James de Villiers , Business Insider SA Oct 04, 2018, 06:13 AM(Business Insider South Africa)
Article source: http://bit.ly/2yhEhvg
South Africa’s petrol price rose by R1.00 a litre on Wednesday morning - the single largest fuel price increase South Africa has ever experienced without a fuel levy hike.
This means petrol will now cost a record-breaking R17.08 inland, and R16.49 at the coast.
The impact on your budget will depend on the fuel efficiency of your car - and Business Insider South Africa explores in this article which car owners will hurt most.
It is important to note that a vehicle’s fuel consumption is heavily based on the driver behind the wheel, says Sergio Davids, editor of Wheels24.
Davids said drivers can have the world’s most fuel-efficient car, but if with bad driving fuel consumption will still skyrocket.
“Accelerating heavily between traffic lights, and using gears inefficiently are all factors that will push up fuel consumption.”
Vehicles generally use less fuel today than ten years ago because of technological advances and a global push to greener technology, Davids said.
“Cars such as SUVs, 4x4’s and bakkies will typically still be fuel guzzlers because it takes a lot of petrol to get it moving.”
Davids said sports cars are also, by design, heavy fuel burners because they seek to give the maximum performance.
Business Insider South Africa compared the distances some of the most popular vehicles in South Africa can travel on R100's worth of petrol since Wednesday.
The distances are based on the 5.85 litres of petrol R100 will now buy you, divided by the vehicles' official fuel consumption numbers.
The winner, beating perhaps more obvious contenders like the Suzuki Swift and Ford Fiesta, was the Volkswagen Polo - which will allow you to travel a solid 130km on R100's worth of petrol.
It was (again) the top-selling car in South Africa last month, with more than 3,800 new Volkswagen Polo vehicles sold.
It also costs a cool R144,000 less than the least fuel efficient car on our list: the Toyota Hilux, which will only cover 55km.
