# 121 mpg **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [February 27, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203 "2008-02-27T17:35:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![08acadia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/0/d07c76/32.png) [@08acadia](https://community.cartalk.com/u/08acadia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/1 "2008-02-27T17:35:54Z")
Popular Mechanics, March '08 page 41 advertises fuel cell and plasma fuel generator that will increase mileage 50-300%. What’s your take on these things. I’d like to hear from a satisfied customer. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Russell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Bill\_Russell](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Bill_Russell)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/2 "2008-02-27T17:38:12Z")
You won’t find any satisfied customers, because none exist. SCAM SCAM SCAM And what company do you work for? ---
**Author:** ![NYBo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/nybo/32/17281_2.png) [@NYBo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/NYBo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/3 "2008-02-27T18:29:40Z")
Here we go again! Another shill for the snake oilers signs up at Car Talk. ---
**Author:** ![Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/joseph_e_meehan/32/21_2.png) [@Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Joseph_E_Meehan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/4 "2008-02-27T18:32:06Z")
``` It does say one thing that is aapparently true. Popular Mechanics is all about advertising income and not about their readers. ``` ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/5 "2008-02-27T18:33:41Z")
Please take your advertising for these bogus products elsewhere. You’re NOT wanted here. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 6:34pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/6 "2008-02-27T18:34:16Z")
Magazines are not obligated to check the claims of advertisers any more than other media outlets. Do you believe everything you hear on the radio or television? ---
**Author:** ![NYBo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/nybo/32/17281_2.png) [@NYBo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/NYBo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/7 "2008-02-27T18:50:44Z")
They also take ads from some nutjob named John Ellis, touting some goofy “better” type of water. Incoherent crap in the ads, but I guess it helps pay the magazine’s bills. ---
**Author:** ![Jeremy\_R\_Hoyt](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jeremy_r_hoyt/32/37_2.png) [@Jeremy\_R\_Hoyt](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Jeremy_R_Hoyt)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 6:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/8 "2008-02-27T18:51:38Z")
My take is that we should stop supporting scams like this by buying Popular Mechanics magazine. ---
**Author:** ![Jeremy\_R\_Hoyt](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jeremy_r_hoyt/32/37_2.png) [@Jeremy\_R\_Hoyt](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Jeremy_R_Hoyt)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 6:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/9 "2008-02-27T18:57:29Z")
Don’t we hold the NFL and broadcasters responsible for the probity of Superbowl advertisements? What about if Consumer Reports advertised a product that was a scam? Wouldn’t that say something about their standards? What if an author of a book took money from a sponsor in exchange for publishing bogus claims? No, I don’t believe everything I hear on the radio and see on the television. I still think that the broadcaster and the publisher should exercise at least a modicum of ethical discretion. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/10 "2008-02-27T21:22:04Z")
> No, I don’t believe everything I hear on the radio and see on the television. I still think that the broadcaster and the publisher should exercise at least a modicum of ethical discretion. This reminds me of a class I took in college “Business Ethics”. Basically if you’re in business…ETHICS is thrown out if it means you won’t make a profit. I’ve yet to meet the CEO of a large corporation who has enough ethics to turn down several million dollars in business revenue. Sorry, but it’s NOT going to happen. It’s NOT just magazines…Show me the ONE infomercial that is ETHICAL! How many Ab Machines that tout it will trim your mid-section and look great in a bathing suit in just weeks??? How many Diets have you seen or heard advertised that actually work??? ---
**Author:** ![lprocter](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/lprocter/32/40_2.png) [@lprocter](https://community.cartalk.com/u/lprocter)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/11 "2008-02-27T21:59:03Z")
As I say for all these f\*\*\*ing scams, it’s a f\*\*\*load of motherf\*\*\*ing bulls\*\*\*. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/12 "2008-02-27T22:55:44Z")
How about if we stop supporting scams like that by NOT buying Popular Mechanics magazine. Wouldn’t that be more effective? ---
