Originally Posted by NeverEnough

Ok, I figured it was about time to chime in on my thoughts. I thought it better to start a new thread so the different reviews can be referenced seperately.

In brief overview, it took me a little while to get enough seat time to come up with a full appreciation for this upgrade. I was pleased with it from the get go, but now that the car has adapted to it 100% it is absolutely amazing in every way. I now have a hatred for the traction control, as it now violently engages an a regular basis and i need to buy stock in Michelin.

As has been stated before, the install can be done by a trained monkey in about 1 hour. It is that easy. The only two points of contention were during the removal of the Radiator Passthrough and the bottom clip holding the factory intake to the throttle body. Both of these issues are easily handled with a long, flat Head Screw Driver. In some aspects, the NeedsWings setup is almost over-engineered. Rob included a nicely finished Horn Relocation bracket that worked very well and required no problems to install. The hand fabricated brackets that were supplied were of excellent quality with excellent attention to detail. Even the underside of the brackets were lined with felt to keep from rubbing the paint(this was installed behind the grill where you will never even see it, that's how much attention was paid to this design).

Rob had told me that he was still playing around with filter sizes, and the one that he supplied me had not been tried before. I was pleasantly surprised, as was Rob, that this particular K&N DID NOT require the use of the Horn Relocation Bracket. There was more than enough room to reinstall the horns in teh factory locations once the Filter was fitted. I did find that the rubber elbow that attaches to the Throttle Body and the Rubber Radiator Passthrough Tube required a little lubrication to put together as they were a VERY tight fit, which is a good thing(less chance of unwanted movement). My only cosmetic complaint, actually had nothing to do with the intake itself. Once the intake is installed, there is no way to attach the belt cover to my satisfaction, so I will probably end up not using it at all. Of well, the price you pay for progress.

Now on the meat of the matter. You would have never been able to convince me that a simple intake would be a ble to make up ANY car to level that this one does. I've had intakes on most of my previous cars, and none have made a noticable difference to the Butt Dyno. This one really does! The sound it makes is quite pleasant overall. When cruising around under normal everyday driving, you won't even notice it's there. I consider that to be a bonus, as I was affraid it would be too noisy and compromise the Classy Character of the car. Under a small load(not requiring a downshift), the supercharger makes a nice muted whine that lets you know it's there. Under Full load it grows from a subtle whine to a wail that is enough to scare small children and animals as it sucks in copious amounts of air. The only other sound it makes is a unique high pitched whistle that coresponds to light throttle input adjustments. You can only hear this with the windows down in my car. It sounds a little like a vaccum leak and some may find it slightly unpleasant. It is not a loud whistle, but it just pitched high enough to irritate a sensitive ear. That just one more reason to FLOOR IT! It doesn't do it under large throttle inputs.

Now, as far as drivability, that is where is thing really shines. The intial throttle response(now that the ECU has fully adapted) is much more pronounced and aggressive. For those that think a Sprint Booster is too aggressive, this intake may make for the common ground you are looking for. Midrange throttle response seems to be about the same, but I would not want it to be herky jerky on the road at speed anyway. The car is MUCH quicker under moderate acceleration that it was before. It make such effortless power that you have to pay attention not get ahead of yourself. Under these conditions it really drive home how much this systme helps the mid-range breathing of this car.

Now, when you decide that it's time to play, HOLD ON! Off the line it launches so hard that it literally scared me the first time. It reaches 70 MPH before you can even react. That combined with the traction control, makes for a wild and violent ride. The traction control tries to keep it all together in a straight line adn has a habit of cutting in and out with very abrupt timing. If you are plaaning on launching the car that hard, just hit the ESP button and let it do it's thing. Even with the system off, the Stability control won't let it get too out of shame, and it's fun to crab walk off a stop light from time to time. If you do plan to take full advantage of this now found grunt, you might want to keep a claose eye on teh rear tires, as they won't live very long. I haven't had the opportunity to dyno my car or take it to the track, but the estimated gains of 25 HP seem conservative.

So overall, if you are looking for a relatively inexpensive upgrade that makes huge HP per $, then I would strongly suggest purchasing this system. If you just want a more responsive driving experience without compromising comfort, this is also for you. The only two complaints I can think of(and I did have to think to come up with them) are the high pitched whistle that low speed throttle adjustments produce and the Factory Belt Cover not fitting snuggly. That's about covers it. I'll add more as I think of it, or if anything changes. In summary, BUY IT! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!