2018 has been a bad year for motorists and consumers in South Africa, as continuing fuel price hikes drive up the cost of transport and consumer goods.

There are a lot of factors that contribute to this, from the increase in the prices of crude oil through to the import prices of petroleum products.

The SA government has been characteristically unhelpful, too, with suggestions like “buy a new, more fuel efficient car”.

If, for whatever reason, you want to take this advice, here’s BusinessTech on how much it will cost you to travel 100 kilometres in some of SA’s most popular cars.

Volkswagen Polo sedan 1.4 Trendline – R209 500

5,9 litres/100km
R100,77/100km

Volkswagen Polo Vivo hatch 1.6 Highline – R221 200

6,2 litres/100km
R105,90/100km

Toyota Corolla Quest 1.6 – R218 500

6,6 litres/100km
R112,73/100km

Toyota Fortuner 2.7 auto – R468 200

10,5 litres/100km
R179,34/100km

This image is appropriate. The car had better glow if it’s going to cost me almost R200 to drive 100km.

Toyota Yaris 1.5 Xi – R235 400

5,9 litres/100km
R100,48/100km

Hyundai Grand i10 1.0 Motion – R162 900

5,4 litres/100km
R92,23/100km

Ford Fiesta 1.0T Trend – R269 900

4,3 litres/100km
R73,44/100km

The Ford Fiesta is by far the most fuel efficient car, beating the Renault Kwid 1.0 Expression by almost R8 per 100km.

Renault Kwid 1.0 Expression – R130 900

4,7 litres/100km
R80,28/100km

Kia Picanto 1.0 Start – R144 495

5 litres/100km
R85,40/100km

Toyota Etios hatch 1.5 Xi – R172 700

6 litres/100km
R102,48/100km

The inland 95 petrol price as of 5 October 2018 (R17,08) was used to make these calculations.

If you are in the market for a new car, and you’re factoring in these prices, you’ll want to go for fuel efficiency over flash. You might also want to sell that fuel guzzler you’re driving, after seeing what it’s going to cost you.

Start by giving the folks at getWorth a shout. They’ll sort you out.

On the upside, we might be seeing fewer massive Range Rovers trying to park in Observatory.

[source:businesstech]