Alright, so now we know what is where and which switch is which. How does it work when put together? Marvellous! As usual, we put the car through a dynamometer test (thanks to Masters Tuning from Piaseczno for their help!), which proved that the Citigo offers a substantial parameter bonus over values declared by the producer. The engine reached as much as 69,8 PS on gasoline and just a wee bit less (67,2 PS) on autogas. No wonder the car "consumes” kilometres of newly completed Polish highways as eagerly as urban streets. The extra power and torque make it easier to accept Skoda's decision to offer LPG system only with the less powerful, 60 PS version of the Citigo and not the more powerful one (with 75 PS). Especially that both variants sports the same value of torque, declared by the manufacturer at 95 Nm. Our dyno test revealed the car achieves 97,6 Nm on petrol and 94,2 Nm on gas – a difference nearly impossible to perceive. The engine's running on LPG is actually only distinguished by the sound of working gas injectors. If you can hear them, that is, which is virtually possible only during stops, with the radio off.
A while spent with the Citigo demonstrates that savings made thanks to displacing petrol with LPG are not Skoda's top priority. Autogas system safety and reliability, on the other hand, are and it shows through the way the system works. For instance, it will not switch from petrol to LPG when the engine is idling – it needs a bit of revving (1750-1800 rpm will do) and, of course, a couple of minutes for warmup on petrol. So even if you shut the motor down when it is warm and start it up again shortly after, you will need to wait a moment and gently press the accelerator to start saving on fuel again. Indeed, this kind of strategy raises running costs, but ensures reliability over a long perios of time to petrol injectors, which by working are kept fully functional. This will not affect your savings, though – when driven smoothly and steadily, the Citigo consumes almost as little fuel as a scooter. At an average 80 km/h, on the yet to be completed, but already available fragments of the A2 highway between Strykow and Warsaw, we managed to achieve fuel consumption of 4,3 l/100 km (according to the trip computer and for petrol, although we were driving on LPG). All in all, driving on all sorts of roads available, we got from Lodz to Warsaw using an average 6 l of gas per 100 km, which means we spent some 20 zlotys (below 5 euros) going one way. The spacious tank allows to drive for as far as 550 km on a single fill-up in steady extraurban conditions. In the city, the average rises to 8-9 l/100 km and so range drops to approximately 400 km, which is still solid. Small cars usually have small wheels and spare wheel wells (i. e. they can hold smaller autogas tanks), which means they travel up to 300 km before visiting a station again.
And now for the final word. We are two thumbs up for the Citigo and recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone looking for an affordable and economical city car which can occasionally be driven out of town. Having just one engine option to go for is less of a limitation than you might think, especially you still have three trim levels to choose from (Active, Ambition and Elegance) and two body styles – the three-door one you see here and a more practical five-door variant. If you drive a lot, the extra cost of having the car converted to run on LPG will pay itself through cheap fill-ups in next to no time and then you will be able to make some tangible savings. And if you decide to buy the Skoda mini in the autogas-powered TwinPower version, you will enjoy the same warranty as offered on the regular petrol model. Should you decide against conversion at first, you can bring your Citigo to the service station and have it converted at a later time. Quite frankly, the manufacturer's LPG embrocation turns this car into a sweet little angel!
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