Cold air intakes (CAI) in this generation are a controversial subject. The car already comes equipped with an air intake. Unlike more common “filter on a stick” setups, the stock configuration includes a scoop that takes air naturally driven into the engine bay through the front grill, drives it through the engine cover that houses the engine air filter and feeds it to the engine. Some people are of the opinion that this setup is restrictive and inefficient. While I have yet to see evidence that this is true, I don’t really like the traditional “CAI” setup since I actually enjoy the appearance of the stock engine cover which I would have to either surrender, or hack up to accommodate a traditional CAI. Fortunately there are alternative solutions for people like myself.
The Carbonio CAI kit includes a carbon fiber scoop that replaces the stock assembly 
leading to the engine cover and a reusable, high flow foam filter to replace the stock paper filter. The gains represented by this setup are largely driven by the high flow filter versus the carbon fibre scoop. The only benefit I see to replacing the scoop assembly is that the Carbonio scoop is curvy and thus allows for better airflow, as debateable as this is. What isn’t debatable however, is how nicely the scoop looks in the engine bay.
The carbon fibre scoop fills the space left by the stock plastic scoop perfectly. While traditionally, carbon fiber has been used in motorsports to reduce weight, in this particular case, it lends for a sporty touch to the engine bay. Overall there is no increased noise from this intake versus the stock setup, yet my instinct tells me that performance increased very slightly. People looking for a slight boost in performance with an added aesthetical improvement to the engine bay should look no further. Thanks again to APR for everything!
Published under: Performance
