Ok, first of all the car is a 2003 Honda Civic EX Coupe, 5 SPD run with synthetic oil

I have been wanting a cool air intake for a while, so I finally got the money together and went in to a performance shop today. The guy at the counter talked to me about a few, but told me that cool air intakes can sometimes be trouble because if you drive in the rain it can wreck your engine. He now wants to sell me a short ram intake. I do not know a lot about short rams, but he says I will get more performance with the short ram, and not have the worry about the rain thing. The only drawback, he says, is that cool air intakes improve gas mileage while short ram intakes do not. It is about 130 for a "number 1" cool air intake and about 150 for an AEM Short Ram. He also says the the air filter that comes with the short ram is a lot better than the mesh one that comes with the cold air intake.

I basically want to get a HP boost, and saving on gas wouldnt be bad. The prices on these two items are similiar, so what are your guys opinions?

 

First off, your EX will NEVER have problems in the rain with anything you put on... the short ram will not be as good as the CAI. Your goal is to get COLD air in the engine so the CAI is going to be the best performance choice... as for gas mileage they only do a little bit...

Overall just putting an intake on your car will really do nothing until you get header, hi-flow cat and exhaust.... then you'll feel a difference.