Car & Bike Buying CNG car .. which to choose (Accent CNG/Dezire (w CNG kit)/any other) ?

M

maxme

Disciple
Hi All,

Need your advise on CNG car. So here's why I'm going for CNG. My daily commute to office is 70kms (80% highway + 20% city) 5 days a week. CNG is still cheaper than diesel (also has better Rs/km ration) and availability is quite good in my city.

I had doubts regarding CNG kits coversion which are now cleared thanks to elaborative thread of teambhp.

Now coming to the point, my budget is around 5-5.5 for the car. I am thinking of buying either Accent CNG model which comes with company fitted CNG kit or buy Dezire LXI and convert it into CNG. Reason to choose accent and dezire is that I will lose the boot space due to CNG tank.

Pros and cons of accent-CNG
(+) company fitted CNG
(+) 1500 cc engine
(+) comes with all features (power windows, other things)
(-) Height of the car (I am 5'11")
(-) quite older look
price 5.5 ex-showroom

Pros and cons of Dezire-LXI
(+) Proven ride quality
(+) 1200 cc engine
(-) LXI does not have the features
(+) Height of the car
(+) newer compared to accent
price 5 ex-showroom + 35-40k CNG kit

Please also suggest any other car that may fit my budget and needs.
 
I would suggest the Accent for the simple reason that a factory fitted CNG kit is more peace of mind than one you get done elsewhere. Add to that the Dzire's long waiting periods and also relatively low VFM as compared to the Accent. I believe outdated looks et al don't matter much when you are looking for practicality.
 
@agantuk - I too believe in practicality but there's also height of the car. I am going to test drive Accent. My current car is M800 and believe me its very difficult to get in or out of the car.

@cravikum - thanks for the suggestion, will look for it.

Can anyone having accent provide their feedback?
 
^^ We had an Accent Tornado..... Though not CNG

It was a bulletproof car...... No problems ever.....

Hyundai service is extremely reliable as well...... But the resale value is not as good as the Maruti.

Though I have never tried a CNG vehicle, from what I have heard, Factory Fitted is always better than an aftermarket kit. But pls confirm with people who actually use CNG cars.
 
Actually, if you do a little research, you'll find that CNG cars actually DO NOT end up saving money because the engine life is greatly reduced in these cars and they require quite a bit of maintainence vis-a-vis a normal ICE running on diesel or petrol. Plus I don't know where you're from but here in Delhi, getting CNG filled in your car is a chore in itself sometime taking hours to get a tank full. IMO, if you hv a good run (more than a 100kms/day) go for a diesel else go for a petrol car.
 
^ I do not agree with you that CNG cars DO NOT end up saving money. Can you please share the experience where having CNG operated vehicle is damaged?

There are simple reasons for CNG popularity. Costs less, environment friendly , availability. Cons: you lose the boot space, little less power and long queue for fill-up (rush hour).

Car manufacturers are now providing the CNG options in most cars. Maruti itself is coming up with CNG option for all cars except Rits and Swift (cause they already have good diesel option available) before end of this year.

Maruti to launch 5 cars in CNG version in a single day-Automobiles-Auto-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times
 
I don't know how the hell CNG can reduce the life of an engine if you maintain it properly. My old M800 lasted me good 100k Kms before i sold it off( the new owner hasn't complained yet), it was around 35k Kms before CNG.

All you have to do is to switch to petrol after every 10kms for just 30-40 secs. Don't miss your service intervals. One more thing, i am not too sure on this but people suggested not to run the vehicle on CNG before it has clocked more than 5000kms.
 
Yes Roxtin seems to be that for Accent I have to stretch budget. But good news is that Maruti is launching the CNG version of 5 cars.

I have to look at that options as well. Those are coming with i-GPI technology.
 
Yeah even I had booked a Punto 1.3MJD but due to some issues had to cancel the delivery now thinking to go for Wagon R 1.0 Vxi as it is trusted Maruti and has a better average but my brother wants to go for Accent which I find uncomfortable for me cuz of my size :p
 
ultra vires said:
I don't know how the hell CNG can reduce the life of an engine if you maintain it properly. My old M800 lasted me good 100k Kms before i sold it off( the new owner hasn't complained yet), it was around 35k Kms before CNG.

