What's all this 'greener car' stuff about then?

[heatemyfather]

I live in the countryside in North Yorkshire - I have seen one or two places near me that sell LPG - I run a 1990's Nissan Micra petrol car because that's all I can afford to buy, it probably gets about 45 to the gallon. So what's the new government car tax system about and how will it affect me? What sort of car am I eventually going to have to get in order to fit into the cheaper tax bands? Are there ANY practical cars in the cheapest band?! I want to do my bit for the environment but having a car is somewhat essential around here, the bus routes are quite limited and fares are very expensive, I cannot afford the latest technology.

Yours confusedly...

[sleepyweasle]

Hi
Like you I live out in the countryside and having a car is essential. We're on a pretty tight budget for motoring too and the newer hybrid technology stuff is a little out of our reach. I run a 1995 Vauxhall Cavalier Td, and what with the diesel prices rising by the day we had to find an alternative. So, now we still have the same car but run it on vegetable oil. It runs great on it, it's cheaper than diesel, the only by-product coming out of the exhaust is water and I like the fact that no-one goes to war over veg oil. We bought the car for the princely sum of £150. What do you reckon?

[alm1995]

Hi
Like you I live out in the countryside and having a car is essential. We're on a pretty tight budget for motoring too and the newer hybrid technology stuff is a little out of our reach. I run a 1995 Vauxhall Cavalier Td, and what with the diesel prices rising by the day we had to find an alternative. So, now we still have the same car but run it on vegetable oil. It runs great on it, it's cheaper than diesel, the only by-product coming out of the exhaust is water and I like the fact that no-one goes to war over veg oil. We bought the car for the princely sum of £150. What do you reckon?

Great stuff, on vegetable oil thats amazing, I still run diesel at about 40 to the gallon so trying to cut on unnecesary journeys.
Did you have the car converted to run on veg oil and where do you fill up with that?

[sleepyweasle]

Hi
We didn't have to do a thing to convert the car, it was literaly just a case of pouring veg oil in the tank instead of diesel. As for where to get it, there are quite a few websites that advertise people who sell veg oil for cars if you do a search for Vegetabe Oil Diesel you will find loads. Although this is the cheapest way to get it (30p to 100p per litre) I sometimes just go to the supermarket and buy a few litres of cooking oil (MUST be vegetable NOT sunflower). In the winter, vegetable oil can thicken in the fuel tank so it's a good idea to 50/50 veg oil and diesel in the tank when the weather gets cold.

[sleepyweasle]

The Cavalier is doing around 55mpg.

[alm1995]

Thats amazing Don't think I would have the courage to just pour veg oil in the diesel tank though after paying for a recon diesel engine 4 years ago I am still burning from that experience. I think it might be worth looking into further although the costs of running the motor, the diesel is the smallest amount its the tax, insurance, service/MOT that makes it so expensive to motor these days

[sleepyweasle]

That's very true, fortunately my husband is a bit of a car freak so he tends to do all the essential maintainance work which saves a ton on garage bills, He's also a welder by trade so that has come in handy in the past.

If you want to consider it as an option, have a trawl around the net and see if anyone else has done it with the car/engine that you have in mind. It seems to work best with older cars.

[alm1995]

Well I have an 11 year old Mercedes Sprinter Van which has been a great work horse.
I will trawl around and have a look out of curiosity as that seems amazing to be able to just pour in veg oil and run on that LOL Thanks for that

[sleepyweasle]

No problem One thing I didn't mention is that you may find that when you run the engine, there is a faint smell of chips I'm not joking either!

[alm1995]

I live in the countryside in North Yorkshire - I have seen one or two places near me that sell LPG - I run a 1990's Nissan Micra petrol car because that's all I can afford to buy, it probably gets about 45 to the gallon. So what's the new government car tax system about and how will it affect me? What sort of car am I eventually going to have to get in order to fit into the cheaper tax bands? Are there ANY practical cars in the cheapest band?! I want to do my bit for the environment but having a car is somewhat essential around here, the bus routes are quite limited and fares are very expensive, I cannot afford the latest technology.

Yours confusedly...

Sorry got diverted and didn't refer to your question. Unfortunately do not know the answer yet but am watching the DVLA website to see when they put it on so I can find out for me as I think mine will increase. I hope not as that might just be the last straw.