by Paul Williams

Pennzoil Roadside Rescure is no longer sold. Click here for more product reviews (.ed).

A friend of mine drives a beautiful Saab 900 Talledega. You can often see
it parked around town, gleaming with its polished black paint and shiny
alloy wheels. Too bad it’s regularly out of gas, or close to it. You see,
my friend seldom looks at the impressive array of comprehensive gauges
generously provided by Saab. When she does, she thinks the “E” on the fuel
gauge means Enough. It rarely is.

One of these days my friend is going to get stranded in the middle of
nowhere. Her cell phone won’t work, and it’ll be cold and dark. She’ll be
in a fix.

Fortunately, Pennzoil recently introduced a useful product for this
situation that you can carry in the trunk of your car. It’s an emergency
fuel additive called Roadside Rescue and it’ll get you back on the road in a
hurry. It comes in a small container, just under 2 liters. If you run out
of gas, you dump the contents into the tank, and get about 16 kilometers out
of it. Hopefully that’s enough to get you to a gas station.

According to Pennzoil, “Rescue is a safe fuel additive that contains some of
the properties inherent in gasoline, minus the more volatile elements.” In
other words, it’ll make your car go, but it won’t smell or blow up in your
car. The container is non-refillable, child proof and double-walled, so
it’s both leakproof, and the contents won’t evaporate. One other thing it
won’t do is work in a diesel engine, so you TDi owners are out of luck (but
your fuel seems to go forever doesn’t it?).

Rescue keeps in your trunk for 5 years, and if you have to use it, you
simply pour the contents into the fuel tank while the engine is still hot,
then re-start and head for the nearest pump.

At a suggested price of $24.95, Rescue is not exactly cheap, but it depends
on how you look at it. The product is good insurance for busy people who
occasionally neglect to fill up. Or for people too busy enjoying their nice
Saab. 16 kilometers is not a huge distance, but if you were stranded, you
wouldn’t say no.