I just bought a 2006 Mazda3 S Touring. ABSOLUTELY love it. It is a blast to drive, but I would like a little more power. I would also like a deeper sound. I have read the multiple posts in this forum on the K&N drop in filter and AEM / Injen CAIs. These were my conclusions:

1) The drop in didn't give any more noticeable power and slightly decreased gas mileage. How was the sound difference?

2) The AEM or Injen CAIs tend to suck in water. There are shields and covers for the filter though. There was an increase in power, but the ECU "learned" to handle the extra air flow.

I did not see any posts about a short air intake though. Has anyone purchased an SRI? It seems like it would be the perfect compromise. It would be cheaper, less susceptible to water, and would still give a small power increase and sound difference.

Any thoughts?

 

with the cold air intakes, people are only having water induction problems with the sedan, the hatchbacks are virtually problem free. ive the aem cai on my 3s hatchback...no problems with water.

 

i have yet to purchase i cai or sri but hopefully sometime next week ill have a cai, appently all the people who have problems with there cai drive in places where there is a lot of water plus im starting to hear the sri might be better cuz the cai apperently has so many bends in the pipe that it negates the power increase from a sri, im still goin with the cai, mainly because i wanna have an excuse for george to fix my fender and it sounds cooler

 

I am planning on getting either the Injen CAI or the AEM CAI.. what kinds of water problems are you talking about? I'm not as car savvy as some on this forum.

 

i have a sedan with an injen cai. never have i had any water get sucked up into my intake that i am aware of. i've done tests where i've gone through pretty big puddles (3-5 inches deep and about 3 feet wide) and never had any water get sucked into the intake. even in torrential downpore in my area, i've never had problems. i know this because i've taken my intake off after a few of these events to see if i had a problem, and i did not. not even a couple of drops to be found in the cai.

when i purchased my injen cai, it came with a splash shield in the kit which might just be the reason why i am not having a hydrolocking problem. i even have a meshed out lower grille that allows ample water/wind to enter where my intake is and that has yet to pose a problem. the only time you will actually hydrolock is if you go through a couple feet of water and submerge your engine bay substancially.

my post on the injen cai install/experiences ------> https://www.mazdaforum.com/m_7486/tm.htm

 

Thanks for the info bro. I'll be ordering an Injen or AEM CAI very soon and having my buddy help me put it on. I'm very new to the whole aftermarket world so I'm just learning as I go along hehe. Today i got my magnaflow exhaust put in, it really sounds great. I went with the bigger chamber because I didn't want that nasty rice rocket noise and I wanted it to just be deep and smooth and it is. I havent really noticed a performance increase, but maybe I'm looking too hard for it.

 

I was just on the AEM website and they don't claim to make a CAI for the 05-06 Mazda3 2.3 MT. Injen doesn't list one either. Am I missing something? I would actually like to bolt one of these on my new 3. Thanks!

 

there is no decrease in mileage with the K&N drop in filter. I am getting the same (maybe a tiny bit better) mileage. The performance isnt like a CAI, but its a step in the right direction...this is my first new car and i dont feel like risking the hydrolock.