Converting an Esteem to CNG

Preamble
About 4-months ago, we’d had a look at the do’s and don’ts of converting present generation MPFi cars to LPG or CNG. With increasing availability of the two at various places coupled with the costs of petrol forever heading north, most people are seriously considering going in for such conversions. So here’s a QnA that I hope most of you will find informative and useful…

Question
Several Radio Taxi service providers in Delhi/ NCR have been providing ‘B’ segment cars such as Esteem etc that run on CNG. The fleet size of such dual fuel vehicles is more than 300. Over the last 6 months or so, I have traveled in these cars and found the ride experience quite comfortable. Although there is some impact on the initial acceleration, the cost of running which is almost entirely in the city, is down to about Re. 1/- per km. I understand that Maruti Udyog does not provide any company CNG kit fitted vehicles, however, there are several private agencies in Delhi that install such RTO approved CNG kits with endorsement on the Registration Certificate for a total cost of around Rs. 40,000/-.

I own an Esteem-VXi, September 2004 model, Cost Rs. 5 lacs, which came with a 4year/ 80,000 Kms warranty. The car has done almost 30,000 kms in the last 2-1/2. The monthly running is expected to go up to around 2,500 kms per month over the next 2-1/2 to 3 years, thus making the financial viability/ payback of installing a CNG kit even more attractive although the 4-year warranty shall lapse.

Assuming that one can live with the slight impact on the initial acceleration and that’s inevitable with CNG, my main question to you is what will be the impact of using CNG on the total ownership costs e.g. Repair & Maintenance costs, Life and Resale value of such dual fuel Esteem, if any?

Answer
Difficult to say, though engine life expectancy can certainly go up coz CNG is a lot cleaner fuel compared to petrol AND oil/spark-plug change intervals go up by atleast 50% on km basis with CNG running. The resale value will definitely take a beating for understandable reasons. Recently, I too had a ride in a similar one from IGAP/Delhi to Noida, got talking to the driver and gathered that:

i) The Esteem in question was almost 4-yrs old/BS-II/Mpfi and had done 2.5 lac kms during this time - with the engine still going strong. According to him, it was mainly due to the owner’s policy to change engine oil every 5,000 kms/once a month. If I may add to that, running on CNG with the engine properly re-tuned for it is another contributory factor.

ii) According to that cabbie, the power loss in CNG mode was about 25% (15/20), good enough for running around NCR, whereas what’s text-booked is about 10-15%. This made sense coz he was comparing the power loss from the Mpfi Esteem level/85 bhp in petrol, as against a carb type/65 bhp less 10-15% that it becomes in CNG mode.

iii) His Esteem with his gentle driving returned almost 20 km/kg-cng and at times, he had to take two-tankfuls during a day.

iii) What turned out to be an interesting info was that his owners had placed a bulk order for 30-Esteems about 4-yrs back and Maruti Udyog had them all CNG-Kitted at their works prior to delivery.

The point I’m trying to make here is given the capability (FYI, Suzuki is doing a CNG-Baleno in next door Pakistan and that too with a 1.3 lr engine for taxi trade), if MUL can do it for bulk orders and still uphold their warranty, why can’t they offer CNG Esteem’s for taxi/personal use in India also - even as a retro-fit by its dealers as GM and Ford are doing for their Optra and Ikon. In the process, this will also throw out of business, fly by night retro-fitters who get away by supplying cheap but so called RTO Approved but technically incompatible kits for Mpfi’s, leaving the poor ignorant buyers high and dry.

So, it may be worthwhile for you to contact your MUL Dealer to find out if he’s prepared to do it for you w/o affecting your warranty, as I understand some of the Dealers in Mumbai are already doing so, perhaps after getting into an understanding with MUL.