Who has Ms3 with Mazda CAI only??

[watchurwrist]

I am considering having Mazda installing their CAI on my stock '09 ms3.

I'm interested in how much power gain you really felt after this mod.

I believe there's a net of ~20whp from the CAI, but want to know the
"seat of the pants" effect.

Thanks

 

[coyfish]

You gain about 15 whp. I honestly didn't feel a difference right away because you have to reset the ECU which takes a little while. After it resets you feel a difference. Its not a HUGE change but the powerband is smoother and you can feel / hear when the turbo kicks in.

 

[Sergius64]

20 more hp is less then 10% of an increase, so it's hard to tell if what you feel really the extra power or the placebo effect. After you get it installed you want to stay off it for a little bit while the ECU is getting used to it. After that period is over, it's hard to remember what the car used to feel like. I guess you've just got to trust the numbers.

 

[SomnoSpeed3]

While test driving I drove one with and wthout mscai. I bought the one with the cai and it was a noticable feeling. Well worth the fairly small price and you keep the warranty. It no coincidence that mist people here have added a cai. They work.

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

Probably the single most amazing mod you can do to the car to open up the car's possibilities while maintaining your warranty. DO IT!

 

[squidmotion]

can't hurt!

 

[Jared703]

I have one on the way for my 09. I'm exicted to see what the gains are like- it will be my first mod.

 

[drez]

Do you need to have a authorized dealer install this to keep the warranty intact or can you do it yourself without messing the warranty up

 

[coyfish]

Do you need to have a authorized dealer install this to keep the warranty intact or can you do it yourself without messing the warranty up

People im sure will tell you otherwise but to be 100% safe you need to have mazda install the CAI so they can jack you for 200 bucks for a 20 minute install.

 

[mazdaspeedster3]

Install it yourself, they are not going to bother you about it. They can not say whether you did or a certified mechanic did, no difference, save the money!

 

[mazdaspeedster3]

While test driving I drove one with and wthout mscai. I bought the one with the cai and it was a noticable feeling. Well worth the fairly small price and you keep the warranty. It no coincidence that mist people here have added a cai. They work.

Dexter MI? We do a fun run through Dexter 3 of 4 times a year.

Not to be a balloon buster but our ECU's are addaptive and change for your driving style. A totally stock MS3 that is driven hard regularly will feel stronger and out run a MS3 with a CAI that is just a pampered DD. I still would have bought the one with the CAI, saved you some time and $$ in the end!

 

[drez]

Install it yourself, they are not going to bother you about it. They can not say whether you did or a certified mechanic did, no difference, save the money!

Ok cool.
I guess the dealer is the only place to get these at too?

 

[Jared703]

Ok cool.
I guess the dealer is the only place to get these at too?

They are not being produced at this time (anymore). They are supposedly being revamped, but there hasn't been an availability date announced yet. You will have to find a previous copy somewhere else.

 

[MaikuMS3]

You gain about 15 whp. I honestly didn't feel a difference right away because you have to reset the ECU which takes a little while. After it resets you feel a difference. Its not a HUGE change but the powerband is smoother and you can feel / hear when the turbo kicks in.

how long does it take for ECU to reset?

 

[coyfish]

how long does it take for ECU to reset?

Not sure EXACTLY but usually around 3-4 drives about 50 miles and its back to normal.

 

[MSMS3]

I am considering having Mazda installing their CAI on my stock '09 ms3.

I'm interested in how much power gain you really felt after this mod.

I believe there's a net of ~20whp from the CAI, but want to know the
"seat of the pants" effect.

Thanks

Seat of pants is very deceptive. Butt dyno is frequently pure placebo effect after a mod.

The lighter the car the more noticable an increase in hp or torque is. Someone once said that as a general rule, for cars in the 3,000 lb. category you really cannot reliably tell the difference between felt power in two otherwise identical cars until the hp or torque change is at least 30. I don't know if that is true, but it makes sense.

But that said, felt power is more torque than hp. This mod produces close to 30 lbs of torque (24 hp, 28 torque according to Road and Track). So it's on the border line for "butt dyno" purposes.

Just do it and enjoy the power gain. It's real. The cheapest way to know what is happening is to get a cheap Walmart stopwatch and do some before and after timed runs. Even something that simple is way better than butt dyno.

 

[Design]

how long does it take for ECU to reset?

Most tuners will tell you that a majority of the calculations are dialed in after the first 1-2 full throttle pulls from idle to redline.

I got a 27 whp gain (measured at the hub) from the MSCAI. I responded on another forum that the reason these cars respond well to the intake is because the factory inlet is the size of a silver dollar. It was designed this way primarily for noise reduction. Here's my dyno for reference. Performed after a 2 minute idle and 20 seconds of driving, with 4 full throttle pulls (the last pull was used for comparison over stock):

 

[watchurwrist]

Mazda has CAI in stock

This was verified in 2 dealers.

One dealer quoted me $300 because it requires 3 hours of labor, which includes resetting the ecu.

I haven't pull the trigger yet on the cai.

I do believe a down pipe would have larger hp/tq gains vs an intake of any kind.
That said, I'm not willing to risk losing any portion of the warranty.

 

[coyfish]

Yeah the install is a complete rip off. It took me 45 minutes and that was the first time I had ever even popped the hood of a car. I was quoted 200 when I asked just FYI. 300 is ridiculous. That means 600 dollars for an intake . . . you could get a FMIC for that.

 

[coyfish]

Most tuners will tell you that a majority of the calculations are dialed in after the first 1-2 full throttle pulls from idle to redline.

I got a 27 whp gain (measured at the hub) from the MSCAI. I responded on another forum that the reason these cars respond well to the intake is because the factory inlet is the size of a silver dollar. It was designed this way primarily for noise reduction. Here's my dyno for reference. Performed after a 2 minute idle and 20 seconds of driving, with 4 full throttle pulls (the last pull was used for comparison over stock):

What mods do you have here other than the CAI. 274 whp from just a CAI is hard to believe.