What It Costs to Fill Up Australia's Most Popular Cars

The cost of a full tank comes down to one simple sum: your fuel tank's size in litres multiplied by the price per litre at the pump. That means a small hatch with a 50-litre tank might cost roughly $60 to brim, while a big diesel 4WD with a 150-litre setup can sail past $120 in one go. The two things that change the number are how big your tank is (a fixed spec for your car) and what you pay per litre (which moves every day, and between servos in the same suburb). Get the cheaper price and the same tank costs you noticeably less.

Below we break down the formula, list typical tank sizes for Australia's most popular models, and show you how to turn that into a real dollar figure using the prices on the day you actually fill up.

The formula: tank size multiplied by pump price

Here is all there is to it. Take your tank size in litres, multiply by the price per litre, and divide by 100 to get dollars (because pump prices are quoted in cents). So a 60-litre tank at 180.9 c/L works out to 60 × 180.9 ÷ 100 = about $108.50 for a brim from empty.

Two honest caveats. First, you almost never fill from bone dry, so a real fill is usually a bit less than the full-tank figure. Second, that pump price is the variable that bites. The difference between the dearest and cheapest servo near you can be 10 to 25 cents a litre during a price cycle, which on a 60-litre tank is anywhere from $6 to $15 a fill. That is the single biggest lever you control, which is why checking the live fuel price map before you pull in matters more than the badge on your bonnet.

If you want the number done for you, pop your tank size and a current price into the fuel cost and savings calculators rather than doing the maths in your head at the bowser.

Typical tank sizes for popular Australian cars

Tank capacity is a stable published spec, so the figures below are safe to treat as approximate guides for the common variants of each model. Always check your owner's manual or fuel-flap sticker for your exact car, since trim levels and model years vary.

To turn any of these into a dollar figure, multiply the litres by today's price for the right fuel. A roughly 50-litre Corolla at a mid-range unleaded price lands in the $80s to $90s on a typical day; the 80-litre utes are comfortably into three figures; and a Prado with the sub-tank topped up is the priciest single fill on the list. We are deliberately not nailing those to exact dollars here, because the price moves week to week. Check the real number on the live price-trends charts for your area before you assume.

Small hatches and sedans: the cheapest fills

The Corolla, i30 and Camry all sit around a 50-litre tank, which keeps them at the affordable end. These are also the cars most likely to run happily on regular unleaded or E10, so you are not forced into a pricier premium grade. If your handbook says 91 is fine, paying for 95 or 98 is usually money down the drain — we cover when it is and is not worth it in premium versus regular petrol.

E10 is a few cents cheaper per litre again and suits most modern hatches, though the slightly lower energy content means a tiny bit more consumption. Whether it actually saves you money depends on your car, and we run the numbers in E10 versus unleaded 91. For a 50-litre tank, a few cents a litre is only a dollar or two a fill, so for these cars the bigger win is simply finding the cheapest servo.

SUVs and mid-sizers: the RAV4 and CX-5

Step up to the RAV4 (about 55 L) or CX-5 (about 58 L) and you are adding only a handful of litres over a hatch, so the fill cost climbs modestly. The bigger variable here is the engine: a hybrid RAV4 will go far further on that 55-litre tank than a petrol-only SUV, so the cost per kilometre drops even though the fill cost is similar. If you are weighing up a hybrid SUV against a conventional one, the running-cost gap is laid out in petrol versus hybrid versus EV running costs.

Utes and 4WDs: the HiLux, Ranger and Prado

This is where fills get expensive. The HiLux and Ranger both run roughly 80-litre tanks, and the Prado can hold around 150 litres once you count its sub-tank. Most are diesel, which changes the maths in two ways. Diesel is often priced differently to petrol day to day, and diesel engines typically use less fuel per kilometre, so the dearer fill can still work out cheaper to run over a year. We compare the two properly in diesel versus petrol running costs.

Because these tanks are big, the price you pay per litre is amplified. A 15 c/L difference on an 80-litre fill is $12, and on a Prado's 150 litres it is over $20 — every single fill. Tradies and tourers who brim a big diesel weekly should be ruthless about checking prices first. Diesel availability and pricing also swing more in regional areas, which we unpack in regional fuel prices.

Filling up for a long trip

If you are filling for a road trip rather than the commute, the total cost is your tank cost multiplied by how many fills the journey needs — and that depends on distance, your car's consumption and fuel prices along the route. Rather than guess, the road trip fuel cost guide walks through estimating the whole journey, and the same trip calculator does the sums for you.

One trip tip: don't blow the savings by filling on the wrong day. Many capitals run a price cycle where pump prices climb then slide over a few weeks, so timing your big fill near the bottom can save real money. See the best time to buy fuel for the pattern.

The real lever: a cheaper servo beats everything

Tank size is fixed and your car's thirst is mostly fixed, but the price you pay per litre is not. Two stations in the same suburb can differ by 20 cents or more during a cycle, and finding the cheaper one is the fastest way to cut your fill cost — far more than agonising over fuel grades. That is the whole point of checking prices before you commit.

A few practical habits add up:

• Check the live map on the way out, not after you have already pulled into the dearest servo on the corner.
• Browse your area's cheapest stations through the state directories — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia — or jump straight to a city hub like Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne.
• Time the big fill near the bottom of the cycle and stack a fuel-discount voucher if you have one — the worthwhile ones are in our guide to fuel loyalty programs.

For a fuller checklist of ways to shave money off every tank, our roundup on how to save money on fuel pulls the lot together. Get the price right and the cost of a full tank looks a lot friendlier, whatever you drive.