WHO KNEW THIS???

-Chris-

I just got this in an email, I haven't had the chance to check it out, but it sounds fairly plausible...

Did you know about this, is it true?

An email AudiChris's Mate Sent Him wrote:

WHO KNEW THIS???

I have been driving for over 20 years... I would think I should have noticed the little secret on my dashboard that was staring me in the face the whole time...I didn't...and I bet you didn't either...

Have you ever rented or borrowed a car and when arriving at the petrol station wondered...mmm, which side is the petrol filler cap?

My normal solution was to stick my head out the window, strain my neck and look, try to see in the side mirrors or even get out of the car!!!!

Well ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to share with you my little secret so you will no longer look like Ace Ventura on your way to the petrol station or put your neck at risk of discomfort or injury.

If you look at your petrol gauge, you will see a small icon of a petrol pump?

The handle of the petrol pump will extend out on either the left or right side of the petrol pump?

If your filler cap is on the left, the handle will be on the left? If your filler cap is on the right, the handle will be on the right (see photo). It is that simple!


I don't know how you feel right now but when I found out this morning I felt cheated!

WHY don't the dealers share such important information with car buyers?

I don't understand why this isn't in the Highway Code or even the car manufacturers manual??

I don't get why any mechanic I have ever been too or know has even thought of mentioning this to me??

The only possible explanation can be that all these people probably don't even know!

Go out and share the world's best kept auto secret with your friends as this is information is way too important to be kept secret.

mcauley

If that is true Chris you have saved me a lot of neck strain in the future. . .

I most certainly did not know this! Tempted to run out to the cars to check this theory. . .

hawker

Heard that last year sometime ok. And any car I've ever checked in, it has been true.

Although a mate of mine claim his car says differently. I've yet to check it out.

-Chris-

I just checked a couple of cars (all VAG, so a bit of a skewed sample), so far it's true - including the LHD Golf we have!!

Alanstrainor

Loved the ace ventura comparisson. Classic!

Alun

It's true on my car (Focus C-Max) but then the cynic in me says that purely on chance I have a 50% chance of it being right, so it proves nothing

carlson

its not true.........sorry!

CrowdedHouse

WRONG - Nearest vehicle to where I'm sitting is a FIAT Doblo van and it doesn't work for that.
My last car an 06 Golf GTI had a lttle arrowhead on the gauge pointing in the direction of the filler cap.

Danbo!

just checked-
VW Golf - Correct
Peugeot 307 - Correct
Sante Fe - Wrong - but then again thats still got right hand side indicators and left hand side wipers... Crazy Koreans

Bandara

Its 100% true 50% of the time.

-Chris-

carlson wrote: »

its not true.........sorry!

What car did you check it on? Maybe there's a pattern...

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

WRONG - Nearest vehicle to where I'm sitting is a FIAT Doblo van and it doesn't work for that.
My last car an 06 Golf GTI had a lttle arrowhead on the gauge pointing in the direction of the filler cap.

Dammit!

noblestee wrote: »

just checked-
VW Golf - Correct
Peugeot 307 - Correct
Sante Fe - Wrong - but then again thats still got right hand side indicators and left hand side wipers... Crazy Koreans

That's a pity, Italian and Koreans wrong so far...

Hammertime wrote: »

Its 100% true 50% of the time.

R.O.R

AudiChris wrote: »

What car did you check it on? Maybe there's a pattern...



Dammit!



That's a pity, Italian and Koreans wrong so far...

No icon on my Honda to show what side - but it is on most of the cars I drive, but most of them are VAG so........

flanzer

I knew that alright. I've had a Polo, Golf III, Carisma, Golf IV, Golf V and Passat and it was true in all cases. I found out the little trick when I had the Carisma. I checked a 96 Polo and and 97 Golf in a supermarket car park one afternoon to check the findings

-Chris-

Most of the sample seems to be VAG based still.... anyone else?

Dades

I heard this last year. Top tip!

True for my missis' Nissan - and for my 36 yr old Merc...

Alanstrainor

Hammertime wrote: »

Its 100% true 50% of the time.

Hahaha

Pete67

Not sure about the handle, but any Ford I've driven in recent years has a small arrow under the fuel gauge needle pointing to the side the fuel filler is on. I've often wondered why other manufacturers didn't do the same.

EKRIUQ

Not true on a Alfa Romeo 159:(

Alun

Pete67 wrote: »

Not sure about the handle, but any Ford I've driven in recent years has a small arrow under the fuel gauge needle pointing to the side the fuel filler is on. I've often wondered why other manufacturers didn't do the same.

My 2004 Focus C-Max doesn't have that.

ShayK1

it was on a car show not too long ago. Not sure if it was Top Gear but if not, it was something similiar.

L1011

Believe its "wrong" on all RHD Fiat's.

Anyway, what station doesn't have pipes long enough to reach the other side of the car anyway?

-Chris-

Yeah, so far Fiat & Alfa both wrong - crazy Italians!

I'm just curious as to the consensus - I'd love to point it out to customers and be able to say 90% of the time it works! If it's just random, then there's no point.

As for the length of the hose - very true, but I'm more interested in this for the "check this out, it's pretty cool!" element, rather than the purely practical application of the information.

osnoyl

my mondeo has the arrow and is correct

Alun

MYOB wrote: »

Anyway, what station doesn't have pipes long enough to reach the other side of the car anyway?

Quite a few have pipes only barely long enough depending on the width / height of the vehicle in question, and where you are able to park relative to the pump itself. In fact, in general, I think I've noticed that over the years they've gradually got shorter, or maybe I'm imagining things.

R.O.R

The 2006 520d Touring I was just in didn't have it.

-Chris-

Didn't have the petrol pump icon?

