It looks like many of these cold air intake (CAI) systems feature an "open" box as compared to the closed type air box which comes with the H2's OEM air intake... Is this the main reason why the sound is "throatier"? I see that a "cold-air dam" is usually listed as being an important feature/component with CAI systems... But, doesn't the open air intake box freely allow the intake of hot air from the engine compartment, as compared to a closed air box which only pulls external air from through the right wheel well area?
Am I missing something, because it looks like even the highly praised Breathless system with the replacement "air towers" would be more likely to pull air from the area of the hot engine compartment than from the cool, air tower "scoops" ???
Based upon my unscientifically gathered information from reading various posts on this forum, it seems like the actual benefits from aftermarket CAI systems is not clearly evident? Maybe the cold air vs hot air intake --- is not so important? Or, more likely, I'm just missing something basic...
After doing some calculations it looks to me, based upon gas costing $1.56/gal and an average increase in mileage of 1.7 mpg --- that it would roughly take between 28,000 and 34,000 miles of driving to recoup the initial cost of a CAI system...
Has anyone heard when K&N will have their replacement filter element available for the stock H2 airbox???
Ed
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