I dont really disagree with anything you said. Most auto makers put more $$$ into the engineering of a doorhandle than any aftermarket company does to any part they produce.
But Subaru's tune from the factory is pretty well known to be bad, especially on my year (07) so dont go fooling yourself into thinking that they put the best running car on the street. If they were really awesome they'd have fixed that, gone to SD, etc... They did the best they cared to given the time it takes to do a good tune, EPA, etc.
Is it though? What was the percentage of failures versus success? There is no doubt in my mind that there may have been some mistake or issues but as far as it being that bad is a bold claim on your part. Now take those failures and see how many of those were people and their subarus running aftermarket parts with the same mentality as you. The results would be hard to obtain and the research is far more extensive than what many would be willing to do. In any matter those bona-fide failures would be have happened early in the lifetime of the vehicle and be covered under subaru's warranty. I never calimed that subarus were the best running cars on the street but they definitely do run nice in stock trim no doubt compared to those with big cams, massive in/ex ports, and no little to no tune. There is a reason why subaru, mitsu, and gm went to maf based fueling and its mostly because of the drivability and economy of the car as well as it being more precise in the fueling hence the increased need for a tune.
You even say yourself how the stock EVAP system is crap, so what makes you think that the intake they designed is the best thing ever? The ringlands they specced out arent and neither are the oil pickups.
evap system is required for emission standards. Has little to nothing to do with the design. again i ringlands and pickups are a small percentage but are blown out of proportion by online forums. How many "oil pickup is crap" threads have you counted or "car is blowing white smoke=think i broke a ringland" thread have you seen on the forums? say your saw three threads like this. is that considered alot? how many of these threads would make you start to worry your engine is made of glass? even if you saw 100 compared to the number of cars subaru sold is probably a fraction of the percentage of failures. I have an 05 that made it to 110,000 miles with no issues burning oil, broken ringland, or busted oil pickup. but guess what, that doesnt create drama that fucks with peoples' heads like a financial loss (motor rebuild etc...) granted my motor still failed at approximately that mark. Why? because of a combination of parts and an OTS map and the previous owner(s) not taking care of the motor and it spun a bearing. I never said the intake is the best thing ever either but actual engineering went into it and has built in features that make it work well. definitely better than any aftermarket intake ive seen.
Im just saying, calm down a bit. Subaru != God.
Never said that. Although i do like the car. It is a nice car and alot of solid engineering has gone into it and you can tell. Just because a few failures happen there is no need to get all bent out of shape about it. It just seems funny to me that all these failures are noted on the "performance" cars that subaru makes but not on their legacy's, impreza's, or tribecas that are all made from the same materials and had less specialized engineers working on these.
In a "properly" designed intake, a tune should not need a retune. What both you and Holy said makes sense...in a poorly made intake. Or in an intake purposefully designed to be weird. Why not put the MAF a tiny bit farther back so the flow can laminarize no matter what intake/element is put on?
Your right when you say properly. Proper tune for stock intake should be the stock tune which it should be and generally is unless you have a log pointing out otherwise. most aftermarket intakes arent necessarily poorly made, but are made with little testing, r&d, and time and money invested in order to maximize profit. There is a reason why aftermarket parts void warranties and many people do not heed these warnings. I'm not really sure what you mean by laminarize but im guessing you were trying to say even and smooth flow of the intake charge. generally speaking, intakes that have more thought put in do incorporate designs like putting the sensor in a straight section of the pipe but that isnt going to be consistent in every scenario and unless you install the intake exactly how the manufacturer did when testing (almost impossible to know) or every time you uninstall and install it, it can change the way air flows and skew the trims. again this is why the stock air box is designed the way it is and really goes on there one way(think about it). The best remedy is a maf housing screen or air straightener of some sort incorporated into the intake and again. the cobb SRI is the only one i have seen that has this in their design that does well with the stock "tune".
