Since fuel prices rose at a rate of 45% in August, compared with 12 months ago, many of us find it taxing just topping-up our cars to get to work every day.

The surge in costs is especially telling when you look at changes from five years ago.

And this is a global problem, impacting several countries even more severely than here in the UK.

Considering this, we researched how many miles you can drive for £50 in a Ford Fiesta Zetec 2014 (1.0 litre engine, fuel economy of 62.8 MPG) – the most popular car registered with the DVLA - in various countries and how that distance has changed since 2017. 

The stats reveal which countries have been hit the hardest by rising fuel prices - and which actually have it cheaper today.

We also looked at the distance you can cover in two of the other most popular cars registered in the UK, namely a VW Polo SE TSI from 2018 (1.0 litre, 61.4 MPG) and a Vauxhall Corsa Griffin from 2019 (1.6 litre, 37.7 MPG) to see how far they too can travel.

How far can you drive on £50? The highest ranked nations

Using the fuel price per litre for 50 different countries, alongside miles per litre for our 1.0 litre Ford Fiesta, we ranked each country by how far you can get for £50 worth of fuel right now.

By far the highest-ranked country was Iran, where for £50 you can drive almost 19,000 miles due to it having 9.5% of the world’s oil reserves and a price per litre of just 5p.

Nigeria and Malaysia were also ranked highly, as you can travel over 2000 miles for £50 in both countries. Behind them was Egypt with 1780 miles and Colombia with 1672 miles.

The lowest ranked nations

At the other end of the spectrum, you can travel just 335 miles for £50 in Hong Kong making it the lowest ranked country. Switzerland is next with 437 miles, then Norway with 440. Trailing them are Finland and Denmark, with 466 and 470 miles respectively.

The UK is ranked near the very bottom of the global list – at 7th from the bottom, between Israel and Netherlands - with a fuel price per litre of £1.71 meaning that you can only drive 476 miles for £50 in the trusty Fiesta.

How much further could you get five years ago?

We also researched how much further £50 could get you in 2017 for each country, since global fuel prices have risen so much since that point in time.

Saudi Arabia has experienced the biggest drop off in how far you could travel for £50 - since in 2017 you could drive 2537 miles further than you can now in 2022.

Despite being the largest exporter of oil, the country increased its prices to reduce emissions. For similar reasons, in 2017 you could drive 1136 miles further in UAE and 985 miles further in Egypt.

The UK is ranked 24th worst in this category, as you could drive 664 miles for £50 in 2017 compared to just 476 miles in 2022, meaning you could get 187 miles further five years ago.

Surprisingly, in 8 of the 50 countries we researched, you can now travel further today than you could in 2017. Again, Iran was by far the highest ranked due to a significant drop in fuel prices, as you can drive over 16,000 miles further in 2022 than you could in 2017.

Next is Colombia, at 334 miles further, and Argentina with 210 miles further now compared with 2017. Both countries have seen a reduction in the price of fuel since their governments used subsidies to avoid domestic fuel prices increasing in line with international costs.

Nations where you can drive further now compared with five years ago

How far can you get in other popular cars?

Finally, we looked at how many miles £50 will get you today in other popular UK cars, using the miles per litre for each car.

While you can drive 476 miles for £50 in a Ford Fiesta Zetec, a VW Polo SE TSI will only get you 388 miles. Less than that, for £50 you can travel just 238 miles in a Vauxhall Corsa Griffin.

As we discussed previously, our calculations were based on a Fiesta from 2014. 

The modern, up-to-date range of engines for the Fiesta are petrol units with power of between 75 PS and 155 PS. The most frugal engine up for grabs is the 1.0 litre ‘EcoBoost’ unit with power of 125 PS and mild-hybrid technology, and which returns around 56.5 miles to the gallon.

Conclusion

These findings show how fuel prices have increased significantly in the past five years for most countries. This is due to a combination of factors including inflation, efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and more recently the Ukraine war.

On average, globally, you can drive 1166 miles for £50 in the Fiesta, although this figure is offset by Iran’s very low fuel prices.

While the UK is one of worst nations for high fuel prices, the increase has been less dramatic in the past five years than for other countries.

And as fuel prices are slowly falling as of late, British drivers are advised not to panic despite the understandable frustration and concern.

Methodology

To work out how many miles you can drive for £50 we first divided 50 by the fuel price per litre for each country to get litres for £50. We then multiplied this figure by the km per litre for the Ford Fiesta to find km for £50 and converted kilometres into miles.

• Gov.uk -to find the most registered cars in the UK (Fiesta, Polo, Corsa)

• Global Petrol Prices - price per litre

• Global Petrol Prices Archives - price per litre in 2017

• Automobile Catalog- Ford Fiesta km/l

• Auto Data - VW Polo km/l

• Auto Data - Vauxhall Corsa km/l

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