The cars that'll save you money: The new cars that are still OK with 91 RON regular unleaded petrol, including the 2025 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, Mazda CX-5, Mitsubishi ASX, Hyundai Kona, Kia Sorento, Ram 1500 and more

Most new vehicles with petrol-powered internal combustion engines nowadays are required to run on 95 RON (Research Octane Number) petrol or higher.

That’s premium unleaded petrol. The expensive stuff.

That’s expected in luxury vehicles and sports cars, but the need to improve fuel consumption and lower carbon dioxide emissions, has led to more-mainstream brands adopting technologies that either won’t work without, or work more efficiently and effectively with, 95 RON.

This was hammered home to us at the recent launch of the 2025 Toyota Camry – the ninth-generation version of the venerable mid-sized family car that now includes an across-the-board requirement for 95 RON (or above) premium unleaded petrol. The same also applies to the latest Suzuki Swift that’s now also hybrid-only.

In the Japanese-made American-focused sedan’s defence, that’s because the base Ascent grade’s non-hybrid 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine has been dropped for the latest iteration, making the series hybrid-only from here-on in.

And that’s hybrid-only as in, 95 RON premium-unleaded only.

Taking the average price of the petrols this week in Melbourne – 177.9 cents vs 194.9 cents per litre for 91 RON and 95 RON respectively ­– refuelling Australia’s bestselling petrol-powered vehicle this year, the Toyota RAV4 and its 55L tank, the price difference is $9.35 per refill. That’s around two flat whites.

Which has us thinking: how many new standard-unleaded petrol-powered vehicles – be it ‘normal’ or hybrid of any variety – remain in 2024?

From cheapest to most expensive at the time of publishing, the list may surprise you. If we’ve left any 91 RONers out, please let us know in the comments section below.