All you have to do is to switch to petrol after every 10kms for just 30-40 secs. Don't miss your service intervals. One more thing, i am not too sure on this but people suggested not to run the vehicle on CNG before it has clocked more than 5000kms.
Click to expand...

Any idea why you were asked to do that??? CNG is a dry fuel which is not suited for conventional ICEs. Diesel and Petrol provide atleast some lubrication while burning within the engine but CNG does not which reduces the overall life. You would not notice it in daily running if you're driving the same car but would notice it if you drive a similar car's non CNG variant (in this case an Accent). The difference in engine harshness, pickup and overall drive and top speed would be self evident.

As far as cost effectiveness goes, again it depends on your run. If you're driving only about 40 - 50 kms per day, a petrol car is best suited in the long run and a diesel car only starts giving economic benefit if your run is more than 100kms a day. Do the math, and factor in the extra cost for diesel and CNG which you pay upfront in to your workings. To recover even simple interest on the extra cost you pay for diesel or cng with a run of 50kms will take close to 3 years after which you can start reaping the benefit of using cheaper fuel if your car does not start asking for maintainence. Plus with CNG you lose almost your entire boot space not to mention the constant added weight of the cylinder which affects the shocks, tyres and the overall ride of the car. M800 has no ride quality to actually notice any difference though.

It is only psychological that we feel we are saving money by paying less for fuel and hence saving money. And with CNG, I don't know about anyone else but my time is quite precious to be spent standing in an endless line to get fuel filled. Has anyone factored the cost of that time to the cost of the car. How much does one end up saving then????

And all the cars that are being introduced for CNG are targeted towards the commercial/tourist trade as they are now required by law to run on clean fuel. The taxi people have a very heavy run on their cars and hence it makes sense for them to go for CNG and for the govt. to make it mandatory for them to use clean fuel.
 
^^ do you own or have a cng car, cause contrary to your belief the engine feels smoother when running on cng. Also it takes only around 8000 kms to recover the cost of a cng kit as the kit prices have fallen down to around 25k to 30 k.
 
Here's an article which compares Petrol/Diesel/CNG/LPG engines Petrol, Diesel, CNG or LPG? We help you choose! | CarTradeIndia.com.

As far as breakeven for cost is concerned. Here's a simple analysis based on Delhi prices:

Petrol = Rs.47.93/litre

CNG = Rs.27.50/KG

Mileage for Maruti Alto in city: 15kmpl / 18kmpkg

Cost per km: (1/15)*47.5 = Rs.3.16 (Petrol)

(1/18)*27.5 = Rs.1.52 (CNG)

Savings per km: 3.16 - 1.52 = Rs.1.64

Initial cost of CNG kit (Italian, good quality): Rs.40,000

BREAKEVEN (in KMS): 40000/1.64 = 24,390kms (not accounting for interest on the initial upfront pymt of 40k)

Average annual run of a car = 10 - 12,000 kms

Now the mileage figures have been cross referenced from various sources. Note that mileage also depends heavily on driving style and habits and also the traffic conditions in a particular area. And I have not accounted for maintainence costs which are higher for CNG vis-a-vis a Petrol vehicle not to mention the time cost of getting CNG filled up.

This is the end of the debate from my end. To each his own I say. :hap2:

@OP sorry for going OT but just wanted to help you out with an alternate view.
 
agupta02 said:
Here's an article which compares Petrol/Diesel/CNG/LPG engines Petrol, Diesel, CNG or LPG? We help you choose! | CarTradeIndia.com.

As far as breakeven for cost is concerned. Here's a simple analysis based on Delhi prices:

Petrol = Rs.47.93/litre

CNG = Rs.27.50/KG

Mileage for Maruti Alto in city: 15kmpl / 18kmpkg

Cost per km: (1/15)*47.5 = Rs.3.16 (Petrol)

(1/18)*27.5 = Rs.1.52 (CNG)

Savings per km: 3.16 - 1.52 = Rs.1.64

Initial cost of CNG kit (Italian, good quality): Rs.40,000

BREAKEVEN (in KMS): 40000/1.64 = 24,390kms (not accounting for interest on the initial upfront pymt of 40k)

Average annual run of a car = 10 - 12,000 kms

Now the mileage figures have been cross referenced from various sources. Note that mileage also depends heavily on driving style and habits and also the traffic conditions in a particular area. And I have not accounted for maintainence costs which are higher for CNG vis-a-vis a Petrol vehicle not to mention the time cost of getting CNG filled up.

