How much it will cost to fill your tank when petrol is R25, R30, R35, and R40 per litre

Record petrol prices in March, coupled with rising international oil prices and another fuel price hike on the horizon, have sparked fears that South African fuels might soon reach the R40-per-litre mark.

While this is possible, it is highly unlikely, said Efficient Group senior economist Dr Francois Stofberg.

Instead, Stofberg said that an “extreme scenario” sees local petrol prices reach in the regions of R30 per litre, according to a report by BusinessTech.

Even then, fuel will be prohibitively expensive for many South African motorists and the government has laid out plans to curb the worst of the upcoming increases.

To see how much more it will be to refill a vehicle at these higher price points, we compared the cost of refuelling five popular cars at different hypothetical fuel prices below.

The cars

The cars used are:

• Toyota Hilux – 80-litre tank
• VW Polo Vivo – 45-litre tank
• VW Polo Sedan – 55-litre tank
• Toyota Corolla Cross – 36-litre tank (Hybrid)
• Toyota Hiace – 70-litre tank

These vehicles were the best-selling models in the bakkie, hatchback, sedan, SUV, and MPV segments in February 2022, respectively.

The costs

The tables below show how much more you will pay to refill your tank from empty to full at higher fuel prices.

The starting point was the current March 2022 inland price of R21.60 per litre of Petrol 95 and R19.55 per litre of Diesel 50ppm.

Toyota Hilux

VW Polo Vivo

VW Polo Sedan

Toyota Corolla Cross

Toyota Hiace