I recently had the opportunity to test drive, for a week, a car supplied by Autogas and modified to run on Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG). The main purpose of the loan car was for me to get an idea of how driving with LPG was different when compared with petrol.
The answer is – not a lot. In fact without looking at the gauges I had no idea if I was running on petrol or LPG.
When the vehicle is cold, it starts on petrol and as the engine warms up it changes automatically, to LPG and stays on LPG until the tank is emptied or the car is restarted from cold.
If the vehicle runs out of LPG the system automatically reverts back to petrol and a switch bleeps to warn you of this event. The vehicles stop start system is unaffected by the LPG system. I did run out of LPG at one stage but I didn’t notice until I heard the beep, there was no change in performance. Starting from cold there was no indication other than visual when the car changed over to LPG.
I have talked to a couple of driving instructors about their experience of LPG and both said they find it excellent. One said learners transferring from non LPG cars stalled a couple of times when they first changed over to LPG (so did I) but they soon got used to it (so did I).
The only other comment was about the lack of filling stations in some areas. I was driving North on the M5 and had to drive past two service areas before 
I got to one that sold LPG.
You can find out more about LPG availability in your area and details of conversion specialists here on the Autogas site.
Would I recommend LPG for a driving school car? I am happy to recommend that driver trainers should consider a conversion when they purchase a new car as far as I can see there are no driving disadvantages. The decision really comes down to a financial one do you do enough miles, do you keep cars long enough to profit from the system, are there convenient LPG filling stations in our area and of course will the manufacturer’s warranty on your new car be affected.
Tech Spec
- 2014 ford focus 1.6 eco boost, power: 182 ps, 134kw
- Fitted with stop-start and self-parking
- Top speed: 139mph (no I didn’t get up to that) O-62mph: 7.9 seconds
- Insurance group: 19e
- Tax band: e
- Government fuel consumption: 47.9mpg, its/100km 5.9
- The LPG tank held 51 litres and the petrol tank capacity was 58 litres.
Footnote
The focus I drove had self-parking so of course I had to give it a try. I had never done this before so it was a bit of a revelation. The system worked well and I was impressed. You can see a video of the system in action on You Tube This system is of course a long way from the driverless car idea. The driver is still very much in control and therefore very much liable for what happens as opposed to a driverless car where if something goes wrong no one is quite sure who is going to be liable: the vehicle manufacturer; the last company to service the vehicle; the provider of the gps signal etc.
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