Hidden_Hunter
Needs more IceBone
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2006
- Messages
- 8,612
- Location
- Melbourne, Australia
- Car(s)
- '13 BMW 125i, '26 Buick Standard Six
This is my first taste of HSV's new LPI system. It's a clever marketing ploy to give it a name that's distinct from LPG, which still has ugly connotations of a taxi fuel. LPI also refers to liquid propane injection, indicating the new technology that injects the fuel as a liquid, rather than a gas, for better efficiency.
The story with HSV's LPI system - which is a $5990 option ($6390 on Maloo R8 ute to account for unique fitment in the ute) on all but the Tourer (where it's not available) - is one of running cost savings.
That's because you can't distinguish when the car is running on LPG gas. A neat button housed in the near the gear selector and handbrake has a fan of blue LEDs alerting as to how much gas is left in the tank, while the button allows you to disable it if you want to force the car to run only on petrol.
The new HSV LPI system can run only on petrol, but it can't rely purely on LPG. That's because the LPI engine initially starts on petrol before switching to LPG once it's warmed up.
The LPI version of the 6.2-litre V8 also reverts to petrol above 4000rpm, purely for engine durability.
The switch to LPG is imperceptible when accelerating and there's no discernible difference in the way the car performs on either fuel.
Even below 4000rpm when the GTS LPI car is running on LPG it pulls strongly and makes all the right V8 sounds.
There's still a full 325kW of power to play with and it's backed up by 550Nm of torque, or mid-range pulling power.
http://news.drive.com.au/drive/motor-news/first-drive-hsv-e3-20100922-15lvw.html