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Santa was kind enough to bring me a cold air intake that my xA has been desperately needing, so without much delay I went out to the garage to start the install.
First impressions (uninstalled):
-Complete knockoff of the Injen
-Missing 2 wingnuts for Vibramounts
-Poor welding on MAP Sensor area, breather tube
-Breather hose is a joke, too long and collapses easily
-Filter is nice looking, but the size adapter is evident of the cheap price
-Finish is very consistent and shiny
-Quality of silicone/rubber couplers is cheap
-Very detailed instructions
Install was easy and straight forward. For comparison reasons, I did it both ways, first was the short ram version. Took maybe 15 minutes to install. Drove around for a day and a half, and was impressed with the noticeable boost in power. Nothing to write home about, but nice, as the little 1.5L needs all the help it can get. Sound was louder, but pretty quiet compared to the other CAI's I've had in the past on previous cars.
Enough time had past for me to get an adequate "feel" of the short ram, so I set forth to install the rest of it. The instructions state to remove the front fascia and headlight (for xA install only), however I didn't find this neccesary. I simply removed the battery and 2 10mm bolts from the plastic fender liner to give me all the room I needed. I spent more time dicking with the stock battery tie-down than I did installing the longer portion of the intake. The fit is very good (after all it's a knockoff of the Injen).
Buttoned it all back up and went for a drive. Much to my surprise it's got even more power now, and the sound has changed for the better. I can't tell if it's louder than the short ram or not, but it sounds better. The growl is more "smooth" I guess. Hard to describe. The power increase over the short ram is quite evident, although it's difficult to say where that increase fits into the powerband. It's smooth everywhere with no noticeable flatspots.
In summary, is it worth $89? Heck yeah! Throw on a properly sized quality filter, couplers, and breather hose, and it would still be under $130. Another 10 minutes cleaning up the welds with a dremel, and it's damn near perfect. But for now it does the job, and I have no regrets over being frugal with my intake purchase.
This intake can be found at scionsport.com as well as on ebay. No need for pictures, you've already seen the injen's a thousand times before ;)
I agree. The scionFX intake was well worth the money. Mine didn't come with the wingnuts either and scionFX said that everything needed to install was in the box. Oh well.
Oh mine was for an 06 xA. Everything seems to fit perfect. I was clearing out the front corners so already had the front bumper off to take the headlights off so did both at the same time. Very good product for the money.
thanks for posting, belive it or not, I am having folks translate japanese, reasearch from So Cal, to Singapore, and spent hours uncounted for reviews/pics of products. I dont have money to try something and have it not work.