2022+ WRX Intake Shootout

 

 

 

 

SubiSpeed took the time to create a video a little over a year ago that featured an intake shootout for 2022+ WRX models, and it’s certainly worth watching and writing about for new owners of the latest WRX. SubiSpeed invested their time and resources with a dyno and a tuner, as well as (3) aftermarket intake systems to demonstrate how effective aftermarket intake examples perform on a 2022 WRX.

In pretty much every blog posted about performance enhancements, cold air intakes, short ram intakes, or any aftermarket intake for that matter will be mentioned. Performance intakes and cat-back exhaust systems are the two most popular modifications for any platform and are the bread and butter in the main ingredients of engine upgrades. All engines come with an intake box that will have a paper filter that is functional, and to be fair, all OEM intake boxes will shield the filter from hot engine bay temps. The problem is that these filters are designed to be replaced every 10-15k miles and are more susceptible to getting dirty much quicker because they collect dirt much faster. When these paper filters get dirty, it makes the engine, and especially your turbocharger, work harder to breathe.

 

Now for cars equipped with a turbocharger such as the 2022+ WRX, trying to boost through a dirty air filter only puts more wear and tear on your turbocharger because it is working harder to breathe, and hit those factory boost settings. Now to be fair, if you are keeping your WRX stock and are diligent on maintenance, the OEM filter/box design is fine. But when you want to crank out more horsepower and more boost, the OEM filter and airbox become rather restrictive, and it only gets worse if you do a cat-back exhaust or a downpipe and tune that can add a significant amount of horsepower but there is a counteracting effect because now your exhaust wheel on the turbo will want to make more power, but the compressor side will struggle to pump out air because of a restrictive intake.  

 

BENEFITS OF COLD AIR INTAKE

As you can see through the inlet side of this K&N filter, the cabin space inside the filter will provide the turbocharger with more room and surface area to breathe when compared to a panel filter where you can only get air from the face of the panel filter from the intake box. Per K&N’s reference, which is all relative to cone-style intakes as the majority of aftermarket intake systems will feature a K&N filter, these cone-style filters will flow up to 6.03 cubic feet per minute per square inch of material. Meaning a lot.

Furthermore, the intake pipe on most cold air intakes are made using smooth aluminum bends that also reduce intake turbulence when compared to the accordion-style rubber or plastic intake pipes found on most vehicles. With this combination, aftermarket intake setups whether they be a cold air or short ram, will increase horsepower while improving the throttle response and the spool response of your turbocharger.

Now with a turbocharged vehicle like the 2022+ WRX a good cold air intake system alone without a tune can add 20+ HP, and with a tune, some users are getting 40+ HP gains, and it depends on the elevation, gas type, but still those are tremendous numbers to be gained from an engine upgrade that can be performed in your driveway with basic hand tools.

 

 

DYNO TESTING

With each intake example, the intake systems got 3 dyno runs each. Note that SubiSpeed’s test WRX does have an aftermarket cat-back exhaust but still retains the factory J-pipe. It also has a COBB Tuning Top mount Intercooler. 3 runs are made to monitor air/fuel ratios, to make sure that the boost levels are within their strike zone, and to make sure that timing is on the conservative side as too much timing can lean out the motor and send rods to the moon. Additionally, the car is running on standard pump gas. Tuning duties were performed by Graham with Boosted Performance Tuning who is a very skilled and knowledgeable tuner for many makes and models.

 

PERRIN COLD AIR INTAKE 2022+ WRX

With the PERRIN Cold Air Intake System, the results were pretty impressive as PERRIN designed this particular intake to run safely without a tune. Now there are several intake designs that could outflow the parameters of what the OEM mass flow air sensor has been programmed to recognize, so that is why a tune is required. However, PERRIN made this intake just right for those who just want a little bump in power.  With a baseline dyno of 255.90 HP to the tires before the intake, these are the results:

• Without a tune: 278.01 HP / 279.71 FT/LBS
• With a tune: 337.22 HP / 408.45 FT/LBS

Very impressive for an intake designed to run on a daily driver for those who didn’t want to add a tune or an Accessport. However, with a tune, the gains are very substantial just for an intake with the PERRIN unit.

