MJB Motorsport

Vehicle 1: Carbonio Air Intake

Carbonio Air Intake Review

While inspecting the unit, I checked out the surface area of the new Pipercross foam filter element in the Carbonio compared to the old stock element.

Stock Paper Element = 520sq cm

Carbonio Pipercross Element = 854sq cm

Impressions of fitment and build quality are positive. The included lower section of the carbonio box is made of a metal and comes with a temperature resistant coating and adhesive thermal shielding. The box places the filter inside a relatively well sealed compartment away from the turbo.

The Carbon fiber lid seals of the top in an attempt to isolate the filter from underhood temperatures. Air is drawn in from the already available stock cool air rams at the front of the vehicle and fender.

After the Carbonio was installed, I drove the car for approximately 200 miles before starting the data logging process. Obviously when dealing with mods of smaller gains no real subjective impression of power gains can be given. If you can feel 10hp than you're a better person than I am so I cant comment on that :) What I can comment on is the changes in engine phonics. I have to admit I was kind of laughing most of the way home. I've always been more of a go mod person than a show mod person so I wasnt sure what to think about the sound, but i'll go ahead and describe it. You can now hear VERY well the sound of the air sucking into the intake. You can also hear the bypass valve bypassing the air. It sounds a bit like a quieter version of a BOV now. It is not noticeable with the radio on, but it can definitely still be heard with the windows up and radio off. Take from it what you will, it doesnt bother me nor is it a selling point for me but i'm sure opinions will vary. Many people may buy this thing for the sound alone i'm sure.

Once I had some miles on the car, I wanted to do some datalogging of the air intake. I had spoken to APR about this intake and told them I had heard some mixed reviews on the older unit that was promptly taken off the market. I mentioned to them that I am not interested in spending money on a purely aesthetic upgrade. APR was very upfront and stated the older unit did not perform to their expectation and that was one of the reasons for taking it off the market. What APR mentioned is that they were only interested in bringing an intake to market that could perform and they took an interest in the design side of this unit to ensure it performs. They advised me that they were seeing gains of 30g/s on their B6 stage 3+ cars. I was a bit sceptical but thought, what the heck. If their wrong, i'll just sell it.

I had taken stock logs prior to the install. The car was run in the standard 93 octane APR mode for both testing sessions. The same Shell 93 octane fuel was used and the same testing area was used to test the car as always. All runs were WOT 3rd gear runs.

Here are the results. First, is the boost log so it can be shown I was not running a special file and amazingly conditions were so similar that the boost logs look almost identical. I was suprised how consistent they were.

Indeeed, the car went from a 201g/s peak to a 214g/s peak. I have never seen more than 201g/s out of this car under any conditions so to see the increase in 13g/s pretty regularly through the rev band was suprising in a positive way. To give an example of the g/s logging I have done prior this testing comparison, when I upgraded the B6 A4 from K03 programming to K04 programming and turbo the car picked up about 25g/s. To give another example, when this B7 A4 was running APR programming only, I also saw a peak reading of 201g/s. After adding the Milltec Hiflow cat and the Neuspeed exhaust the peak reading of 201g/s remained.

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