[E46driver]

The forum member who sold the intake to me was kind enough to install it also at his home. He did reassure me that it would fit and there would be no issues, but the fitment was off. At first it kinda bugged me, but it didn't really bother me after a couple of days. After all, the intake still works fine and the tone of my Performance Exhaust did change as well.

Upon starting the car for the first time the change in sound was completely apparent, particularly from the front of the car. The engine seemed to "growl" is the best that i could describe it. I threw the car into DS as i was leaving the house and gave it full throttle and wow i love this thing just from the sound alone! From a stop, at less than 2000 RPM the car FEELS like it lost some power, but at 2500 the intake begins to wake up and the car pulls a bit more eagerly. I thought that the addition of this intake would have made the car rev up faster as well, but unfortunately the amount of time it takes to get to redline is seems to be unchanged. Does it make power, well if it does its not mind bending in anyway.

In D, the driving characteristics of the car changed quite a bit. For instance, under moderate driving conditions with the stock airbox, the car would shift from 2nd to 3rd at around 2500 rpm and from 3rd to 4th at around the same rpm. Now, with the Gruppe M, the car wants to hold 2nd gear until 3200 rpm before shifting into 3rd and 3rd gear until 3500 before shifting into 4th (giving about 15%-25% throttle). Because most of the driving i do is on local streets, for the first couple of days i felt as though the daily drivability of the car was compromised a little because the car just wants to rev out. But after a couple of days i grew more accustomed to the intake and modulating the throttle is easier now.

On the freeway, the car seems to cruise at 70-80 MUCH more easier. Give the car 5-10% more throttle and the car just scoots along nicely. Passing slower traffic, driving up slight inclines, and merging onto the freeway is much more easier.

Because I didn't put the car on a dyno i cant really say it made or lost power conclusively. The changes to the way the car pulls is very minute, but it did absolutely change. Would i do it again for 400$? I think i would have much rather spent the money on an AA tune or perhaps gone the Eurobox route.