New diesel taxes

[Adam Damian]

Hi everyone.
I drive a 04 diesel 75.
I'm hearing the horror stories of plans to hike road tax and possible congestion charges with regard to older diesels.

I read an article in a newspaper this week that such drivers are starting to panic by trading in their said diesels. This will lead to an over supply etc.

My annual mileage is pretty low. Though I like to do my bit for the environment. I'd be loathed to trade in the 75. I have an idea that, for a few hundred pounds, the 75 can be converted to L.P.G. I'm under no illusion that mine is no worth a great deal even at just under 80K.

Are there any other options with regard to going greener?

[steve-45]

Can you convert diesels to LPG ?????

And I thought an LPG conversion to be circa £1500

[andymc]

At the moment, there are a lot of scare stories but as far as I'm aware, nothing has been formally announced yet. Unless you can do the work yourself, I think it would cost quite a bit more than a few hundred pounds to convert to LPG, especially with a diesel - it's usually done with petrol engines and from what I've read in the past, there won't be any savings in terms of fuel costs with a diesel. I've often seen figures in excess of £800 being bandied about in relation to the cost for converting a 4 cylinder petrol car (although that might just be the cost of the conversion kit, so probably add a few hundred for labour), meaning that if you do low mileage then it's unlikely you'd ever see a return on your money.

But let's say for the sake of argument that an extra £100 a year is put on the VED for a diesel (highly unlikely IMO) - even if you could convert your diesel to LPG for as little as £800, it would still take you 8 years before you break even. Of course, if the cost of conversion is higher, then it becomes even less financially viable.

In terms of paying to drive into towns, only you can say how much this will affect you, if and when such schemes are announced. It might simply be that using park & ride facilities will the most cost-effective solution to avoiding such charges! I'd say relax, enjoy your car and keep it well-maintained with a working EGR valve so that you're not putting out more pollutants than necessary while you drive.

[Darcydog]

You cannot run a diesel on LPG alone. Much of a Diesel engine relies on the diesel fuel as a lubricant - LPG has no lubrication properties whatsoever.

On a petrol car LPG can be used as an alternative fuel but even the it is wise to fit a lubrication pump system to lubricate the valves/upper cylinders.

If you google this you will see plenty of options.

You can add LPG as a supplement to a Diesel engine - but it stills runs on the diesel oil - but here the LPG adds more hydrogen to the burn so that combustion is more complete. Hence lower emissions and particulates - so it is quite possible that we will start to see LPG Suppliment systems on diesels - but never the "either/or" option systems that you see on petrol dual fuel cars.

The only country I have seen using the LPG suppliment - or "piggy back" system is Australia where it is routinely fitted to their HGV's to improve power and economy as well as lowering emissions.

[Darcydog]

Hi again

Check out:- ecoshot.com.au

[emm-gee-zed-tee]

You can convert diesels to run on old cooking oil !! I was following an old Sherpa van once. The exhaust fumes smelt like a Fish and Chip shop !!

[andymc]

Older ones, yes, but a modern diesel with high pressure fuel injection isn't suitable. Even with preheating, fuel pumps are likely to need replacing, injectors can get clogged (not to mention fuel filters needing more frequent replacement), even if they don't get clogged the spray pattern isn't as fine as with mineral diesel ... As a rough guide, if the engine has common-rail injecion then it's not going to work. In fact, even when the cooking oil is converted to biodiesel, it's still not recommended to use it in a modern engine.
The old Mercedes 250/300, the Peugeot 305/306, the VW/Audi TDi 110 ... great engines for running on biodiesel without modification, or converting to run on cooking oil. Not so for a Rover 75 though, sadly.

[oswestryalex]

If it were me, I would wait for the autumn budget when the announcement might come about diesels. I think a hike in road tax may be on the cards, but it may not be as much as some scare stories. The good news is, even if the diesel Rover 75's end up being uneconomic, there are plenty of good petrol ones out there at not huge prices, KV6 or 1.8 K series, so it's possible to enjoy the experience of driving the Rover 75 even if the worst were to happen.

[Mike Trident]

even if they put it up to petrol levels of road tax it's not that bad is it?

Try taxing a Mazda RX8 and you will find out what road tax is!

[billythefish]

The next Tory Government ain't exactly stupid because they are waiting to get elected, then the road tax will rise and of course in five years time most people will have forgotten all about it or in my case be dead!