if you live near a garage that dispenses it. I think the number of garages is reducing though.

 

Thank you. 
 

Just on the highlighted but, I know they aren’t plentiful, but when you say reducing, is there a reason for that? Though I have one 5mins away atm is that likely to change?

[Xela]

10 minutes ago, av1 said:

Just on the highlighted but, I know they aren’t plentiful, but when you say reducing, is there a reason for that? Though I have one 5mins away atm is that likely to change?

It's gone from being a niche offering to being a niche offering with a finite shelf life, like all fossil fuels. Petrol/diesel will remain for a long time as there are 30m plus cars on the road and will take a long time for people to convert to electric. LPG, there are c100k vehicles. Garages might decide it's just not worth selling anymore. Thats just a guess though.  

In terms of garages reducing, this is happening anyway with conventional fuel. 40,000 stations in the 50s, 13,000 in 2000 and what now? 8,000? Just down to mergers between oil companies and closing of family garages as they can't compete with the big boys anymore. 

 

 

[stuart_75]

2 hours ago, Xela said:

It's a tech that hasn't really ever taken off in the UK compared to France, Spain or Italy. Usually it older gas guzzlers like classic Range Rovers that have been converted by aftermarket companies to run on LPG. I don't think any manufacturer has ever sold an LPG car in the UK officially*

It makes sense if you live near a garage that dispenses it. I think the number of garages is reducing though.

 

* before Dacia

 

Didn't Vauxhall do an Astra about 20 years ago that did LPG? Rare as hens teeth mind you.

[Chindie]

I know the point in many ways of these cars is the ego wank of being able to afford to buy it, but... the paint on the brake calipers costs 5 times what I paid for my entire car.

[tinker]

On 10/04/2022 at 18:14, av1 said:

Thank you. 
 

Just on the highlighted but, I know they aren’t plentiful, but when you say reducing, is there a reason for that? Though I have one 5mins away atm is that likely to change?

Some garages are have been pulling out of the market. There's a garage at Star city that is doing a roaring trade, its down to taxi drivers getting rid of old diesels and converting old petrol cars to LPG. They can enter the low emmision zone without paying the charge. I predict LPG will be a growth market as more towns and cities go to low emmision zones .

[Lichfield Dean]

Sutton Coldfield to Taunton in my Kona Electric. 50% battery usage. Very pleased with that!

[chrisp65]

 

 

[BOF]

On 10/04/2022 at 18:14, av1 said:

Thank you. 
 

Just on the highlighted but, I know they aren’t plentiful, but when you say reducing, is there a reason for that? Though I have one 5mins away atm is that likely to change?

My old man always converts to LPG so I would definitely say go for it. You have the petrol tank aswell anyway. But the LPG is way cheaper and you only need to fill it up when you're passing by a station that has it. You'll soon know every LPG garage in your area once you own the car. The saving is huge. You just use the petrol tank as a safety net for if you do ever let the LPG run out. And you can run on it for a bit if you fear the petrol will go stale. He's actually thinking of getting one of the Dacias because it's very rare to have a factory LPG installation. He's only ever had conversions.  You can also find LPG being sold in industrial parks, the kind where the 40 foots fill up. Not necessarily forecourt stations.