I am getting ready to buy either an icebox or a cheaper short ram intake. Since there is about $100 difference in price, I was wondering how much better the icebox is?
Both in terms of performance and in terms of MPG. My car is a 99 TL with 60K

 

Any new intake will not give you that much of a performance increase. I mean you may talk about 5-10 HP or less than 5%. And nearly all that increase comes from 4500 RPMS+, so not durring normal driving. This is also the same for gas mileage.

After all of that, it is still fun to mod your car to your own liking. Just dont expect a huge difference in performance. One thing you will notice is a very nice new intake sound - the Comptech Icebox is the most quiet of the aftermarket intakes, virtually stock in sound.

The Icebox will give you a few more HP vs. the Short Ram, but the SR will be ALOT louder. If you arent that interested in the sound go with the Icebox, if you want a middle of the road loudness, go with a CAI. Just dont get a cheep one off Ebay, stick with the brands that are made for our cars...Comptech, AEM, Injen, or Weapon

 

the search button is your friend but i'll try to help anyways. Let's see...CAI basically sucks in colder air since the pipe extends lower. The SRI's filter is inside the engine bay so it'll be sucking in hotter air. Colder air = better perdormance. The difference in HP gains between the two are slim. Probably 1-2 i'm guessing. The Icebox I assume gives more hp gains than the traditional CAI. Plus it will not cause hydrolocking. But then again i think the new V2 CAI prevents hydrolocking as well. In terms of MPG i think there is an improvement, though i'm not sure how much. I have a '99 TL w/ 35k and using AEM CAI and am satisfied with the intake i chose. Sometimes it feels lke the car is more jumpy off the line with the CAI but it could just be me. Hope that helps.