[njdangelo]

I have an open air intake for my 340i that I purchased from a fellow forum member. He installed a stick on heat dissipating material to the metal shield and it works fantastic. While it doesn't utilize the same piping from the front grill it does sit in the same location and does continue to get the "cold air". I have monitored intake temps and only saw 4-5 degree increase. It's generally excepted that 10degrees of intake temperature equals 1% horsepower reduction (or gain if you are cooling the air) so the open air filter has not had any negative performance effects in my day to day driving. It should be noted that I haven't taken it on a track and I do not sit in stop and go traffic so your experience may differ from mine.
Like the previous poster I used to own a Mazdaspeed vehicle as well although I had the speed6. When I added the intake to that I definitely noticed heat soak but the filter was in a different location and TBH the intercooler placement on that car was probably the main culprit... directly on top of the engine. Still an incredible machine though