up to the 1930's, the rubber industry only had natural rubber at its disposal and fuel hoses were therefore manufactured of hard filled natural rubber with a great deal of sulfur, possibly some resin and with woven cotton reinforcement. this was not a sophisticated solution from a technical viewpoint but it worked. now the position is completely different. one has now a series of petrol resistant materials at his disposal: nitride, nutrile/pvc, flourocarbon rubber, epichlorhydrin rubber and a few more. this paper reviews the present situation and is trying to give an answer to the question: what will the fuel of the future be like and how will it effect the rubber material side? the following topics are discussed $em dash$ knocking; lower lead content; aromatics increase the octane rating; methanol; engine octane rating; the influence of methanol on rubber; the engines of the future; ethanol; petrol from coal; wide-cut fuels. extensive experimental data are presented