What side do you fill up on?

[Jerryberry]

What determines the location of the fuel filler cap on a car, initially I though it was place of manufacture but a quick survey shows that this is not the case, anyone know the answer to this?

[honkytonkman]

Hmm interesting. For what it's worth, all the cars I've owned that were made in a country which drives on the left and therefore the main bodywork was initially designed for righthand drive cars, have had the filler cap on the left. My cars that were made in 'lefthand drive' countries had the filler on the right.

[New Forester]

You never can be sure about drive-on-the left cars actually being designed for it though. What about all those All-aggros, Maxis and Marinas built in Britain in the 70s -- for some mysterious reason they mostly or all had LHD windscreen wipers. Similarly, cars built as RHD may be based on a LHD model, as used to be the case with Vauxhalls and Opels. I had a Vauxhall Chevette once, based on the RHD Opel Kadet. The design allowed a big space on the left side for the brake servo, putting most of the other stuff on the right hand side of the engine. On my RHD version, the servo was of course also on the right, in front of the brake pedal. This left a space you could almost climb into on the left of the engine, but the right was so crowded that getting at the plugs needed two extensions and a universal joint on your socket.

[Drewhound]

What cars are you thinking of Jerryberry? More countries drive on the left like us than on the right, including Japan

[allan.g0ias]

Wonder if its anything to do with which side of the bed the designer got out of ?

[Ouisch]

I would think it depends upon the design of the car, and which side is most convenient according to the other accessories and accoutrements. I live in the US, and have had vehicles with the filler on both sides...in fact, today most cars have an arrow on the fuel gauge indicating on which side the filler is located.

[Gef]

"in fact, today most cars have an arrow on the fuel gauge indicating on which side the filler is located. " And I suppose there is a sticker telling them what the arrow means. The mind boggles.

[dawnI]

Who knows I drive a RHD Punto which for those unaware is Italian and it fills up on the right as does my Mums Peugeot (French)