**Author:** ![Jeremy\_R\_Hoyt](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jeremy_r_hoyt/32/37_2.png) [@Jeremy\_R\_Hoyt](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Jeremy_R_Hoyt)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 11:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/13 "2008-02-27T23:01:32Z")
> This reminds me of a class I took in college “Business Ethics”. Basically if you’re in business…ETHICS is thrown out if it means you won’t make a profit. Mike, do you really need to be ethical to know that it is a bad idea to screw your paying customers? An infomercial on public airwaves at 2:00 AM is a little different from a magazine subscription. Besides, what kind of person would site infomercials as an ethical standard? What kind of looser sits around watching infomercials? Life is too short for me to choose to spend it that way. ---
**Author:** ![bscar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bscar/32/34_2.png) [@bscar](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bscar)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 11:06pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/14 "2008-02-27T23:06:36Z")
Wouldn’t plaasma melt the engine and just about everything in the car itself? unless it is a cold plasma, which they used in Star Wars for the giant shield the Jar-Jars made to protect themselves. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/15 "2008-02-28T01:05:47Z")
Here’s the last paragraph from the Popular Mechanics fuel savers testing. Note the last couple of lines. THE MORAL OF THE STORY We’ve tested nowhere near all of the fuel-saver gadgets on the market, and I’m sure purveyors of others will be waiting in our lobby soon. But not one of the items we tested worked. At all. There’s no ignoring the laws of physics, people. Your vehicle already burns over 99 percent of the fuel you pay for. Less than 1 percent is squandered as partially burned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide before the exhaust hits the catalytic converter for the last laundering. Even if one of these miracle gadgets could make the combustion process 100 percent complete, the improvement in mileage resulting would be 1 percent. Any device that claims quantum-level increases needs to be examined with considerable skepticism. We say caveat emptor (let the buyer beware). But there are plenty of people out there who say: “There’s one born every minute.” Prediction: Within a few weeks after the appearance of this article, there will be gas-saving gadgets on the market that tout themselves as “Featured in Popular Mechanics.” Someone will buy them. Probably not you. ---
**Author:** ![shaunrichard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@shaunrichard](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shaunrichard)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 3:36am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/16 "2008-02-28T03:36:42Z")
“do you really need to be ethical to know that it is a bad idea to screw your paying customers?” The advertisers ARE the paying customers. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 3:57am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/17 "2008-02-28T03:57:25Z")
> Mike, do you really need to be ethical to know that it is a bad idea to screw your paying customers In a word…YES. > An infomercial on public airwaves at 2:00 AM 2 AM??? They’re on ALL the time…You can watch them 24/7. > Besides, what kind of person would site infomercials as an ethical standard? Huh??? Who said that?? The point is infomercials are NOT ethical. Geez > kind of looser sits around watching infomercials? The paying kind since it’s a several BILLION dollar a year business. What kind of loosers buy these junk products. Do you for one minute think that if people woke up and stopped buying these bogus products they would still be trying sell them. The market would dry up. The point is Jeremy…These kind of products and their advertising has been around for YEARS and YEARS…NOT JUST magazines…EVERY SINGLE TV NETWORK AND RADIO NETWORK. I would LOVE to see the magazines and TV networks stop selling them advertisements…but I live in the real world…it’s NOT going to happen as long as the networks and magazines are going to make money from it. ---
**Author:** ![pleasedodgevan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@pleasedodgevan](https://community.cartalk.com/u/pleasedodgevan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 5:50am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/18 "2008-02-28T05:50:19Z")
If they put the magnet on the fuel line, it will get 600% better mileage. Detroit doesn’t want anybody to know. Lately here, everybody knows the secret. But they don’t believe in polarized lenses. ---
**Author:** ![Jeremy\_R\_Hoyt](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jeremy_r_hoyt/32/37_2.png) [@Jeremy\_R\_Hoyt](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Jeremy_R_Hoyt)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/19 "2008-02-28T14:22:21Z")
> The advertisers ARE the paying customers. True, but so are the subscribers. I guess the advertising sales team at Popular Mechanics tells its advertisers that its subscribers are the dumbest, most gullible Americans they could find. Otherwise, why would these advertisers come to them? ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203/20 "2008-02-28T14:33:57Z")
If you stopped supporting them…the throw out your TV and Radio…and don’t buy any Newspapers or Magazines. They’re EVERYWHERE. The BEST way to stop them is to NOT buy the bogus product and let everyone you know the product is bogus. [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/121-mpg/11203.md?page=2)