Hypothetical intake question/"theory"
 

Now for our cars I see we seem to have very limited options as far as aftermarket air intakes go, the only ones I've seen are the AWE AirGate carbon fiber intake and the Roc Euro intake. Personally I don't want to spend $700+ on an intake, yeah its cool looking but its under the hood so not like ill ever see it unless i open the hood lol, and from what I've been reading about Roc Euro, I don't wanna wait weeks/months for it and go thru that headache for an intake which is really just an air filter and a cheap looking "heat shield", plus the $200 they want for it now is just a little bit ridiculous IMO. I've heard it used be half that. So basically what I'm curious about is if an intake made for the A4/A5 would fit the S4/S5. Specifically the IE Cold Air Intake (https://www.performancebyie.com/ie-b...old-air-intake) reason I'm asking is cause it seems that both cars use the same intake box/design, the only difference I see is that the A4/A5 intake pipe to the turbo turns down while on the S4/S5 it goes straight (yes I know because of turbo placement). Other than that, the OEM intakes look to be the same. So is it possible that we could use the IE Intake but reuse our stock intake pipe? Or maybe even could fit on the ECS Tuning Turbo Inlet Hose (https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ecs-part...4360ecs01~a/)? I think this intake is pretty nicely made and kinda fits in between the AWE and Roc Euro intakes (visual appeal wise and price wise). I just figured since our options seem to be limited, this could be an alternative. Would love to hear your thoughts and feedback! Also just to note, I am in no way bashing AWE or Roc Euro, I just feel there is a big price/quality gap between the two of them and I'm looking for something that has the best of both (yeah we can all dream right lol :rolleyes:) yeah if I had $700 lying around I would buy the AWE AirGate lol

Every aftermarket intake for every car I've ever seen is literally just a generic $39 made-in-China cone filter mated to a custom fabbed bracket/heat shield/enclosure of varying degrees of quality/complexity, and secured to the throttle body with a length of silicon tubing in the correct diameter plus a hose clamp to lock it onto the throttle body. In some cars like my previous Honda, there is an intake air sensor that must be installed somewhere behind the filter in the intake to avoid a CEL...not sure if the S4 has that or not. An intake is never anything more or less than this and I agree that paying $700 for one is ridiculous.

So yes, if you wanted to go the cheap route, you could easily spend the $39 on whatever cone filter you wanted and fab something up. You could even forego a bracket/heat shield completely (or make a super ghetto one with some sheet metal and a dremel/drill) and just secure it directly to the throttle body with a length of silicon tubing and some hose clamps + zip ties, and it will likely perform and sound just as good/bad as any other intake on the market until heat soak starts to set in, which is only partially subverted by the bracket. The stock airbox is almost always the most immune to heat soak of any solution for a given car, short of what the serious track guys do which is to remove one of the headlights and route their cone filter intakes directly there. (Advanced installations will even include a custom scoop-type inlet that fits into the headlight opening...google "headlight intake" for examples.)

For the A4 options to fit, you need an adapter to fit their air filter to the S4 inlet hose. Most of the A4 aftermarket intakes use a 5" filter, and I believe the S4 inlet hose is 3"? I looked into this for the 034 intake, but there is more to it than just connecting the ECS inlet hose. That's why these intakes include their own inlet hose. 034 will be announcing their S4 intake soon. With it being carbon fiber, it will likely also be in the $600+ range, but who knows.

You could always get the K&N replacement filter for your stock air box.

Yeah you got a point there, most intakes are usually just an air filter with some sort of heat shield and intake piping and yeah i could go out, buy my own supplies and build some sort of basic intake, but i dont want to take the chance of it falling apart/ruin the car by catching fire or damage the engine lol. yeah im aware you "get what you pay for" but i feel theres a certain point where you start overpaying just for the sake of "brand name" or visual appeal. Honestly I just want something to give me better turbo sounds, maybe a slight increase in driving pleasure (less lag, etc...) im not expecting big gains, but if a $700 intake gave me an extra 30-40 hp then hell yeah brother give me two, but it usually doesnt work that way lol. And you're right, the stock air box does offer very good protection against heat soak as its sealed up and probably that way also to tone down the turbo sounds for a more "luxury" feel. To be honest Im not in a rush to get an intake, just was curious what options we had and if the ones from the A4/A5 could fit our cars.


No i kinda figured it probably wouldnt have just been "plug n play" but I was guessing since they both have the same stock air box, maybe some aftermarket intakes could be swapped too. I felt that because of different turbo locations, thats why they supplied the A4 with a pipe that turns down vs the S4 have a top mounted turbo. I was also debating just getting a K&N drop in filter but wasnt sure what size/model would fit. Plus I do want an aftermarket intake cause yeah they do look better under the hood :D