This morning I pulled in to Morrisons to buy some quality juice for my parched JTD. All the pumps were in use bar the end ones which unfortunately were on the wrong side for the Stilo's filler cap.

No problem, I thought, you can usually get a good reach around (chortle) and fill up the car from the wrong side.
Mistake.
It didn't reach... and I had to back up and stick my nose into another queue.

Got me to thinking, OK so on most cars you can't put the filler in the middle so why not have both sides? As a foreign (LHD) manufacturer you would only have to make one type of panel rather than one with and one without filler cap. OK cost would obviously be the major issue, even allowing for saved setup costs (negligible over a prolonged manuf run) but it would be a gnatty USP.

Failing that, how about petrol stations sticking longer leads on their pumps...

How daft is it that in 2005 we still have to find a pump free with the filler on the correct side. Pah.

Moogs

There's quite a few Minis around with 'em on both sides, as the easiest way to increase the tank capacity is to stick another tank in the other side of the boot!

If there's only "wrong sided" pumps available, I just spin the car round and back into them. P*sses people off, but tough, I haven't got all day

Most BP and shell pumps have retractable hoses, which are quite useful.

im always scared of scratching my car when i try to fill up on wrong side, so have to wait

i reverse in aswell why not who cares

ahhh the benefits of havin a small low car.... hehe i have neva had a problem with using "wrong sided" pumps.

have had a good laf at people tryin to use them on a couple of occasions, one guy even tried to aim a hose and cover his beige trousers in petrol, oh how i laughed!

i have never put petrol in my car but one day..............................................

JonnyBoy said:

If there's only "wrong sided" pumps available, I just spin the car round and back into them. P*sses people off, but tough, I haven't got all day

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I do a variation of this, Cinq flap is on the drivers side, when filling up using the other side I just drive past nearly then there is enough reach.

If cars had both sides then sales of those stick on things would rocket!

Liam

Mase: what do you mean "aim" - was he trying to get petrol into the car from a distance or something?!

i aimed to get redex into my car once, i never knew about the little flappy thing that gets pushed in when the nozzle goes in

Personally I don't know why some car manufacturers decide to put them on the left and others on the right. It just makes life confusing!

JonnyBoy said:

Mase: what do you mean "aim" - was he trying to get petrol into the car from a distance or something?!

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yea man... the hose didnt reach by about 1 inch, so he just kinda aimed.... and missed! like standing up to **** when really really drunk! it had to end in disaster.

in short; get a cento

i saw one bloke go THROUGH his van to get to the cap!!

JonnyBoy said:

There's quite a few Minis around with 'em on both sides,

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That's cos they have 2 tanks in the boot

I've always understood that it's frequently the market in which the car is designed which dictates what side the fuel tank filler is. My Punto, like I'd expect all Fiat's (more or less) has it on the right, which for us Brits is the drivers side. That means it's pavement side in Italy.

Historically (before the big forcourts) I'd expect some pumps were literally just on the edge of the road, or in a prking bay (or whatever - you get the idea). So to fill up at such a pump, it helped if you could just stop and put in your fuel. Back in those days (it's before my time), there wouldn't have been loads of importing into the UK of foreign cars since we had a motor industry... So the British cars had the filler on the left, like other RHD markets, and LHD markets put them on the right. Fast forward a few decades and cars are designed all over the place and build various places, so it's more a historical thing as to which side the filler is depending on the company.

I usually drive just past the pump, which means you can reach round the back if required. A few times I've reversed for a wrong way round pump - nothing wrong with that! My local Shell has just been re-done, and has snazzy new pumps, which mean that I drove just past the unleaded pump, and found the screen a meter back not angled to me, so I had to contort my body to see how much was going in. Mind you, I always fill right up...

Ah, a good point u make Gav.
I did wonder if there were a safety issue as you're probably statistically more likely to be hit from the left side in this country and I would imagine an impact on the filler pipe side might be marginally more dangerous than one on the opposite..... though that is of course stretching feasibility a bit. Your historic point makes far more sense.

one thing that you've reminded me of. I also fill up completely every time I buy fuel so I guess I'm lugging round a good few kilos of fuel as dead weight most of the time.
My Stilo has a drink problem and never knows when to stop. Every other car I've owned has stopped the pump before reaching the top - which I know is a feature of the pump not the car.
It does seem though that the internal design on the Stilo prevents the pump from auto cutoff properly. Mine will continue to fill past the maximum and spit fuel back out at me.

The solution is to listen for when 'gurgle' turns to 'schmurgle' and then stop filling. This is foolproof but (a) only works in a quiet environment and (b) makes me look like a chimp. Anyone got this prob?

brickfoot said:

That's cos they have 2 tanks in the boot

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(Andy-out-of-Little-Britain voice): "Yeah, I know!"

Stilo, filler on the right; Ulysse, filler on the left :chin:

if its the wrong side, i drive past slightly and then reverse and leave the car wonky. reaches fine

centos