Petrol prices, for various reasons, vary wildly around the world. That means buying fuel in one country can get you and your car much further than somewhere else. Using the UK's most popular car - the Ford Fiesta - and Global Petrol Prices data from 20/04/15, here's the distance you can travel with £100 of petrol bought in various countries if you tried to drive from London to Cape Town.
Norwegian Petrol
Price: £6.03/gallon
Distance: 1094 miles
Thanks to their tax system Norway has the most expensive petrol in the world, but you can still travel over a thousand miles with £100. That's not a bad distance to start with. It'll take you through the outskirts of Paris, down through France, across the Spanish border and past Barcelona. You'll eventually find yourself just outside the city of Castellon de la Plana.
UK Petrol
Price: £5.22/gallon
Distance: 1260 miles
The UK is a bit cheaper than Norway, so you can see some more of the Spanish coast as you make your way south. As you carry on you'll head past Valencia, across the River Serpis and eventually reach Alicante - the city and port where you'll be leaving the European continent behind.
French Petrol
Cost: £4.58/gallon
Distance: 1441 miles
For this article, the Ford Fiesta is also an amphibious vehicle which means buying your petrol in France will get you across the Mediterranean. You'll land at Algiers, the capital of Algeria, although unfortunately that's as far as your voyage will take you. At least you made it as far as Africa.
Argentinian Petrol
Cost: £4.07/gallon
Distance: 1621 miles
Onwards and southwards as you head into Northern Africa and attempt to traverse Algeria. You'll soon leave Algiers behind and manage to get outside the town of Hassi Bahbah. Make sure you've brought a book with you, there isn't much to do out there unless you're a fan of staring out into an endless desert.
Mongolian Petrol
Cost: £2.96/gallon
Distance: 2229 miles
Mongolian petrol will give you a nice bang for your buck, but the vast size of Algeria eats it all up. That's not surprising considering there's 1240 miles between its northern coast and the southern border. By now you would have made it just outside the oasis town of Ain Salah. You'll be glad to see it after travelling through 200 miles of pure desert.
Russian Petrol
Cost: £2.04
Distance: 3235 miles
Getting your hands on Russian petrol will see you pass through France, Spain, and finally Algeria. Along the way you'll see your first significant body of water since the town of El Menia, some 825 miles behind you, so you better have stocked up when you left London. Your Ford Fiesta will splutter to a halt just after passing through the Niger town of Agadez. Luckily there's an airport there if you wanted to make a quick escape.
Nigerian Petrol
Cost: £1.50/gallon
Distance: 4400 miles
Being the 11th cheapest in the world, Nigerian petrol will mean you can leave Niger behind and pass through a decent chunk of Chad too. Along the way you'll pass through the Manda National Park and end up in Sarh, which is apparently a popular nightlife spot for the region. Not a bad place for your Fiesta to run out of juice.
Saudi Arabian Petrol
Cost: 50p/gallon
Distance: 13,200 miles
It's no surprise that as we reach the Middle Eastern petrol prices, the length of the journey increases significantly. With the 2nd cheapest petrol in the world, buying your fuel in Saudi Arabia would get you all the way to South Africa, but unfortunately not as far as Cape Town itself. You'll come to a halt in Kroonstad, which is a pretty nice place to finish all in all.
So is it actually possible to make the trip from London to Cape Town on £100 of petrol?
Venezuelan Petrol
Cost: 5p/gallon
Distance: 132,000 miles
It certainly is if you're buying in Venezuela where petrol is ten times cheaper than in Saudi Arabia. In fact, getting to Cape Town from London - which is a distance of 14,400 miles - is easy on £100. The distance you could cover is vast in comparison. What that map above shows is a flight path of:
London Heathrow>New York>Los Angeles>Tokyo>Islamabad>Istanbul>London Gatwick
If your Ford Fiesta could suddenly fly you'd be able to make this trip nearly four times over with just £100 worth of Venezuelan petrol.
So there you have it. British petrol has never sounded so expensive I imagine.