Air intake question
 

Again, pardon my ignorance about cars. I'm doing alot of research on upgrades and this site is a great help. Is there a huge difference between say a stock K&N air filter replacement and an AEM or Injen? Im sure either one is better than the stock Mazda filter. I do not care about a "cool" sound, but I do care about gas mileage (which I think is pretty bad considering the size of our engines) and longevity of the engine. Is there a significant horsepower boost? My car is new so I will not replace the exhaust until the original goes, so should I wait to replace the intake till then to gain significant h.p? Thanks again guys and I assume gals! 2002 ES stick.

considering your plan with the exhaust system....if I were you ....here is what I would do.

Replace the stock air filter with the drop-in K&N filter. You will notice a fair amount of increased throttle response....your milage MAY increase slightly...as the K&N flows air a lot easier than the stock paper filter. the cost of the K&N is about $30-$40 depending on where you get it. and its CLEANABLE....you do not have to replace it for MANY years/miles if taken care of properly.

wait till you get your performance exhaust system to upgrade to an aftermarket intake....it doesn't do you much good to make it easier to get more gasses INTO your engine...if you don't make it easier to get them out.

:{D have a nice day!

Hi, i was thinkin of buyin an intake aswell. But my friends tell me it wont make a big difference. Installin a K&N filter as using the stock pipping will be basically the same. Is this true? Should i buy an intake or just go for the K&N filter

i would read sir nukes message above...

ben

I just recently installed an intake on my P5 (no other mods), so here are my observations:

Sounds great - nice little growl.
Power - no huge difference, but maybe a bit more in the top end
Mileage - city driving and other slow-driving/traffice situtaitons: noticeable DROP in mileage. Highway driving: VERY noticeable increase in gas mileage.

My opinion is that if you do mostly stop and go driving, an intake will cost you some money in gas mileage. If you do a lot of highway driving, an intake might pay for itself in fuel economy increases.

There are no simple mods like intake or exhaust that will give you any real power gains.

~HH

I put a drop in K&N last week and, so far, I am happy with it. The throttle response is much better. Don't know about the gas mileage yet.