This is the end of the debate from my end. To each his own I say. :hap2:

@OP sorry for going OT but just wanted to help you out with an alternate view.
Click to expand...
First of all petrol cost 51 rs per litre in delhi not 47 rs, secondly the cng kit prices including Italian kit prices have come down considerably and are around the 30 k mark.

Cars in contention are Dzire and Accent , and not M800 ..lol. So lets catch the city average of these cars as 10 kmpl.

Cost per km: Petrol -51/ 10 =5.1 Cng-27/12 = 2.25

Savings per km: 5.1-2.25 = 2.85

Initial cost of CNG kit RS30,000

BREAKEVEN (in KMS): 30,000/2.85 = 10526 kms
Hence you would have recovered the initial cost of the Cng kit by around 10,000-11,000 kms.
 
As per the prices from my state (Gujarat)

Petrol = Rs.55.5/litre
CNG = Rs.33/KG
For me its highway (Mileage for Maruti Alto on Highway : 18kmpl / 24kmpkg (maruti claims 26.9 kmpkg for its CNG kit))
*Mileage for Maruti Alto in city: 15kmpl / 18kmpkg
Cost per km: (1/18)*55 = Rs.3.05 (Petrol)
(1/24)*33 = Rs.1.375 (CNG)
Savings per km: 3.05 - 1.375 = Rs. 1.675
Initial cost of CNG kit (Italian, good quality): Rs.40,000
BREAKEVEN (in KMS): 40000/1.675 = 23,880 kms (not accounting for interest on the initial upfront pymt of 40k)
Average annual run of a car (for me) = 19K - 19.5K kms

So looks like within 1.5 year CNG kit cost will be paid by the savings of the CNG. Yes you will do a bit to save the environment as well, not saving your money.
Let's say if I own this car for 5 years, man, you dont even need to calculate the benefits.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

^Blackbird did not see your reply before commenting. You have summed it up clearly.
 
Hi, first of all a BIG hello from my end to every techofreak member of techenclave. I have just joined but was regularly following every thread related to cars on techenclave. Guys your valuable advice is a great help to someone who does'nt even know nothing about the cars or to someone who needs an advice for buying a new car. Now here I totally agree with blackbird and maxme that installing CNG would definately cut down the running expense. I have too booked a Dzire LXI Kseries and will install a CNg kit to it. Reason behind booking a LXI and not VXI is just that I did not liked the Nippon integrated music system at all. Back to the base, Maxme, I think that you can simply go for CNG without thinking twice as I myself is driving CNG cars for almost 5 years now. Why Dzire and not Accent? Accent is a decent fully loaded car with a decade old design and it has got 13 inches of tyres which are not comparable with the 14 inches of rubber you are getting with the Dzire (though it's a little sad that even those stock rubber in LXI and VXI is not up to the mark) but still difference is there. Dzire is a new generation car selling in good numbers in both Diesel DDIS and Petrol Kseries. Kseries is really a lovely machine and I am sure that you will enjoy it too with CNG as well. The only advice from my end is that instead of going for a 2nd generation normal CNG kit, you should opt for the new 3rd generation "SEQUENTIAL CNG KITS". Now, if I have to eleborate the difference between the two then the only example from my end is that you can consider the 2nd gen CNG kits as CARS WITH THE CARBORATTOR and the new 3rd gen SEQUENTIAL kits as the CARS WITH THE MPFI technology. These 3rd gen kits are expensive but after installing these kits you don't have to compromise even a little on your pick up, power, engine and vehicle life. Chevrolett are already seeling their AVEOS with this technology and now few days ago Maruti has also launched their much waited IGPI (intelligent-Gas Port Injection) CNG system which is the same SEQUENTIAL technology. Only a change of name. Guys CNG is the fuel of the future and by driving CNG vehicles we can atleast contribute a little to our environment. My vote goes to Dzire.
 
Thanks Terry for the advice.

I planing to get a swift instead of Dzire for better city driving and in most cases I will not require the additional space of Dzire.

Can you give the rough idea about price of sequential kits? Most probably I will get the dealer to install the kit , warranty will be taken care by him then.
 
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