Thread: V8i or Diesel

Something I posted in an interesting thread a while back regarding costs of LPG vs diesel.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>My 93 Disco has been run on gas for almost all of its 200,000k (fitted by the original owner in the first month of having it) and I have to say it runs beautifully on LPG. The oil looks clean and clear, starts within a quarter of a second of turning the key, will happily tow a decent load at 100, and costs me about $27 per 300km at highway speeds. For what the beast is, I reckon that is pretty damn good. It weighs 17 times what my trailbike weighs but only costs twice as much as the Yamaha to fuel. Around town, if I do the 8km hop into work and back, it sucks a heap more gas (or petrol) because it's running on the cold cycle and it takes nearly 15 minutes to get to operating temp. That big chunk of alloy really conducts heat well, but it takes more than 30 minutes running until I can feel the transmission getting even slightly warm.

LPG is very kind to engines on cold starts, and it makes a lot of sense for a town car. Petrol only and diesel motors suffer much more when cold. Sure there are trade offs with LPG if you want to do a lot of long trips off the bitumen, but you have to seriously ask yourself "am I REALLY going to do all those long trips I'd like to?" because I think most of us don't get out half as much as we'd like. The rest of the time, the vehicle needs to make itself useful, and costing $80 per 300km during the week sucks a lot out of the holiday kitty. However, a 300km gas range and a 200km petrol range is still respectable endurance for weekending close to any towns with more than 1000 people in most places in Vic or NSW where both LPG and petrol can be had. Carrying a 20L jerry is not too difficult. I'd take the slight inconvenience of a jerry every time over double the running cost for petrol only for the other 300+ days a year around town.

Another way I factored in the cost of running a LPG setup instead of a diesel is this: even IF the diesel NEVER lunches itself in the most expensive way possible, you'll be changing oil twice as often at twice the cost per change. Fuel economy is not the be all and end all of running costs. When I was looking at GQ Patrols and was still considering TDI Discos, I really wanted a diesel but versus a gased vehicle even the diesel is nearly twice as much to run.

EG: If you take for granted that diesel is about $1.14/L, petrol is $1.05/L and LPG is $0.35/L, and that an oil change is 7L at about $56 per change to cookie crumbled as follows.

Diesel for 10,000km - 2 oil changes and 1200L of fuel works out to be $1424. (Not withstanding any nasty surprises, having to reco injectors, pumps, or replace timing belts every 60,000km which could add another $400 per 10,000km without a struggle)

Petrol for 10,000km - 1 oil change and 2200L of fuel works out to be $2338. (Not withstanding a couple of tunes, plugs and leads which would add perhaps $200)

LPG for 10,000km - 1 oil change and 2500L of fuel works out to be $903! Even with plugs, leads and tuning you are still only at slightly more than half the diesel's potential costs. The potential for serious expenses with Rover diesels seems to get a lot worse by the time you have hit the 200,000km mark, and if buying a s/h vehicle that can roll up very fast. Having spoken to a number of Roverphiles and Rover mechanics, they said that a lot of the diesel repair horror stories were true and that I should think very carefully about my choice because of it.

Hope that didn't muddy the waters too much![/b][/quote]

The rest of the thread is here:

http://www.aulro.com/modules.php?name=Foru...iewtopic&t=5538

Ya just gotta lve this site - it is my fav for landrovers.

Ok my two bobs worth, I own a disco 94 V8 and absolutely love it and wouldn't swap it for anything (except a defender)

Yes it sucks more fuel than an alcoholic in a brewery, it goes hard when needed. Power and accelleration blows away my Prado 3.4

It's more fun than a pocket full of money in a knock shop

But the Diesel guys have a valid point you can go further on a standard tank with diesel, thats why I have a tank under mine that could be used on the space shuttle.

It really does come down to how you drive it, if you like playing and have the area that you can, go the V8, if not and you drive conservatively then the diesel is probably more suitable for you.

I rock climb and play in the mud so the V8 is more for me and as said above it sounds great as well.

no matter which way you go you will have a ball in it

Cheers Blitz