[Guitarkid]

Bought a 2016 m235i x drive recently with a 5 year or 60k mile warranty. It has a Remus cat back and is lowered on dinan springs but stock otherwise. And the plastic charge pipe has been upgraded to metal already, saving me a job. I’m new to bmw and I know tuning will probably void the warranty. I do want more power eventually and more turbo noises would be nice. I’m looking at the dinan cold air intake but it seems a bit high in price for what you get, plus I get the impression it’ll throw a check engine light. I came from a WRX with typical mods which needed to be tuned for literally anything under the hood lol. So is getting an intake worth it?

[RichardC300]

I went from a Dinan cold air intake back to stock because of a tiny vacuum leak where the carbon tube joins the factory accordion intake tube that was causing an error code. Dinan sent me a new carbon tube, but I didn't install it. I noticed no difference before and after, and now, I'm still stock airbox. I'd say it is not worth it.

[XutvJet]

No, not worth it at all. They often cause a host of issues. They might gain a few HP on the upper portion of the powerband, but since the average power isn't really elevated, there won't be a measurable gain in performance.

If you want a little more induction noise, diverter valve noises, etc., get the 2016-2018 M2 lower airbox or what is known as the MPPK airbox. It basically has a hole cut in it with a velocity stack and will create noise while not throwing codes or driveability issues.

The real power comes from a tune and downpipe. If you get a downpipe, pony up the $1200-1400 for a good one with quality catalytic converter. Catless sounds like crap and smells pretty bad plus throws codes and the gain of going catless is miniscule. The HJS Euro 6 catted DP on my M235 is good for a legit 20whp and 25wtq plus it made my M Performance exhaust sound epic and with no drone or rasp.

[RGM330i]

BMW has done a decent job with the stock airbox and the fact that they draw cooler air from outside the engine compartment. As noted by others, there is probably not much to be gained in day to day driving performance improvement by switching.