Lagrangian simulations based on 18 years (2002-2019) of high-resolution eddy-resolving thermohaline and three-dimensional velocity fields allow to revisit the fate and thermohaline changes of the upper-ocean Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) waters that enter directly the South Atlantic Ocean basin. An advection-diffusion scheme applied to the climatological annual-mean and daily-mean fields allows accurate estimations of the mean pathways and seasonal variability, as well as the recirculation volume transports, times and depths in the South Atlantic Subtropical Gyre (SASG). On average, 94.8 Sv of the upper-ocean waters (up to the 28.00 kg m-3) that cross the Drake Passage remain in the ACC, while 15.1 Sv join the SASG. Among those entering the SASG, 10.3 Sv reach the North Brazil Current and contribute to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation returning limb, this contribution being substantially higher than previously stated. All these Drake Passage upper-ocean waters undergo substantial water mass transformations as they reach the eastern SASG, from intermediate-deep to surface layers (6.7 Sv) and increase their heat transport in 0.46 PW and their salt transport in 8.5 × 106 kg s-1, but remain largely unchanged in their westward drift to the western boundary at 21°S. Most waters within the SASG (78.1%) recirculate one single loop, taking an average of 25.2 ± 14.3 years, although some of them complete as many as three loops before exiting. Regarding seasonality, the transit times and transport fraction of the upper-ocean Drake waters, into the SASG show higher variability than those remaining in the ACC path.