Maruti Suzuki Gypsy

[Mack The Knife]

Would like some questions answered please.

1) Can you get new one with a factory LPG (or CNG) kit?

2) What is the most reliable after-market gas kit available for it in India?

3) What are the current second hand prices for a fair, good and excellent example respectively?

4) Could the suspension be bettered? No foreign links, please. Only interested if this can be done in India.

5) Should I consider both 1.0 and 1.3 litre versions or just the latter?

Please mention any other relevant its of information you may have.

Thanks.

Mack The Knife

[Pran]

Mack The Knife,
The gas guzzler's always fascinated me.Remembered someone who had a gypsy for quite some time.Forwarded your questions to him and am posting his reply here.


1) Can you get new one with a factory LPG (or CNG) kit?

Yes U can buy a new gypsy king, but i advise an second hand as I took I get 14km, only search a good one.

Dont even think of that the fuel tank will be so very small, I dont think you get one like that.

2) What is the most reliable after-market gas kit available for it in India?

Tatania, its a bit expensive, or else lovato

3) What are the current second hand prices for a fair, good and excellent example respectively?

4) Could the suspension be bettered? No foreign links, please. Only interested if this can be done in India.

Yes call me or behind the bunk on museum side on museum road (call me i will tell u how) but that makes it cool roder and not a off roader, a good radial will do the work

5) Should I consider both 1.0 and 1.3 litre versions or just the latter?

1.3 should be great, but people say its gives less average, I love 1.0 it touches 120 in gas.


Pran

PS:Will forward you his number if you've got more queries.

[Mack The Knife]

Thanks, Pran.

Best you send me his name and phone number.

Don't recall seeing a petrol pump on Museum Road.

Mack The Knife

[Mark]

Pran,

Can you tell me a little more about the LPG conversion- How many parts are there, how much do they cost, how well they work, etc?

Funny as it sounds, they do not have many LPG vehicles over here at all.

[Mack The Knife]

Mark,

What sort of suspension does your Samurai have and specification wise, how does it compare with
http://www.marutigypsy.com/specs.asp

Thanks.

Mack The Knife

[Mack The Knife]

Mark,

Did a quick search and found this...

http://www.autogas-india.com/conv.html

Mack The Knife

[mundaire]

Mack The Knife,

The ride quality on the Gypsy is bad because it uses leaf springs as opposed to coil springs (with independent suspension on all 4 wheels) used on most SUVs these days. Being a utility vehicle, leafs are better as they can take more rough use... of course the ride quality suffers! SUV suspensions are tuned more for on road use and are therefore more comfortable as 80% of owners will almost never take them off-road...

I would recommended the 1.3L engine, it's the same one used in the Maruti Esteem... try and get a non-MPFI one if possible as that can be taken care of my any local mechanic... that said the MPFI (fuel injected) version does offer more power! However, most examples on the second hand market would be 1 litre ones. This engine is grossly underpowered and also consumes more fuel than the 1.3... partly because it has only 4 gears (no overdrive for highway cruising) Have owned 3 of these at different times. Typical city driving will get you 9-10 kmpl, on the highway it will go up to 11 kmpl max!

A 120 kmph top speed may be possible (I have never seen taken it over 115kmph though), but driving at such speeds is not recommended as this vehicle is prone to flipping over on hard braking and sharp corners. The Gypsy really comes into it's own on sand, where it's light weight helps it "float" where heavier vehicles would get bogged down! The underpowered engine is a bit of a curse though... as sand really saps the engine power. Since this is such a light weight vehicle, it is also easy for a couple of chaps to heave it out of "trouble" if stuck... have had to do this on more than one occasion... especially in the days when I was still learning my off road skills.

It is not a family or city car though and I can assure you your wife will get to hate it intimately... very very soon!

While you have not asked about this specifically - fitting an aircon is not recommended or particularly useful on the 1 litre version... the 1.3 is a tad better and If you get a shortened (and insulated) hood, it should be able to cool up to 4 people.

I have seen one chap who had rather innovatively fitted two (thin and long) CNG cylinders under each of the bench-bunk style rear seats giving the car decent range on CNG. No clue as to what make the kit used was though. BTW - being lighter than air, CNG is reputed to be safer than LPG, which is heavier than air and tends to "collect" in a "pool" on leaking (as opposed to venting into the air) increasing the chances of an accident. In any case under no condition use an LPG kit which makes use of a domestic LPG cylinder! These are particularly unsafe!