R.O.R

AudiChris wrote: »

Didn't have the petrol pump icon?

I don't think so - it just had "Diesel" written across the top of the guage. Guage was at the bottom part of either the Speedo or Rev Counter.

Ok - I wasn't paying that much attention to the car, just whether there was little arrow to tell me the fuel filler cap was on the drivers side

tossy

Urban motoring myth i'm afraid.

CrowdedHouse

R.O.R wrote: »

Ok - I wasn't paying that much attention to the car, just whether there was little arrow to tell me the fuel filler cap was on the drivers side

I think he meant the nozzle and hose of the pump icon on the gauge

It BeeMee

Checked my own car (Skoda Superb) and both the dash display and the release button show the correct side.

MYOB wrote: »

Anyway, what station doesn't have pipes long enough to reach the other side of the car anyway?

Quite a few, I find. If you park on the wrong side, you're left trying to hold the hose up off the boot lid as it's too short to sit on the ground.

L1011

Alun wrote: »

Quite a few have pipes only barely long enough depending on the width / height of the vehicle in question, and where you are able to park relative to the pump itself. In fact, in general, I think I've noticed that over the years they've gradually got shorter, or maybe I'm imagining things.

My car is fairly tall, but very narrow... might be why I've never had a problem.

Tesco's ones are tight enough though.

Rovi

The fuel gauge on my 1984 Land-Rover 90 reads 'Cold-Hot'. I don't think it'll work with that one.

Zulu

My OH told me about this only a little while ago.
Naturally I made like I knew all along "d'uh - everyone knows that. Silly girl."

...but I didn't.

bazzachazza

My car 2005 S40 has an arrow beside the symbol to show which side its on.

I believe not all car manufactures do this so sorry voted for third option..

helimachoptor

Top Gear busted this myth a while ago.

Biro

AudiChris wrote: »

I just checked a couple of cars (all VAG, so a bit of a skewed sample), so far it's true - including the LHD Golf we have!!

Don't VAG cars always have the petrol tank on the drivers side?
On the topic of the fuel guage, I've seen where it's not the case, don't remember where though.

-Chris-

Biro wrote: »

Don't VAG cars always have the petrol tank on the drivers side?

Not on the LHD car, that's passenger side.

R.O.R

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

I think he meant the nozzle and hose of the pump icon on the gauge

No Nozzle and Hose icon on the dash, just the word "Diesel", with no arrow anywhere to tell you that the fuel filler was on the drivers side.

Biro

AudiChris wrote: »

Not on the LHD car, that's passenger side.

OK, sorry, I should have said the right of the car. As in they don't bother changing it over to the other side when changing wheel over.
VW used be so lazy that the wipers used be the opposite way around on RHD cars!

E92

All modern Toyotas have this arrow which points to the left, and sure enough that's where you find the filler cap.

BMWs are not fitted with the arrow, in the 90s they used to have "unleaded gasoline only" on the fuel guage of US market cars, and all diesels for the past 10 years or so have "diesel" on the fuel guage too.

alexmcred

My 08 Golf has the icon on the wrong side i.e. icon is on left and tank is on right.

unkel

I always use this rule of thumb. No matter if the car is RHD or LHD, the filler cap is on the right for European cars and on the left for Japanese cars. There are a few exceptions, iirc Volvo is one of them

It BeeMee

unkel wrote: »

I always use this rule of thumb. No matter if the car is RHD or LHD, the filler cap is on the right for European cars and on the left for Japanese cars. There are a few exceptions, iirc Volvo is one of them

So it's always on the opposite sode of the indicator stalk?

mickdw

I often park the opposite side at the petrol pump for the simple reason that if you dont, you end up leaving an amount of petrol in the hose as it rests on the ground.

AntiVirus

Not true for the Toyota Celica, the icon of the petrol pump has the handle on the right but the petrol cap is on the left.

It doesn't matter as there's another icon (Arrow) to let you know this.

-Chris-

Biro wrote: »

OK, sorry, I should have said the right of the car. As in they don't bother changing it over to the other side when changing wheel over.

Sorry, wasn't being sarcastic.

Biro

AudiChris wrote: »

Sorry, wasn't being sarcastic.

I know, I just realised how I phrased it!

Biro

unkel wrote: »

I always use this rule of thumb. No matter if the car is RHD or LHD, the filler cap is on the right for European cars and on the left for Japanese cars. There are a few exceptions, iirc Volvo is one of them

Very true. I have a theory on that. Petrol pumps used to be on the side of the road outside shops etc, so you could only pull up along side them. Seeing as in Japan they drive on the left as we do, they put the tank on the left hand side of the car so you can just pull in left and you're beside it. The opposite is true for European cars, you just pull into the right and you're beside it. The only time it got confusing is when European car manufacturers had to change their cars from LHD to RHD to accomodate the UK and Irish markets. They didn't bother changing over the petrol tank and exhaust either. (You'll find that normally the exhaust pipe is the opposite side to the petrol tank opening).

unkel

Biro wrote: »

Seeing as in Japan they drive on the left as we do, they put the tank on the left hand side of the car so you can just pull in left and you're beside it

That explains Volvo too!

Even though the Swedes used to drive on the left, the cars were always LHD. But the tank is on the left to facilitate fuelling. After they switched to driving on the correct side of the road, they didn't bother switching over the petrol tanks. Probably about coincided with the arrival of separate petrol stations and the demise of the road side pump.

DJ Hafez

Checked the astra outside and it corresponds with this! The germans are the only ones with sense it seems (don't come back saying they're owned by GM therefore american!! heh)

The Real B-man

If you cant remember which side of the car your fill cap is on you shouldnt be allowed to drive imo.