I am writing a review on this product because I have not been able to find any review for this in North America. It's either non-existent or no one has bothered to post about it. I took a leap of faith because I wasn't sure it was going to fit, arrive, or just be a huge waste of money. The timing was not ideal with the suspension of items below $800 no longer being tariffed. I paid about $241 for the product, $124 in import fees from Japan using UPS Saver, and I have to pay state taxes on the purchase which will be about $14.46 (6% sales tax where I am). I bought the part from Black Hawk Japan. The shipping took about 2 weeks even though the tariff situation and war in the middle east just started. Luckily it didn't have to go through any restricted areas and UPS was cleared to start shipping again around March 2nd. One thing to note, there is a long waiting period between order confirmation and the shipping information. It's likely that Black Hawk Japan didn't have it in stock and needed to request the order from AutoExe so shipping times could take longer than mine did if AutoExe has no stock for the product.
The instructions come in Japanese only. I don't think this part is intended to be English friendly. There are no sound clips for this product. I even tried to VPN to Japan to get a sound clip somewhere and I couldn't find one. Just some Japanese forums talking about the product. I found nothing in North America about it. I submitted a photo of the document to Google translate. I was able to get it in mostly English that way. That was very helpful. The installation was pretty easy. I took my time and it took about an hour and a half. I did not have any room for error as I would have to makeshift anything I broke.
The reason why I went for this product was because I was dissatisfied about how loud the corksport SRI was during light acceleration. Yes, I want to hear the turbo, but I am getting too old to make a CX-5 obnoxiously loud. I don't take offense to anyone who has loud exhausts or the SRI from corksport or Burger Motorsports. It's just not for me. This is the perfect in between. The corksport SRI had a high pitched sucking sound under the slightest throttle input. I particularly didn't enjoy going up large hills. Just sounded like a vacuum cleaner and not a turbo spool. I thought I had a turbo leak, but I checked multiple times and it just sounded like rushing air through the cone to me. Sure, I might sound a little whiny about it, but it's just not my preference. I don't mind the turbo spools from straight piped diesel trucks, but this sounded like a vacuum cleaner type suction. It's much louder in person that I've seen from sound clips on YouTube.
This product is a perfect in-between stock and the Short Ram Intake systems. It actually sounds like the turbo spooling now even if it is a muted sucking noise. The MK957 utilizes the top part of the stock air box system. The bottom half is replaced by the MKG957 Sports induction Box. It's basically a fiberglass frame that is designed to use the bottom stock box's factory mounts and utilize the factory OEM filter. It fit the filter perfectly as well as the stock top box. The setup looks stock if you open the engine bay. You would have to look around to see anything different. At wide open throttle, I can't hear the turbo noise. The engine roar is louder that it. You can hear the "turbo spool" with the windows up or down. I would say it's about half of the noise of a SRI. It's barely audible if you are listening to music (depending the volume). The bypass valve is clearly audible with windows up or down. It's just not as obnoxious as it was. I feel like if I had a Mazda3 Turbo, I wouldn't have been complaining as much about the noise, but this is a compact SUV. It, to me, needs to be a little more classy. This product is perfect for me.
Sounds heard above 40-70% throttle from a stop. Normal cruising is minimal. While driving at 30mph it would take about 50-70% throttle to start hearing it spool. I think it has to do with the way the gear ratios are or how Mazda tuned the turbo/engine. It just seems harder to get it to hear the spool around 30mph. When cruising about 50 mph, the turbo spools a lot more it seems. It only takes about 30 percent throttle to hear it spool. Luckily, for me, it's not obnoxiously loud. Wide open throttle the engine is louder than the spool at all mph ranges. Bypass valve is super pleasant at all ranges with it being less audible with less boost (obviously).
TLDR: The AutoExe MK957 fits the KF5P/PY-VPTS Turbo engines. It's a perfect bridge between a Short Ram Intake and Stock sound. It uses the stock OEM filter dimensions and replaces the bottom portion of the stock box and uses the factory mount point for the bottom MKG957 frame. The top of the box and clips are still utilized. Great if you are worried about maintaining excellent filtration while hearing that turbo and bypass valve because you can use the drop in OEM filters. Shipping takes a long time. Import fees now, boo. Worth it? 100% to me. I'm sure I missed something. Feel free to ask questions.
