Driving from Fourways to the Drakensberg and back for under R1,000

Daniel Puchert

Daniel Puchert

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I drove to the Drakensberg and back for under R1,000

I drove a Toyota Corolla Cross 1.8XS Hybrid from Fourways to Cathkin Park in the Drakensberg and averaged 5.1ℓ/100km on the trip there and back.

At April 2024's inland unleaded 95 price of R21.62 per litre, the roughly 850km journey cost me just R935 in fuel, while a comparable non-hybrid vehicle would have likely cost closer to R1,300.
 
Good cars for many reasons BUT I don't think I could get along with the foot-operated parking brake/break of the pre-facelift.

Each their own but a big turnoff for me.
 
I'm still a big a proponent of the dying diesel vehicle. Get a good 2-litre turbodiesel car and you'll get the same low consumption, when driven moderately (read: not slow, just decently) and juicy torque for when you need to overtake and such. I recently got 20km/l in my diesel just the other day coming back from St Helena Bay, granted it was a stretch of very disciplined driving haha.
 
FiestaST said:
Good cars for many reasons BUT I don't think I could get along with the foot-operated parking brake/break of the pre-facelift.

Each their own but a big turnoff for me.
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How do you operate this. Is the new model normal?
 
upup said:
How do you operate this. Is the new model normal?
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It's the old "normal", think 80's/90's Benz!

It's a las, with the facelift they moved to an electronic item (a button) like the models overseas all had for years.

Still nothing beats a proper handbrake/break imo.

 
Or, you could have done the trip with a diesel car for even cheaper
 
FiestaST said:
Good cars for many reasons BUT I don't think I could get along with the foot-operated parking brake/break of the pre-facelift.

Each their own but a big turnoff for me.
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When a car breaks you need a towing truck but when it brakes, it stops and you can continue driving afterwards .
 
Diesels got nerfed hard thanks to EURO 6, with VW being the fall-guy with Dieselgate as a cover for the moneymaking farce that is vehicle emission testing.

Turbodiesel was well on its way to be the cost-effective fuel for passenger cars, and racing.
Perhaps too-well on its way; nothing else could compete...
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Rather buy a second hand Prado for R300,000 and have an extra R300,000 cash to spend on the higher fuel consumption. If that R600,000 car is averaging 5L/100km and the Prado is 10L/100km or an extra R1 per km for the Prado. So now with your R300,000 cash you can now travel 300,000km before you spend the same as a little Corolla, at 25,000km per year that's 12 years...

And the Prado is like driving in pure luxury, can take 7 humans and it's a permanent 4x4 whilst the Corolla will get stuck on a mole hill and is tiny.
 
LCBXX said:
Diesels got nerfed hard thanks to EURO 6, with VW being the fall-guy with Dieselgate as a cover for the moneymaking farce that is vehicle emission testing.

Turbodiesel was well on its way to be the cost-effective fuel for passenger cars, and racing.
Perhaps too-well on its way; nothing else could compete...
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wingnut771 said:
My TDi smells like a truck now after removing DPF. Rolls a bit of coal too at full throttle while pulling away from Golf R's.
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Removing the dpf was the best thing I did on my cars, but interesting is that the Duster now makes a little smoke cloud under hard acceleration, while the Merc still does not. The difference in available power though is almost unbelievable, especially on the Merc. Morning startup in the garage leaves an unmistakable odour though :p
 
Stephan Maritz said:
I have a Lexus is250 and it also has a foot operated parking brake. It's a pedal where the clutch pedal would have been.
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My Merc has an electric parking brake with a button somewhere. I never need to manually activate it or release it. It all happens automatically. Why are all cars not made that way?
 
Stonemason said:
My Merc has an electric parking brake with a button somewhere. I never need to manually activate it or release it. It all happens automatically. Why are all cars not made that way?
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Then we become so lazy that even using indicators becomes hard work :p
 
wingnut771 said:
Then we become so lazy that even using indicators becomes hard work :p
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Unfortunately I have to use my indicators otherwise my car refuses to allow me to change lanes.

And when I complain to a passenger about how crazy the car is, the car tells me that it loves spending time with me too. WTF
 
Stonemason said:
My Merc has an electric parking brake with a button somewhere. I never need to manually activate it or release it. It all happens automatically. Why are all cars not made that way?
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Interesting, I assume it engages once the car is in park?
 
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