Cravenspeed Intake Review, vs AFE and K&N
 

(Pics at bottom of post)
I wanted to make a separate thread so the review of the final intake I chose was the first post. If you haven't seen my other thread, I went through two other intakes before settling on and installing the cravenspeed intake. FYI my car is a 2016 F56 JCW.

The first intake I ordered was the AFE with a dryflow Pro Dry S filter. The intake's powder coating was chipping off in multiple places including on the inside of the intake tube, and the finishing on the inside of the tube was horrific. I've gotten ebay no name parts that were way higher quality and in better condition. I was provided a shipping label and it was returned immediately. https://afepower.com/afe-power-51-12...-intake-system

The second intake purchased was the K&N Typhoon. I liked the design of the heatshield, it was cheaper than the others and I had a K&N Typhoon on a previous car without issue. While this intake was finished much better than the AFE, i wasn't satisfied with the welding and cuts around the inside of the MAF mount. I returned this one same day. https://www.knfilters.com/search/pro...rod=69-2026TTK

The third intake was the Cravenspeed. I figured the big companies couldn't do it right, maybe the smaller ones can pick up the quality slack. I also emailed them and requested a picture of the inside of the intake tube before I purchased which they obliged within a couple hours.

The Cravenspeed intake is excellent quality. The cnc machined MAF housing and heatshield are the real stars of the show. The added lip where it mates to the oem turbo inlet pipe helps make it a perfect fit/seal. The MAF sensor gasket is a nice snug fit with the included fasteners threading down flawlessly. The heatshield fell into place without issue, and the machined rubber grommet holder is a nice touch where the intake tube passes through the heatshield. Of course, products are not without their downsides. I had an AEM Dryflow ready to go. I didn't want any filter oil in this intake. The other problem is the quality of the mandrel bent tube they welded to the maf housing isn't great. The end of the tube where it connects to the filter wasn't the cleanest cut. The tube was also very very slightly ovaled, which did not give me confidence in the tube to filter connection.
https://www.cravenspeed.com/cold-air...r-gen-3-minis/

Driving Impressions: Car drives pretty much like stock, no weird hesitations or drops in idle. Throttle response seems slightly improved. My butt dyno on this car has zero calibration so I can't tell if there was any power increase, not that I expect or needed it. No check engine light. I've put about 60 miles on it so far with a mix of city and highway.

Cravenspeed installed:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...4b1e44ef42.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...33b9e77645.jpg


Inside of AFE intake tube:
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...6bbcf22074.jpg

Inside of K&N intake tube:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...7510868e80.jpg

Inside of Cravenspeed intake tube:
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...e603855370.jpg

Wonder if it really makes horsepower difference. It's sucking the hot air directly from engine bay now?

I went for an intake mainly for sound and so at least something under the hood wasn't stock with no intention of any power gains. Of course, the only dynos I've seen are from the manufacturers which claim 5-10whp.

Now as far as sucking in hot engine bay air, I have quite a bit of experience on mazdaspeed 3's with data logging temperatures and different intakes. On the mazdaspeed 3, an intake was good for 15-20whp, in-fact some cars would have fuel pressure issues after just an intake install. Temperature wise, I had a short intake very similar to the cravenspeed and a cold air intake where the filter was located outside of the engine bay.

On both of these, intake air temperatures when stopped would climb pretty high, however once moving they dropped very quickly. Actually I think I remember the short intake's temps dropping faster due to the filter being located near the fresh air inlet left over from the stock intake, similar to the stock setup on the mini. What makes intake air temps slightly less of a concern on a turbo car vs N/A car is the intercooler and turbo. The turbo itself is going to heat the air up just from passing through as well as it compressing the air. The intercooler then cools this down to a more normal level, depending on how good the intercooler is. On the ms3 using the stock and aftermarket top mounted intercooler, boosted air temps would be quite high when not in boost, even when moving as the intake tract wasn't pressurized, however going into boost brought temps down to more normal levels.

Now a short intake on an N/A car, that will make the car feel like a dog in the hot summer months when stopped at stop lights.

The reason after two other intakes I went with the cravenspeed rather than AWE, mishimoto or forge was the fact that the maf housing is cnc machined and the filter is easily changed or serviced. My choice after the cravenspeed would have been the AWE S-FLO, however I do not like that they use Green filters, and finding a filter to replace that odd shape would be a chore, but the intake itself looks very high quality and I would have made it work. The mishimoto is a very minimalist maf housing, not cnc machined and they could not provide me pictures of the inside of the tube so I could verify quality. The forge uses a foam filter which are a chore to clean (and I don't know how well they filter) and the tube itself is a few pieces welded together. I had a forge bpv on my ms3, so I know they make quality parts though.

What is the difference in sound vs. stock?

Its kinda hard to describe, but you can hear the turbo spool up when going into boost. When letting off the gas you this rapid air fluttering sound as well. This video gives you a good idea,

No idea on HP gain. It might help prevent the ecu from pulling timing up top if you are doing repeated WOT pulls.

Hey, I'm glad you are enjoying it. I actually removed it from the car about a week after I installed it. No issues with quality, but I did not like the way the car was driving with it on. I was actually feeling a loss of low end torque and some heatsoak. I'm now back on the stock intake with a Dinan Elite piggy back tuner and the car runs better than ever.