The E30 has to go....

[boxclever1753]

i've just moved house and my commute has gone from zero to more than 200 miles a week so the 325 auto really has to go.

what a shame, it's a been a good car for the last 18 months but my current finances can't justify visiting a petrol station so much.

time to get a corsa or fiesta that will run on fumes... boring huh?

so, a for sale ad will be up soon - it has a couple of things that need doing but it's a well specced late model 4-door SE so will be a good buy for someone.

a damn shame

[alexdejonghe]

Stick her in the garage until circumstances change? Without taxing or insuring her your upkeep costs will be minimal...

[Brianmoooore]

No LPG in your area?

[boxclever1753]

i'm working on a very small budget here so don't have the option of keeping it, or LPG'ing it.. is a real shame.

i need to sell the E30 to finance a commute hack.. is a bit sh1te:(

[Brianmoooore]

You can get that running on LPG for £200 with a bit of careful buying and DIY install - done properly, not bodged together.

[boxclever1753]

really that cheap? and what sort of MPG would i get? and does it run dual tanks? sorry but i don't know anything about LPG but i guess i should look into it.

thanks.

[BenHar]

You can get that running on LPG for £200 with a bit of careful buying and DIY install - done properly, not bodged together.

Do you have comprehensive instructions for how to do this?

Thanks
Ben

[Brianmoooore]

You should get a slightly better 'miles per kilogram' using LPG compared to petrol, because LPG burns with a greater efficiency, but, because LPG is considerably less dense than petrol, your MPG will fall by about 20%, assuming that the petrol system is in good working order, and the LPG install is specified ans set up correctly.
The petrol tank is normally left in place, with the LPG being stored in a completely separate tank - either a cylinder tank in the front half of the boot, or a toroidal tank replacing the spare wheel.
A couple of years back I paid £160 on ebay for a complete, but very basic, kit from an E30 325 which was being prepared for track use.

[Fushion_Julz]

I know you're a fan of LPG, Brian, but the maths don't add up for most people, in my opinion, anyway...

If you can't install it yourself, the initial outlay is at least £600 and probably nearer double that.

The fuel economy on LPG only adds up whilst the UK Govt. has the reduced excise rate for the fuel over petrol and diesel. Even so, a car that does (as per an avg E30 325) 25mpg on petrol will do an equivalent 35mpg or so on LPG taking into account the lower cost but increased consumption....

Given a 325 is never going to be worth much money, especially if it has been non-standardised with an LPG conversion, the intial cost of the car (£1500, say) plus the conversion cost makes the car worth around £2250 in inital outlay but on resale will only return the car value (£1500)...

A small, efficient modern diesel will return around 45-50mpg....(for example 1.4HDI Peugeot 206), can be bought for around the same money as a 325i, costs only £30 p/a in road tax and even if it loses all of its' value in 2 years will still be better value covering 14K miles p/a...

My commute to work is around 20 miles each way (so 200miles per week)...add that to the other leisure use, my E36 328 racks up around 14K per year...same as the OP will do, I suspect...
I like my E36, but I have considered a switch to something a bit more economical for a daily...Only the fact I claim a (generous) mileage allowance that covers my commuting costs is making me hold fire....

[boxclever1753]

thanks julz, good points you've made there and i needed the reality check - i have no ability when it comes to cars so would not be able to source or fit the LPG stuff myself..

the car has to go - so if anyone has a nippy cheap runabout to swap then drop me a line.. but the for sale ad will be up tonight or tomorrow.

thanks.

ps and things like savings on car tax and servicing costs will help me run a smaller car.

[e301988325i]

I know you're a fan of LPG, Brian, but the maths don't add up for most people, in my opinion, anyway...

If you can't install it yourself, the initial outlay is at least £600 and probably nearer double that.

The fuel economy on LPG only adds up whilst the UK Govt. has the reduced excise rate for the fuel over petrol and diesel. Even so, a car that does (as per an avg E30 325) 25mpg on petrol will do an equivalent 35mpg or so on LPG taking into account the lower cost but increased consumption....

Given a 325 is never going to be worth much money, especially if it has been non-standardised with an LPG conversion, the intial cost of the car (£1500, say) plus the conversion cost makes the car worth around £2250 in inital outlay but on resale will only return the car value (£1500)...

A small, efficient modern diesel will return around 45-50mpg....(for example 1.4HDI Peugeot 206), can be bought for around the same money as a 325i, costs only £30 p/a in road tax and even if it loses all of its' value in 2 years will still be better value covering 14K miles p/a...

My commute to work is around 20 miles each way (so 200miles per week)...add that to the other leisure use, my E36 328 racks up around 14K per year...same as the OP will do, I suspect...
I like my E36, but I have considered a switch to something a bit more economical for a daily...Only the fact I claim a (generous) mileage allowance that covers my commuting costs is making me hold fire....

