I got a 12 kg BRC kit for my santro(999cc) in oct, 06. till now(sept 07), I hav driven about 12500kms.the kit is running great.its a major relief not having to spend a thousand bucks every time u got the petrol filld.
the running cost on average comes to about re1 per km.a rather good improvement ovr rs. 3.5-4 fr petrol(without ac).
the pros: CHEAP, CLEAN(if u r environmentally inclined)
the cons: 1) the kit hasnt got approval from the government as yet.the dealer told me that approval was certain in 2-3 months.seems that his 2-3 months arnt still ovr yet.so the kit isnt on the RC.which means that the car is running practically without insurance.
2)since its not on the RC.I cannot get the pollution certificate as on petrol, the emissions are higher due to the adjustments made for the cng.
3)u can forget the ac.the pickup goes way down.u can feel the car making a major effort jus to run on a plain road.
but u can still run it in say 4th or 5th gear.after reaching 50kph or so.city drivin.
this can b rectified by increasing the cng flow and making some adjustments.but wid that the milage will go down.my frnd gets abt 14km/kg.but his ac wrks fin.i’d rather get 20-21km/kg.
recommendation: I am a student who has to drive ovr 50 kms a day fr col.gettin a cng kit installd was one of the best things to hav happnd.cheap comfrtabl transportation is reallly gr8.earlier I hesitatd while taking out da car fr goin arnd.nw I dun really care.cng is cheap!dont go wid just the cons altho dey seem a bit long.if u read carefully, u’ll c dat the frst 2 can b rectified by getting an approved cng kit installd(make sure u r nt bamboozld by promises f approvals soon).the thrd depends on ur prefernce.milage or ac.
the dealer recommended that I start n run the car on petrol fr 3-4kms a day.i start the car on petrl n den run it till da temp comes in da reqd zone(b/w da 2 white dots).den I switch to cng.the cost pr km incl petrl is abt re 1/km since the car gives abt 21km/kg.
I figure dat in another 5-6 months(by abt 16-17thousnd kms), ill get bck the investment(RS 40000) dat I made.den da real savings start(not including the resale price.hav no plans to sell netim soon).so unles u hav to driv 50 kms a day, I wouldnt recommnd cng.but if u drive a lot cng is really great.i hav no regrets.except prolly da waiting tim at da fillin station.seems a lotta ppl r gettin kits installd.queues r sumtimes really long.once it took me abt 30-40 min to get cng.da usual time taken in anrd 15min.