LPG cars. help wanted

[giovanni_5060838]

I have a galaxy 1.9 tdi. 115. use it to tow out bustner 500.

Now both were bought in haste, firstly wife saw and liked bustner,so we bought it! then we had 2 weeks to found a car big enough to tow it! my alfa could not wieght wise.so january not having a great choice we bought the galaxy.

Now it may be me and although the galaxy has many good virtues,and even though it has 229 ft/ibs of torque i really think it is not the best match for our caravan,indeed towing mpg is not what i expected, i expected to get 30 mpg from a car than does 50 mpg when touring,but it falls short of this. 6th gear is none usable as its impossible to do 60 mph in it at anything less than a still m/way with no inclines.May be i expect too much,but there it is.

So have been looking on the a/t site at lpg cars 3.9 discoveries and something called a ford explorer 4.0l? way i see it if they do 20mpg normally? then with the cost of lpg thats like 40 plus mpg,and towing hopefully they have the power to hold 60mph more easly and if they give 15 or 16 mpg,then i am over that 30 mpg cost thing that seems to be a bare big with me.

Would really love the pros and cons on these two vehicles,as my galaxy has done 120k, the other worry is that dual mass flywheel issue and a possible cost of over a grand not to far into the future.

do you have one? fancy a y reg galaxy ? lol.....

 

[mcghee]

From experience they don't do 20mpg. The best I had from my 4litre Jeep was about 16mpg, usually more like 14. Coming back from Blackpool in July I managed a superb 7.8mpg. Power was never a problem.

The Ford Explorer returns almost identical fuel economy. The other issue with the Explorer is reliability. A towing school local to me uses Explorers and they have come to the stage of always having a spare engine as they've replaced them so often.

I regularly hear stories of caravanners who manage 30mpg towing huge twin axles. These are the same people who tell you they can tow up a 1 in 4 climb in 5th gear. If you're towing a decent size heavy 'van you just have to accept that you need to burn fuel to do it.

I now use an ML270 CDi which I think costs slightly more to run day to day than the LPG Jeep, but I don't need to drive in and out of 3 or 4 service stations to find gas.

 

[Lutz]

I think mcghee made a fair comment. It is a bit much to expect solo car performance when towing. There's no real reason why one should have to be able to use 6th gear all the time with the caravan on the back.

 

[Garfield]

As it's a VW engine in the Galaxy, do they have the same problems as the Ford unit?

The Disco has more grunt and traction than the Galaxy but our old Sharan beat a Disco hands down for stability.

6th gear on the Galaxy was never meant for towing, it is almost too tall for solo, why do you feel compelled to use 6th when towing?

There is someone on this forum that claims to get 30-35 mpg towing with a Disco!, from this one can conclude that

A their mathematics is flawed

B they drive so slowly that they are one of the "Bloody caravanners"

C they tow a camping trailer

I have towed with many vehicles much more economical than the Disco and never got anywhere near 35mpg even towing a 12' caravan with a pug 405td, you will probabaly find that towing with a slightly bigger engine will use little or no more fuel than the Galaxy but you won't get one that uses less, especially if it has 4wd

Be warned that LPG powered vehicles are banned from some road tunnels (I'm not sure how rigidly this is enforced)

 

[herb]

we tow with a converted jeep and we never have to drive in to 3 or 4 garages to find gas because there is a web site that tells you where all the lpg stations are

 

[emmerson2]

Giovanni, as you're possibly aware, I've been running Land Rover V8s on LPG for many years now, about 7 or 8,and over 100,000 miles on two cars, so I can claim to be the voice of experience.

1) Mpg is around 12-14 solo, and as low as ten towing. Please take with a pinch of salt any claims of 20+ mpg from a v8. It cannot happen. 165 and upwards bhp in a car weighing two tons does not make for economy.

2) performance is virtually unaffected. Yes you might notice a difference on a rolling road, but not in normal use

3) reliability is not an issue, provided you use a good installer, who has had years of practice, and can repair the system in the unlikely event of anything going wrong.There are lots of people out there who can install LPG, but cannot mend it.

4) Loss of boot space is no longer an issue with the different range of tanks available now. On a Disc or RR they can be fitted underneath.

5) Lpg is now very widely available, throughout the country.

I half-filled my petrol tank last April, and still have over quarter of a tank left.I regard running out of gas as a personal failure!

6) So convinced am I that LPG and V8 is the way to go am I that I am willing to demonstrate my car to you if ever you're in South Wales.

And finally, There is a website called "boostlpg" (or similar) which has a ready reckoner to work out your cash savings by using LPG. I have saved over

 

[mcghee]

Don't get me wrong Richard. I thought my LPG Jeep was fantastic as a towcar, and the majority of the time getting gas wasn't a problem. I just don't really appreciate having to plan each and every trip according to where I can get refuelled. I have run LPG for years and had planned to still be doing so but I got a bit peed off consistently completing long journeys on petrol, which at less than 8mpg, is expensive.

Within a mile of my house, for example, there are six petrol stations. Two Shell, one Esso, one BP, one Morrison, one independent, none of which have gas, the nearest gas beibg about 12 miles away. That may seem like unjust complaint but when its 12 miles in the opposite direction to your journey it can get to be a right pain in the backside.

How do you find your Jeep generally, had any disasters with it?

 

[Lutz]

The LPG issue aside, I cannot believe reports from caravanners claiming their car tows the caravan "as if it weren't there". That's just as unrealistic as claims for phenominal mpg figures. Anyone who genuinely reckons that they tow their caravan "as if it weren't there" must be suffering from numbness.

I towed a relatively light (1300kg) caravan behind a 3.5V6 petrol 4x4 (albeit non-LPG, but that's not to the point) for several years and, although there was still adequate performance available I certainly knew that I was towing something. I now still have the same caravan but a smaller car with only a 1.9 diesel, but I get the impression that it's a lot more slick when moving off at traffic lights. Only at speed does it seem to be marginally worse.

 

[giovanni_5060838]

seriously, thank you for all the responces, wow.

Ok its a lot clearer what i should and should not expect,all has been taken on board and i thank you for your honest replies.

Maybe a remap is the way to go for me, nothing great and certainly not too much more torque but a few more ponnies may keep me happier....

 

[Garfield]

According to the Ford brochure for the old Galaxy the 115, 130 and 150hp versions of the 1.9tdi pd engine all had the same max torque of 229lbft @2000rpm, but the 130 & 150 could produce more torque at higher rpm to give the extra power. Our old 110hp Sharan had only 5hp less than the 115pd but only about 180lbft which gives you some idea of how the torque of the 115 collapses above 2000rpm giving you that out of breath sensation.

A remap that widens the torque band rather than raising it may be the way to go.

 

[giovanni_5060838]

interesting thought garfield, i intend to get a remap at xmas,still not sure who to trust,but will see if they can do anything about the torque issue.