Update: I added some videos, but it was extremely difficult to capture a high pitched noise level when phones try to tune sounds like that out. This is the best I can get. With that said, the tone is quiet enough for rain or music to tune it out. It doesn’t bother the wife so it’s wife approved.
The instructions come in Japanese only. I don't think this part is intended to be English friendly. There are no sound clips for this product. I even tried to VPN to Japan to get a sound clip somewhere and I couldn't find one. Just some Japanese forums talking about the product. I found nothing in North America about it. I submitted a photo of the document to Google translate. I was able to get it in mostly English that way. That was very helpful. The installation was pretty easy. I took my time and it took about an hour and a half. I did not have any room for error as I would have to makeshift anything I broke.
The reason why I went for this product was because I was dissatisfied about how loud the corksport SRI was during light acceleration. Yes, I want to hear the turbo, but I am getting too old to make a CX-5 obnoxiously loud. I don't take offense to anyone who has loud exhausts or the SRI from corksport or Burger Motorsports. It's just not for me. This is the perfect in between. The corksport SRI had a high pitched sucking sound under the slightest throttle input. I particularly didn't enjoy going up large hills. Just sounded like a vacuum cleaner and not a turbo spool. I thought I had a turbo leak, but I checked multiple times and it just sounded like rushing air through the cone to me. Sure, I might sound a little whiny about it, but it's just not my preference. I don't mind the turbo spools from straight piped diesel trucks, but this sounded like a vacuum cleaner type suction. It's much louder in person that I've seen from sound clips on YouTube.
This product is a perfect in-between stock and the Short Ram Intake systems. It actually sounds like the turbo spooling now even if it is a muted sucking noise. The MK957 utilizes the top part of the stock air box system. The bottom half is replaced by the MKG957 Sports induction Box. It's basically a fiberglass frame that is designed to use the bottom stock box's factory mounts and utilize the factory OEM filter. It fit the filter perfectly as well as the stock top box. The setup looks stock if you open the engine bay. You would have to look around to see anything different. At wide open throttle, I can't hear the turbo noise. The engine roar is louder that it. You can hear the "turbo spool" with the windows up or down. I would say it's about half of the noise of a SRI. It's barely audible if you are listening to music (depending the volume). The bypass valve is clearly audible with windows up or down. It's just not as obnoxious as it was. I feel like if I had a Mazda3 Turbo, I wouldn't have been complaining as much about the noise, but this is a compact SUV. It, to me, needs to be a little more classy. This product is perfect for me.
Sounds heard above 40-70% throttle from a stop. Normal cruising is minimal. While driving at 30mph it would take about 50-70% throttle to start hearing it spool. I think it has to do with the way the gear ratios are or how Mazda tuned the turbo/engine. It just seems harder to get it to hear the spool around 30mph. When cruising about 50 mph, the turbo spools a lot more it seems. It only takes about 30 percent throttle to hear it spool. Luckily, for me, it's not obnoxiously loud. Wide open throttle the engine is louder than the spool at all mph ranges. Bypass valve is super pleasant at all ranges with it being less audible with less boost (obviously).
TLDR: The AutoExe MK957 fits the KF5P/PY-VPTS Turbo engines. It's a perfect bridge between a Short Ram Intake and Stock sound. It uses the stock OEM filter dimensions and replaces the bottom portion of the stock box and uses the factory mount point for the bottom MKG957 frame. The top of the box and clips are still utilized. Great if you are worried about maintaining excellent filtration while hearing that turbo and bypass valve because you can use the drop in OEM filters. Shipping takes a long time. Import fees now, boo. Worth it? 100% to me. I'm sure I missed something. Feel free to ask questions.
Update: I added some videos, but it was extremely difficult to capture a high pitched noise level when phones try to tune sounds like that out. This is the best I can get. With that said, the tone is quiet enough for rain or music to tune it out. It doesn’t bother the wife so it’s wife approved.
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