I have read that some manufacturers now use the stereo system to make fake engine noise. Apparently, they have made the engine so quiet and the cabin so soundproof that the engine sounds were not loud enough inside the cabin.

Here's the article: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...-roar-11291754

Seems like an opportunity for a new feature. The engine-sound volume could be made adjustable by the driver. It could even reduce automatically when the phone is in use or the navigator is speaking...

 

The main purpose of a "cold air intake" is to decrease the intake air temperature thus increasing horsepower and increasing gas mileage. The intake pulls air from places away from the engine typically. Most of the intakes are rated at 10+hp which might be true if you had an unrestricted exhaust, realistically you would get around 5hp and that's not even at the wheels.

The really cheap air intakes (AKA most of the short ram intakes) will actually do the opposite and pull hot air in which is bad, so you want to go with name brand intakes.

So really if your just going to do a cold air intake without exhaust and a tune your looking at more aggressive noise, a few more MPG and your engine will appear to 'breath more' which is really a placebo effect in my experience.

BTW the engine sound being pumped through the speakers is already being done by BMW in their M cars. I have driven the new M5 and M4 and it is terrible. The engine sounds fake as hell I would not want this feature on my car.

 

Not to thread jack but I recently removed the hydrocarbon filter in the air box and dropped in a k&n replacement filter and it's a world of difference.

 

What noticeable gains did you encounter?

 

What gains? Gains in speed, what else. I mean it's not like forced induction, but there was a big difference in the butt dyno. Even today, just came back from Lake Havasu and letting her loose on I40 she really picked up a good amount of mid range and top end speed. You can really feel the diff. Now I noticed with my foot in it like that all day to Havasu and back my mpg suffered big time. Normally I can curies there and back and not even come off the full line, today I used a bit more then 1/8 -1/4 tank. So I'm gonna have to make sure I keep out of it.

 

ahhh okay I see. Did it sound any louder at all? Probably doing this sometime this weekend

 

Eh, not really. I mean there might be a tad bit of rushing air sound now and I think it's mainly to do with the removal I've the hydrocarbon filter in the box itself. I guess it all depends. On my new 4Runner I did the same thing. I've got a bigger 4.0 and make more hp/trq and that rig moves for it's size (thanks to 3.73s as well). I noticed a big diff in low end on that. I made the mistake if making a custom cold air intake to copy the TRD CAI. I lost a good amount of low end but it moved it around to the top end. Now on the open freeway to and from Vegas or Havasu it really picks up and goes. Now with that larger intake tube and come type filter it really can make a racket at WOT. Even granny driving I can notice a deeper tone to the intake.

 

Bump...

Has anyone installed a Short ram intake to their ES yet?

 

Installed the v6 Camry CAI from k&n. Works great much better sound, noticeable gas mileage increase and it seems to pull harder from the line. Over all I feel I got my 300 bucks work out of this upgrade.
It's kind of funny when you rev the engine people don't expect that sound out of the ES, I am just glad it doesn't sound like a Camry anymore.

I will do an update after the car adjusts to the intake to see if I am still getting more power/mpg.

 

Do you have a pic of it installed on the car?

 

You do understand that the colder the air, the worse the MPG, right? That's one of the main reasons that your MPG suffers in the winter.

 

I noticed an increase in mpg on the highway and its been around 30 degrees here.

 

I've asked K&N directly regarding a CAI for my 2013 ES350. There's no guarantee that their kit for the Avalon/Camry will actually fit and even if it fit perfectly you still have to be concerned with the MAF sensor. Unless you've access to a dyno and can check the performance after installing a CAI that's not specifically made for your car, you may be hurting your performance numbers. Of course, if you want to get the most benefit out of any CAI your next upgrade should be to your exhaust, i.e. a CAT-back system.

 

K&N SRI installed on my ES 350 no problems.