Jaco Van Der Merwe

By Jaco Van Der Merwe

Head of Motoring


Petrol price hike: Here’s what it’ll cost for a full tank

Toyota Land Cruiser Prado owners will have to fork out R216 more, while it will be R18 more to fill up a Kia Picanto.


While the impact of the November fuel price hikes will not significantly affect owners of petrol cars, motorists relying on diesel power will definitely feel the pinch.

With the diesel price rising to well over R25 per litre, owners of big oil-burning bakkies and SUVs will dread a visit to the fuel station. Depending on what car you drive, you might have to fork out almost R4 000 for filling up from completely empty.

The Citizen Motoring has taken six popular cars, three petrol and three diesel, and calculated how much it will cost to fill each from Wednesday.

We based our calculations on the inland petrol price which goes up on Wednesday to R22.22 for 95 octane and R21.92 for 93. We used the recommended diesel price of R25.49 per litre for 50ppm, although the price varies between fuel stations.

Petrol price hike – here’s what you’ll pay

Kia Picanto 1.0 Start – R767.20

As this popular little city slicker’s 35-litre petrol is one of the smaller ones around, it will only cost R17.85 more to fill it with 93 octane petrol from empty from today.

Kia claims that the frugal hatchback will only sip five litres for every 100 km, which means that it can travel 700km before it needs a refill. The cost for every kilometre works out to R1.09.

VW Polo Vivo 1.4 Trendline – R986.40

The Polo Vivo along with its Polo sibling are among the most popular cars in Mzansi. From today, it will cost R22.95 more to fill its 45-litre tank from completely empty with 93 octane.

Volkswagen claims the Polo Vivo is capable of covering 790km on a full tank, based on fuel consumption of 5.7L/100km. It works out to R1.24 for every kilometer travelled.

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Haval Jolion 1.5T City – R1 266.54

Owners of this popular family SUV can expect to pay R29.07 more to fill up its 57-litre from empty with 95 octane petrol.

The Chinese carmaker claims the Jolion uses 7.5 litres of petrol for every 100km, which works out to a range of 760km. Based on these numbers, it will cost R1.66 per kilo.

Nissan X-Trail 1.6dCi 4×4 Tekna – R1 529.40

The first of our three diesel entries, which is incidentally – at over R1 500 per refill – also the cheapest of the trio. Equipped with a 57-litre tank, the X-Trail will cost R82.08 more to fill with 50ppm diesel from Wednesday.

The X-Trail is capable of a range of 1 132km according to Nissan’s claimed fuel consumption of 5.3L/100km, which will result in a cost of R1.35 per kilometre.

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Isuzu D-Max 3.0TD double cab LSE – R1 937.24

Big bakkies have big fuel tanks and in this Isuzu’s case it is all of 76 litres, which will now be R109.44 more expensive to fill up from completely empty.

Based on fuel economy of 7.9L/100km, the bakkie is able to cover 962km on a single tank. Every kilometre works out to R2.01.

Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 2.8GD VX-L – R3823.50

The worst imaginable combination: a big diesel hike and a big diesel tank. The oil-burning Prado can take 150 litres of diesel by virtue of its 87-litre tank and 63-litre reserve tank and will cost R216 more to fill.

Based on a claimed fuel consumption of 7.9L/100km, this seven-seater SUV has a range of 1 765km. The cost per kilo works out to R2.16.

For a monthly breakdown of the petrol price since 2008, visit the AA’s website.

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