 

 

AEM COLD AIR INTAKE SYSTEM 2022+ WRX

The design of this intake features a traditional cone-style filter, and it comes with an intake shield that also protects the filter from hot engine bay temperatures. This one features a glossy grey powder-coated intake pipe with smooth bends that also help produce great results.

• Without a tune: 299.95 HP / 296.56 FT/LBS
• With a tune: 343.87 HP / 407.08 FT/LBS

A very important note to take from Graham the tuner, is that on the stock tune, he did discover that the air/fuel ratios were lean up top which produced 12 AFR’s. Now for those of you who are new to tuning, when boosting, you want to avoid a lean condition more than anything else because this is what melts motors. Whether you have a separate Wideband O2 gauge, or monitor AFR’s through an Accessport, the ideal strike zone numbers you should see on your wideband display is 11:1-11:7 AFR’s at full throttle and full boost. Anything leaner than that number (or greater), is in the danger zone for your engine in terms of having it last. Some people will argue that seeing 12’s at full boost or full throttle in naturally aspirated conditions is fine, but you want to remain on the safe side of things. Having enough fuel to make sure that your cylinders are not melting pistons is always the right way to go.

But why is this intake system appearing leaner on the stock tune when compared to the PERRIN unit? Because the design generates more horsepower, and it flows a little more. Therefore, the factory’s ECU tune is getting a little compromised in terms of the car making more power outside of the set fuel parameters. Because of these reasons, a tune is required to make sure that you’re making power on the safe side of things.

With a tune, the AEM intake provided a more linear power curve that produced more power than the PERRIN unit, but it was slightly on the lower end on torque.

 

 

ETS INTAKE SYSTEM 2022+ WRX

In the design, the ETS intake pipe goes straight to business with a little larger piping diameter with a shorter route when compared to the PERRIN and AEM unit. It does utilize the K&N cone-style filter. Because the piping is larger, it was ran without a MAF sleeve (or adapter). So, it had to be ran with a tune with Graham only making scaling changes in the tuning map for this intake. Trying to run this intake stock would run too lean because the mass air flow sensor would not recognize the larger volume of air intake and would cause a fuel cut or a boost spike issue. With Graham’s advisory, it is only recommended that you run the ETS intake with a tune. Here are the results:

• 342.32 HP / 296.77 FT/LBS

Now, some of you might be confused here. Why would an intake with a larger intake pipe make less horsepower than the AEM unit? That is because the ETS unit has been designed to work with future upgrades such as a larger turbocharger that has a matching inlet for the turbo. Although used in the intake shootout, the ETS intake example is more designed for those who are going to have a larger upgraded turbocharger. Can you use this intake with a sleeve reducer for the MAF? Yes, you can. But if you are not planning on getting a larger upgraded turbocharger soon, then this intake may not be the ticket. After all, ETS is aimed to break horsepower and timeslip records. If you are building a 2022+ WRX to make substantial amounts of horsepower with a built engine, then this would be the right choice.

 

 

THE CONCLUSION

The conclusion is that there is no clear winner. Now although the AEM intake makes the most horsepower on a tune, it wasn’t exactly safe to use without a tune on stock settings. On the other hand, 90% of enthusiasts who own a 2022+ WRX will have a COBB Accessport installed to work with future mods.

Now for those of you who want those performance gains without a tune, who don’t want to mess with the warranty (We know you’ve got to remove it before going to the dealer), then the PERRIN unit is the way to go, and has been engineered to provide great gains without a tune. But still, it makes great power with a tune as well.

The ETS is the choice for those who are going to install a larger turbo and need an intake to match the inlet size, and it is rather a bit large for the stock turbo although it can work.

With all that said, each intake setup has their own benefits to suit a variety of goals. All examples are simple to install, but for a daily driver without a tune, the PERRIN is the way to go. When you have an Accessport or a tune, the AEM unit will make the most power within the limits of the factory turbocharger. And when you want to make all the power through a larger turbo and a built engine, the ETS unit will be the right move. All great examples that serve a purpose, and that is to make more power.