How much you will pay on petrol and tolls to go away this Easter weekend

South Africans going on a long-distance trip for this Easter Weekend will be paying more on petrol and tolls than ever before.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict pushed up crude oil prices around mid-February, resulting in big petroleum price hikes.

As a result, motorists are paying a record R21.96 per litre of unleaded 95-octane petrol inland and R21.24 on the coast.

The prices of 93 unleaded petrol, and 50ppm and 500ppm diesel are also at their highest levels ever.

April’s price hikes might have been even worse had the government not reduced the fuel levy for two months.

It is also set to investigate and implement long-term measures once this reprieve expires, including a cap on the price of unleaded 93 petrol, and terminating the demand-side management levy of 10c/l on unleaded 95.

Further adding to travel bills this weekend are South Africa’s annual toll fee increases, which came into effect on 1 March 2022.

The South African National Roads Agency implemented a tariff hike in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from Statistics South Africa — in this case, 5%.

We’ve calculated how much it would cost to travel on some of South Africa’s most popular holiday routes this long weekend.

For a rough estimate of fuel costs, we used the consumption figures of two of the country’s most popular cars — the petrol version of the VW Polo hatchback and the hybrid Toyota Corolla Cross.

The VW Polo 1.4 Trendline has an average fuel consumption of 4l/100km on the highway.

However, cars headed to holiday destinations will likely be loaded with passengers and baggage, meaning the combined fuel consumption of 5.9l/100km is perhaps more realistic.

That should equate to about 17km per litre of petrol for the Polo.

Toyota claims the Corolla Cross hybrid, with its combined electric battery and petrol powertrain, has a consumption figure of 4.3l/100km. That equates to roughly 23km per litre of petrol.

Our analysis of the petrol and toll costs along the N1, N2, N3, and N4 showed that a trip between Pretoria and Polokwane on the N1 was the most expensive per kilometre.

It was followed by the N4 route between Pretoria and Nelspruit, and the N4 between Pretoria and Rustenburg.

The cheapest route was the N2 between Cape Town and George, primarily due to the lack of a toll gate.

Considering only tolled routes, the N1 between Johannesburg and Cape Town and the N2 between Port Elizabeth and George were tied for the cheapest.

Comparing the two cars, it was evident the Corolla Cross could offer some big savings in terms of travelling costs.

For example, between Johannesburg and Cape Town, a motorist could save almost R500 driving the Corolla Cross instead of the Polo. (A caveat from Toyota: Your mileage may vary depending on your driving style.)

The tables below show the findings for each car, with a cost-per-kilometre figure to show the least and most expensive routes.