if you plan on driving it like a submarine get a SRI. otherwise the CAI will be better

ps. you need to submerge the entire filter to hydrolock your car. on a rainy day a CAI will in fact be better than a SRI because it will be getting cooler air, and cooler air means more HP. a little water in the engine isnt gunna kill you. in fact it may make your car faster because it cools your engine off. a lot of supercharger guys actually have water injection fixed up to cool their blower temps way down. im pretty sure polo has it.

 

i have actually been looking at the ones that you can take apart about half way up so you have the option of SRI or CAI... i may use the CAI in the summer and the SRI in the winter
like this one here

 

I got a aem cai and I love mine. I also have drove it in the rain alot and had no prob's with it.

 

i have a sri and i have no problems..the power difference is soooo minimal..few hp most?

 

coupled with a big TB, head work, bottom end, header, exhaust, and a roots style SC at 12psi...the difference will be significant. like 15-20hp difference.

 

Everyone may tell you I'm an idiot on this forum, i probably am [:@], but if you get a SRI, and save yourself the worry of get water in you engine with a CAI

 

less than $100 for a good name brand SRI i think is well worth it considering the fact that u could possibly run the risk of hydrolocking with a CAI and costing u hundreds, even thousands in repairs, and also paying $100+ more for 2hp give or take isnt really worth it to me. CAIs need slightly more maintenence also. it also depends on if ur gena be drag racing or autoxing, i autox so SRI is just perfect with the low end power for coming out of those turns

its all up to u and the way u drive tho...

 

First of all, I don't think a SRI will noticably beat a CAI anywhere in the powerband. Secondly, I don't see how low end helps you when autocrossing. With an ideal set up, you would never drop below 4k rpms in an autocross, which, according to that dyno, is where the CAI becomes paticularly dominant anyway.

As for the risk of hydrolocking, people blow that way out of proportion. As Nail said, you'd have to submerge the entire filter to hydrolock your car.

You're right about the extra maintence tho. The CAI filter will get dirtier faster. That's the only considerable determining factor imo. Either you do more maintence for more power, or less for less.

 

So....

SRI = less power output, less maintianence, for rainy climates.

CAI = more power output, more maintianence, for dry climates.

Well considering I live in Fremont CA, w/ dry summers, and cats & dogs winter rains, hmm....this is gonna take lots of thinking.

 

Maybe you should get the intake that can switch back and forth like fiirkan suggested. Probably the route im going to take when i find a good brand i can trust. BTW i have an Ebay SRI that was on the car when i bought it and i have no complaints about it.