Gas and petrol vs diesel

[Tigger77777]

For those who have experienced (gas and petrol) and diesel engines, what are the pros and cons for these types, obviously gas is cheaper but do you get similar power that the diesel provides? And what is the range using gas?
Cheers

[Agronaught]

Unless you go the turbo td42 the petrols will usually have the power edge over the diesels. Of course there are always exceptions and I'm sure they will be pointed out here

Depending on the petrol, it can be a *lot* more power... At the cost of a lot more fuel.

However there is a lot more to 4wd than power. I wish my tb48 has the compression of the diesels for downhills and I'll have to look at reduction gears too get what I want out of my car.

If you do the km LPG can be good. If you don't it's is (IMHO) a false economy. When you take into account the coast of the LPG install and additional service costs it takes a lot of km to make LPG worthwhile. Not to mention it can cause early failure in the engine if it's not maintained correctly.

LPG tanks are also smaller, and you burn more LPG than petrol as it doesn't have the same amount of energy per litre.

A 115L tank only takes 90L of LPG, which is only good for 300km in the city which sucks. I get 370km to 90l of LPG on the highway which isn't great.

If you get LPG you will want a larger sub tank (70L) to improve the range and cater for those situations where lpg isn't available.

It's a mixed bag and depends on what you want to do with the car. Personally im looking to ditch the LPG and put a fuel tank back in there.

[Bigcol]

as Agronaught said, depends on what you want to do........
years ago, Gas was 1/3 the price per liter than Petrol
then petrol went up, and so did gas, now its a no-brainer - its not worth spending the coin to get it fitted to your car.......

if your wanting power - petrol any day every day
if your wanting to tow - diesel - more economical power (more Kms per liter than petrol when towing)
if your wanting cheap weekly fill ups - gas (if its already fitted)

my previous GQ was petrol / gas
with the way the timing is 19.5*BTDC - (Turned for Performance on Gas Btw)
on petrol I had 96Kw of power...............
on Gas I had 93Kw...........
only difference was take offs at lights
BUT
as I tour with a Van.................. when towing said van.......
120L Gas tank = 250kms + 50L petrol tank = 250kms
not a large range for distance but when you hit a hill in gas - you lost speed faster than you would believe

I updated (?) to a GU TD42 (with Gas injection) - was crap with the Gas - just blew a snot load of black smoke....
put a turbo and intercooler on it - yeah team, now its got some poke.............

just have a good think about what you want to do, and whats 80% of your driving............ then go for the one that suites that
I do long distant travelling towing a 2t van - diesel was the way for me to go
around town, I like to steal SWMBO's petrol V8 - easier to drive, zippier around town etc........

[the evil twin]

In a current generation vehicle with all the dodads that mean you can't drive it even if you want to
Range - Diesel
Towing - Petrol
Grunt - Petrol
4WD - doesn't matter, the electronics mean the engine isn't connected to the wheels these days
Does anyone really bother anymore with LPG due to VVT etc etc petty is quite frugal and LPG is almost as dear as Petrol over here and you can't get it out bush

In old school vehicles with no dodads where the Driver actually drives the thing
Range - Diesel
Towing - Diesel
Grunt - debatable
4WD - Diesel
If you can't afford a Diesel - Petrol
Shoping Trolley - LPG

[Patrol'n]

My experience with gas is it was worth the get in price back when gas was 32 cents a litre, once it got up closer to petrol, not really worth it. I like petrol powered myself, so spent ages to find a petrol patrol with no gas installed, (and mines an old school one) :-)

That said, if I had found a GQ diesel in good nick when I was looking, I would have snapped it up!

[Agronaught]

I'm ditching LPG.

now to find an OE fuel tank etc

[threedogs]

I;ve had a dual fuel 4x4 and travelled over 400k in it.
Mind you gas was 18c a litre and worth putting in at that stage
I was getting 400k range, being a big petrol brick [troopy]
on petrol I'd get 450 from 90ltr.
Would I buy a dual fuel 4x4 today no way, in town gas is 70 cents and way higher when you get 100k out
Gas runs hot you either tune for one or the other, carbies dry out, valves recess into the heads.
After Leigh Creek thats your last gas if heading Birdsville way, then youre paying $2 plus for ULP

for Touring you cant beat a diesel if you run out, a tractor or earth working machine can be
milked for diesel. Down size is service costs are higher on a diesel.
What would I buy if money was no option,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,A DIESEL TD intercooled

[Tigger77777]

Thanks all, from what I have read and based on my situation, I will go for a diesel, for the simple fact LPG only gets about 300km per fill, which is a pain to keep filling up regularly. Also I will be towing though it will be light. Well, if no diesels are available at the time of purchasing, a new rig with all the extras and LPG won't be so bad. Cheers

[Jonesy_sa]

I have a duel fuel GQ and would prefer a TD42 diesel even if its a slug. A replacement fuel LPG tank is around $1000 if mine fails inspection so consider that in your purchase price.
With that said I seen an incredibly clean GQ with 200k on the clock in duel fuel for $2500... It would take some driving for me to break even on the diesel purchase price!

[warner01]

I think its a lot to do with who fit the gas also. Ive converted all of my cars to gas and as for economy theres not a big difference in kms per lt gas vs pet. yet its still way cheaper than pet. A crappy gas system will be just that on your car. i have tried lots of different types of gas and theres really only 3 good systems out there.
On a recent trip to the flinders i drove my GQ ( yes its not stock sue to the v8 but anyway. ) up to the ranges with my brothers in tow with a diesel 75 series and a 2004 prado gas pet v6. we alll worked out to be pretty close in cost per km with the diesel being much slower to do it.
In saying all this its down to personal preferance and what you want. Id still go a turbo diesel if i could but i cant get past that v8 sound so petty for me.