With over four million SUVs registered in the UK, hundreds of thousands of owners face paying more than £150 to fill up an empty tank as the average fuel soared this week.
Car leasing comparison website LeaseLoco has uncapped the fuel tank capacities of some of the UK’s most popular large and mid-size SUVs and come up with some numbing numbers.
Two of the most loved large SUVs in the UK, the Land Rover Discovery has over 160,000 on UK roads and the Range Rover Sport with over 400,000 registered, have fuel tank capacities over 85 litres.
More than half a million Discovery and Range Rover owners, are facing bills of £160 and £155 respectively every time they fill up an empty tank if they have diesel models.
For Audi Q7 owners – with a tank capacity of 100 litres – an empty tank will cost on average £180 to fill up at the pumps.
Even in the mid-size SUV market, which is one of the UK’s fastest growing car markets, fuel tank capacities can be as large as 71 litres. The Volvo XC60 with 71 litres will cost owners £128 to fill up.
John Wilmot, CEO of LeaseLoco, said,“Record diesel costs will hit millions of SUV owners seriously hard in the pocket. And while it’s miles per gallon, not fuel capacity, that matters, it’s still going to hurt watching the digital display ticking up well beyond £100.
“The SUV market has exploded over the past decade, with more than four million registered in the UK. But if petrol and diesel prices stay stubbornly high, we could see many SUV owners – even 4×4 aficionados – deciding it’s time to trade in their gas guzzlers, for a smaller, more economical car or join the green revolution.”
The cost of filling up large SUVs.
Car | Fuel tank size (l) | Cost to fill tank (£) |
Audi Q7 | 100 | £180 |
Land Rover Defender | 90 | £162 |
Porsche Cayenne | 90 | £162 |
Land Rover Discovery | 89 | £160 |
Toyota Land Cruiser | 87 | £157 |
Range Rover Sport | 86 | £155 |
Mercedes Benz GLE | 85 | £153 |
Audi Q8 | 85 | £153 |
BMW X7 & X6 | 83 | £149 |
Jaguar F-Pace | 82 | £148 |
The cost of filling up the UK’s most popular mid-size SUVs.
Car | Fuel tank size (l) | Cost to fill tank (£) |
Volvo XC60 | 71 | £128 |
Audi Q5 | 70 | £126 |
BMW X3 | 68 | £122 |
Land Rover Discovery Sport | 67 | £121 |
Mercedes GLC | 66 | £119 |
Hyundai Tucson | 62 | £112 |
Kia Sportage | 62 | £112 |
Peugeot 3008 | 60 | £108 |
Mazda CX-5 | 58 | £104 |
Honda CR-V | 57 | £103 |
RAC fuel spokesperson Simon Williams added, “Average fuel prices crept higher on Monday with diesel setting another record price at 180.32p and petrol climbing to 166.8p taking it ever closer to the all-time high of 167.3p set in late March.
“With oil trading above $110 a barrel and the pound down to $1.2, it now looks inevitable that petrol will hit a new average price record in the coming days, spelling yet more misery for drivers.”
He said, “While March’s 5p-a-litre duty cut is making a difference, it’s not proved to be helping as much as the Government had hoped which means there’s little to prevent prices going even higher. In the meantime drivers continue to pay 28 to 30p in VAT on every litre they buy, and these amounts will only increase the higher petrol and diesel prices go. Arguably, VAT on fuel is proving to be the Treasury’s own windfall.
“RAC analysis of fuel margins shows retailers – for whatever reason – are taking on average 2p a litre more than they were before the Chancellor’s 5p duty cut. The average margin for petrol is currently 11p a litre and for diesel 8p whereas in the month leading up to the duty cut it was 9p for petrol and 6p for diesel. To put this into perspective the long-term average margin for unleaded is 7.5p and for diesel 8p.”