This is a review of the Xtreme Vortex Fuel Saver found on Ebay - Actually the only place stateside to acquire this product so far.


I would like to give a little background to why I am writing this review in the first place.  For years, like so many others, I have seen informercials for a product called the "Tornado Fuel Saver" and have always had the simple question of "does it work?".  Over time I have simply heard mixed review after mixed review finding that the more knowledgeable car person typically had good results.  Over time I lost interest in the product because of all the bad reviews until a long time friend who works for our countys fleet maintenance division stated they were rolling the fuel savers out on all police cruisers.  This got me interested of course, did the county I live in get taken or did they actually find the product itself worked?  Of course my next stop was google to see if any new reviews had come out for the product and sure enough one news station had posted a review claiming the device did not work.  I questioned there results thinking that a news station wasn't smarter than the 20 mechanics at the county garage and watched the video a bit more closely.  If you watch this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRxTwzOvS7Q) you can see clearly what I have wondered for years, are the majority of people just not installing them properly?  The answer was obviously yes.......watch how the tornado is loose when the reporter re-attaches it to the throttle body.

Ok, so now that we have moved passed that let me get onto the review.

Test Cars:
1998 Acura 3.2TL V6
2003 Honda Element 4 Cyl

Product:
Xtreme Vortex

Place of Purchase:
Ebay of course


Price:
Around $20 (I won mine in an auction for a little less)

Installation:
Literally 5 minutes a car.  The trick is to make sure the device is installed AFTER any absolute pressure sensors or maf sensors on the intake tubing.

Results:
Undeniable on both vehicles.  My 3.2TL is a slight gas guzzler even though she is always kept in tune.  My car is Canadian even though I live in NC so I have to give you the results in KM.  Before the Xtreme Vortex was installed I was averaging 560-570KM per fill-up with a mix of city and hwy.  On the very first fill up after the Xtreme Vortex was installed I got 665KM followed by 680KM.  NOTHING ELSE WAS TUNED PRIOR TO INSTALLATION and driving habits were not changed to alter outcome.

Honda Element 2003:
Results were similar.  This car is in miles (thank goodness) and I was achieving a normal 265-275 miles per fillup (avg fill-up of 12 gallons).  The two fill-ups following the install I was able to get 304 and 312 miles per tank off of the same 12 gallon fill-up while driving the same routes to and from work. 

Conclusion:
I hate to say it but I think the main issue behind products like these are the fact they are installed improperly.  I have spent many years in a garage and will not boast I have a blue and white certification (I don't think it's important).  Please reference the pictures below as I detail where I installed the device on a honda element.  If you have a honda 4 cylinder engine please follow similiar install directions and location to install to see similar results.  I am mad at myself for not trying this product sooner.  When gas was over $4 I could have truly used this vs. starting a car pool with people I already spent Mon-Fri with....

Installation on 2003 Honda Element:

1. Remove Both Intake Tube Collars with a 5.5mm socket



2. Now simply remove any hoses attached to the intake tube: Pretty straight forward with a pair of needle nose pliers.


3. Now simply remove the intake tube from the car.
4. Insert the Xtreme Vortex to where my finger is pointed or near the intakes ribs.


5.  The device should look like this when installed:



Install in reverse order and you are done.  I would be interested to see what other makes of vehicles can get off of this fuel saver as both results were on Honda engines.  The county was applying them to Fords (so obviously they had good results) so can we get any comments on Chevy, Chrysler, or Toyota?