How much it costs to drive to South Africa’s popular holiday destinations this December – petrol and tolls
South Africans planning to travel domestically over the December festive season can expect to pay more for transport costs compared to the beginning of the year as they grapple with high petrol prices and increased toll costs.
Motorists still pay more than R20 per litre for petrol in South Africa, despite the reprieve in November and December after prices rocketed by over a rand – and almost R2 for diesel – in October 2023.
As of 6 December, while a decrease in petrol prices is a welcomed relief for motorists, fuel prices have still increased significantly since the start of the year, with petrol prices increasing by 8.6%. Diesel, meanwhile, has increased by 2.6%, although this was recorded at closer to 20% just two months ago.
Kicking motorists while they’re down is increasing toll fees, which the Department of Transport updated in March 2023 – hiking tolls by 6%.
How much it costs
Taking these growing costs into account, BusinessTech calculated how much it would cost to travel to South Africa’s most popular holiday destinations in the country’s best-selling cars in five categories – bakkie, SUV, hatchback, sedan, and crossover – factoring in the cost of petrol and the current toll fees.
South Africa’s best-selling cars in the selected categories were selected from the latest new vehicle sales report provided by Naamsa.
We then calculated how much fuel each of these cars consumes based on the manufacturer’s provided average fuel consumption per/100km.
In each case, the manufacturer’s least expensive model – and for bakkies, the cheapest double cab – was considered. 95 octane (R23.25) and 0.005% diesel prices (R21.99) as of December 2023 were used for comparison purposes.
We then calculated the fuel costs when travelling to some of South Africa’s most popular holiday destinations, using the City of Johannesburg/Tshwane as a benchmark. These costs were then added to the latest toll costs as of 1 March 2023.
Toyota Hilux 2.4GD-6 double cab
- 7.1 litres/100km*
- R155/100km
Toyota Fortuner 2.4GD-6
- 6.8 litres/100km*
- R148/100km
VW Polo Vivo hatch 1.4 Trendline
- 5.7 litres/100km
- R133/100km
Toyota Corolla Quest 1.8 Plus
- 7 litres/100km
- R163/100km
Toyota Corolla Cross 1.8 Xi
- 6.8/100km
- R158/100km
Estimated fuel cost
| Car | Johannesburg to Cape Town | Johannesburg to Durban | Johannesburg to Gqeberha | Johannesburg to Kruger National Park |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota Hilux | R2 170 | R884 | R1 628 | R636 |
| Toyota Fortuner | R2 072 | R844 | R1 554 | R607 |
| VW Polo Vivo | R1 862 | R758 | R1 397 | R545 |
| Toyota Corolla Quest | R2 282 | R929 | R1 712 | R668 |
| Toyota Corolla Cross | R2 212 | R901 | R1 659 | R648 |
Estimated toll cost
| Car | Johannesburg to Cape Town | Johannesburg to Durban | Johannesburg to Gqeberha | Johannesburg to Kruger National Park |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota Hilux | R219.50 | R307.50 | R172.00 | R187.00 |
| Toyota Fortuner | R219.50 | R307.50 | R172.00 | R187.00 |
| VW Polo Vivo | R219.50 | R307.50 | R172.00 | R187.00 |
| Toyota Corolla Quest | R219.50 | R307.50 | R172.00 | R187.00 |
| Toyota Corolla Cross | R219.50 | R307.50 | R172.00 | R187.00 |
Estimated total cost
| Car | Johannesburg to Cape Town | Johannesburg to Durban | Johannesburg to Gqeberha | Johannesburg to Kruger National Park |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota Hilux | R2 390 | R1 192 | R1 800 | R823 |
| Toyota Fortuner | R2 292 | R1 152 | R1 726 | R794 |
| VW Polo Vivo | R2 082 | R1 066 | R1 569 | R732 |
| Toyota Corolla Quest | R2 502 | R1 237 | R1 884 | R855 |
| Toyota Corolla Cross | R2 432 | R1 208 | R1 831 | R835 |
Tolls
The routes and tolls that were taken for the above comparison were as follows:
Johannesburg/Pretoria to Cape Town
| Class 1 | Class 2 | Class 3 | Class 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grasmere | R24.00 | R72.00 | R83.00 | R110.00 |
| Vaal | R79.50 | R150.00 | R180.00 | R240.00 |
| Verkeerdevlei | R68.50 | R137.00 | R206.00 | R288.00 |
| Huguenot | R47.50 | R131.00 | R206.00 | R333.00 |
| Total Cost | R219.50 | R490.00 | R675.00 | R971.00 |
Johannesburg/Pretoria to Durban
| Class 1 | Class 2 | Class 3 | Class 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| De Hoek | R60.00 | R93.00 | R142.00 | R203.00 |
| Wilge | R83.00 | R143.00 | R190.00 | R270.00 |
| Tugela | R88.00 | R146.00 | R230.00 | R319.00 |
| Mooi | R62.00 | R151.00 | R212.00 | R288.00 |
| Marianhill | R14.50 | R26.00 | R32.00 | R50.00 |
| Total Cost | R307.50 | R559.00 | R806.00 | R1 130.00 |
Johannesburg/Pretoria to Gqeberha
| Class 1 | Class 2 | Class 3 | Class 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grasmere | R24.00 | R72.00 | R83.00 | R110.00 |
| Vaal | R79.50 | R150.00 | R180.00 | R240.00 |
| Verkeerdevlei | R68.50 | R137.00 | R206.00 | R288.00 |
| Total Cost | R172.00 | R359.00 | R469.00 | R638.00 |
Johannesburg/Pretoria to Kruger National Park
| Class 1 | Class 2 | Class 3 | Class 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middelburg | R75.00 | R162.00 | R246.00 | R323.00 |
| Machadodorp | R112.00 | R310.00 | R452.00 | R646.00 |
| Total Cost | R187.00 | R472.00 | R698.00 | R969.00 |
*Indicates a car has a diesel engine.
All prices are estimates and are based on the manufacturer’s average fuel consumption per/100km. Prices are for comparison purposes only and are not meant as financial advice.
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