You're vastly missing the point in a number of ways and your maths is wildly off stating that a car doing 25mpg on petrol will work out at 35mpg equivalent cost on LPG (unless the LPG system is faulty).

Someone doing a large regular commute is the ideal candidate for LPG.

LPG allows you to run a gas guzzler for the price of a normal diesel (75mpg bluemotion polo excluded, but I only got 60mpg when I did 500 miles in one I had as a hire car). It means my E46 330i is more economical than the equivalent 330d and very similar to a 320d and I don't have to drive a stinky smoky dieseasal.

My 325i does 22mpg on LPG, I don't commute with it so when I do get to drive it I thrash it everywhere. Compared to the price of petrol the equivalent is around 42mpg, compared to the more expensive price of diesel that's 44mpg. Gentle driving, you know, at the speed limit not straining your neck muscles out of every corrner 50mpg would be easy.

Yes, 44mpg from a 325i E30.



Now lets look at the modern turbo diesel, every time it goes wrong it will cost a £1000, turbo, injection pump, injectors etc etc the same cannot be said of a NA petrol vehicle.

Ps) The worst bit about LPG is that it will kill your exhaut more quickly and there is relatively limited places to fill up, and filling up takes a minute or so longer.

Pps) I was a complete advocate of diesel until they removed the sulphur from it. The sulphur was the main component of the EP (Extreme Pressure) lubricant component of the fuel which protected the fine mechanicals of the diesel injection system and provided lubricant to the cylinder walls of the combustion chamber.

Ppps) And as for recommending a peugeot. . . really what has the OP done to you? Tortured a family member to an excrutiating death.

[Captain_Birdseye]

You must feel gutted.

[BATTS91]

Id have to keep it if you can and get one of them loans off tv and find a fiesta on ebay or facebook selling pages for £300 , ka's are cheap to buy 3-400 notes not bad to runEither

[boxclever1753]

not getting loans, the E30 goes to finance an economical daily.. i'll get another E30 when running costs aren't an issue. i've got a decent bonus coming in february so that may tempt me back into an E30 convertible, but probably a 318 !!

[Andy325i]

306 on veggie oil at 95P a litre

[Rtaylor2208]

The 306 2.0 HDI is a pretty sturdy smoker. My brothers commuting hack which looks visually totally shit has clocked up 215K on its original engine , turbo etc.

All he has spent on it in the last 4 years was a rear exhaust section, some tyres, discs, pads and a good service once a year and it continues to soldier on.

Not bad for a car he paid £400 for 4 years ago. And he easily gets 50MPG out of it on a commute.

Compare that to his E39 M5 which has only done 70K and averages under 3k a year and it has cost him substantially more in servicing alone.

[Morat]

Faced with a similar choice - my daily commute doubled - I put LPG on the E46. My commute is shorter than yours, but the difference is I still enjoy it! I'm not sure why you'd choose to commute such long distances in a horrible Peugot diesel when you could do it in an E30.

If your E30 is a rusty old shed, then fair enough. There's no point throwing good money after bad but if it's in good condition then I'd LPG it. The other option is to buy a cheap little petrol runabout and LPG that - you'll be super economical then!

306 on veggie oil at 95P a litre Smile

I had to read that twice - 95p a litre might be cheap to a diesel driver! but I buy fuel at 64.7p

[Mo13]

I buy fuel at 64.7p

WTF!!! from where?

[FinalD]

I buy fuel at 64.7p

WTF!!! from where?

LPG price. ;)

Or coal...after all, he is up norf.

[hennabm]

A mate has a 205, XUD engined and has done 500,000 miles.

[Morat]

I buy fuel at 64.7p

WTF!!! from where?

ASDA Clifton Moor, York. Their LPG is cheap, but I pop over the road to Sainsbury's for the superior car wash

[Duke137]

Despite what the purists say the old french diesels are full of win for cheap motoring

[Mo13]

I buy fuel at 64.7p

WTF!!! from where?

ASDA Clifton Moor, York. Their LPG is cheap, but I pop over the road to Sainsbury's for the superior car wash

LOL for a few mins I thought it was petrol

Unleaded ”“ 138.11
Diesel ”“ 142.48
LPG ”“ 71.18

round here

[Morat]

Well, you can see the attraction

[e301988325i]

Ppps) And as for recommending a peugeot. . . really what has the OP done to you? Tortured a family member to an excrutiating death.

Really don't know what you lot have against peugeots?

The seats (uncomfortable).
The electrics (unreliable, esp central locking).
The reliability (the boss appreciates you arriving for work and the wofe likes to get home from holiday).

Every broken down car we saw on the way back from cornwall was french. Including one (peugeot) stopped dead in the fast lane of a crawling traffic jam.

Ps) The 205 & 405 were very fine vehicles, but are there any nice ones left? 400 miles a week in an XUD 205 (my first car), no thanks you'd be deaf.