I'm half considering a CAI. I haven't been able to justify the cost for so little benefit though. Anyway, what I'm wondering is how the air is getting to it. It seems as though the filter is buried in the bottom behind the bumper and there are panels covering everything. How does air get to it?
I've recently seen a build your own CAI from a major company but I can't think of who it is now. It comes with tubes, elbows, clamps, adapter, and filter I believe. Is it possible to build something that is routed more up front with something like this?

 

im confused as to why you dont think the cai dont get enough air just because its surrounded buy the under shield and wheel well shield, it gets enough air, anyway you can get a cheap cai on ebay but if your in a area where it has alot water then dont bother and get a short ram intake. For our cars its kinda hard to justify ANY performance parts such as I/H/E since they add little to none whp unless accompaied by an expensive fmu

 

With it enclosed like that in the bottom, it doesn't make sense to me why all that routing is needed. Seems like a short tube long enough for the sensors with a filter on the end ought to fit right up top and have no less or more air getting to it then one stuck in the bottom of the car. I was just curious if all that routing was needed cause it was getting close to an opening or something but it doesn't seem so.
Yeah, that's why I haven't justified the cost. $200 for 5 hp is hard to justify. It seems everything I look at for this car has a high price and very little gain. Which is probably a good thing cause I'd probably void some parts of my warranty. Which is a big reason why I bought new. Not a big deal. Just curious that's all.

 

Aubrey,

I think the routing is to get the filter out in front of the engine and heat it generates, hence the 'Cold' in the CAI acronym. I am uncomfortable with where that places the filter; I think it would be hard to maintain a filter in that location.

In addition, I lived in Denver for 8 years before I moved to North-Kerlina (that’s another story) so I am intimately familiar with your weather conditions and would be doubly cautious about using an intake with that design. Unless you have an alternate vehicle, I would think the frequent slushy driving conditions in winter would compromise the integrity of the filter, even with the splash guards in place.

A 'short ram' style filter system would make more sense in your location, IMHO.