Back to the suspension - I would not suggest playing around with it... Getting a better ride would involve a radical redesign and I would seriously doubt if many mechanics would be competent enough to do that! One could play around with the existing leafs... but I'd suggest you stay away from that as well... unless you can find someone who modifies Gypsys for car rallys...

I'll ask around as to prices... the resale on these is usually poor... will try and get some numbers for you soon though. Needless to say - stay away from any vehicle that has been used in rallys... whatever the price on offer!

HTH
Cheers!
Abhijeet

[Mack The Knife]

Abhijeet,

Creature comforts aren't a must have, so I really have no problem sticking to your suggestions.

Any idea in which year the 1.3L Gypsy switched from non-MPFI to MPFI?

Thanks for the tip regarding the aircon. I was thinking of transplanting the one in the 800 into this. Not that I use it much.

Ideally, I would prefer one that has been converted into a double cabin with a soft top for the remaining or at least some free space, say 12" to 18", behind the front seats where I can store a bit of luggage and fishing tackle securely.

Many thanks for the reply.

Mack The Knife

[kanwar76]

Hi Rusty,

See this : http://www.adpost.com/in/vehicles/2766/

It’s from true value so you don't have to worry about genuine parts, accidental vehicle, papers. The biggest worry when buying second hand car.

HTH

-Inder

[Mack The Knife]

Thanks, Inder.

Let me know if you come across any in Bangalore.

Mack The Knife

[mundaire]

Any idea in which year the 1.3L Gypsy switched from non-MPFI to MPFI?

In Delhi this was 2000 or 2001 - basically when the Euro II pollution norms came into force. These norms were implemented in phases and non-MPFI versions continued to be manufactured & supplied to other parts of the country where the less stringent Euro I pollution norms were in force.

Thanks for the tip regarding the aircon. I was thinking of transplanting the one in the 800 into this. Not that I use it much.

The Maruti 800 compressor may not suffice, so you may be better off keeping it in your existing car. If you are interested, I have a car aircon compressor lying with with me (Japanese, I think it's Mitsubishi or something, not sure)... have not checked if it still works though... been lying in storage for years now... you can have have it and see if it works, if you can have it transported from Delhi.

Ideally, I would prefer one that has been converted into a double cabin with a soft top for the remaining or at least some free space, say 12" to 18", behind the front seats where I can store a bit of luggage and fishing tackle securely.

Then you might be better off looking for a vehicle with a torn/ damaged soft-top. Should get you a discount on the price and you can dump the remnants of the soft-top and have someone build a cabin to your specs. Try and have a roll bar incorporated into the sheet metal cabin you have built... hopefully you never need it, but if the car does indeed roll... at least you can be sure the cabin will not cave in on your heads!

With a front facing bench seat at the rear, and no rear door(s), you should easily get more than 18" of open space at the back - for a semi-pickup type of configuration.

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[kanwar76]

With a front facing bench seat at the rear, and no rear door(s), you should easily get more than 18" of open space at the back - for a semi-pickup type of configuration.

Cheers!
Abhijeet

And it will be pretty comfortable, at least more than the normal rear seats. One of my friends changed his seats in his willys and it made hell of a difference in comfort level.

-Inder

[Mack The Knife]

Thanks, Abhijeet.

Perhaps, I will just go with a hard top version.

Mack The Knife

[Pran]

Thanks, Pran.

Best you send me his name and phone number.

Don't recall seeing a petrol pump on Museum Road.

Mack The Knife

Will PM you his number.

Pran

[Pran]

Pran,

Can you tell me a little more about the LPG conversion- How many parts are there, how much do they cost, how well they work, etc?

.

Mark,
I'm not very sure about LPG conversion in cars and jeeps.Have seen a Enfield Bullet converted to LPG.The setup basically has a cylinder and a regulator.The LPG enters the carburator through the regulator.Am not very sure how they implement this in newer cars that use fuel injectors.
They seem to work pretty well.Auto rickshaws--3 wheeler taxis mostly use LPG.Here the price of lpg is a lot cheaper compared to Petrol.So, a conversion would mean saving of 50-60%.
Most of the popular brands of conversion kits are safe.There have been instances of blown cylinders.Wouldn't personally recommend having one one a off-roader though.


>Funny as it sounds, they do not have many LPG vehicles over here at all

How popular is CNG in America?

Pran