the CAI is better for the Accord because the longer pipe shifts the powerband down...hence you'll be making power at a rev range that we can actually reach. However, the length of the AEM intake is far beyond optimal..... and it also has the unfortunate flaw of being so low down to the ground. If you go through a puddle (and yes, they do form all over the country when it rains hard enough), it will hydrolock the engine.

In other words, the AEM CAI is not streetable.....unless you put on the bypass, now, there is a problem caused by doing this that effects flow quality. So now, the idea is the Short Ram. The short ram will make just as much power, it will however make the power much higher in the rev range. It will not feel as if it has gained as much as a CAI (I've had both and several different brands, including the one I use now that is made by my shop and is tuned and is somewhat between the CAI and Shortram in length - battery in trunk though). The reason - accord powerband is low end, and car does not rev high enough to take advantage of the short ram's benefits.

In general, short = high end, short = low end.

Now, the cold air argument could be said, but the temperature of the air in the real world has little effect, especially after you consider the heat of the intake manifold and the engine room heat that will seap into the aluminum pipe. Theoretically cold air = better power output, but the problem with that is that optimum velocity will not nescessarily be achieved at the same time.

It's a very complicated subject, I'm trying to explain it all in laymans terms, but if you really want to get deep about it you need several years of college physics and a course in fluid dynamics.

Original question: The AEM CAI dyno I have on a 90 DX -

First Run: 112.0 hp (stock) @ around 4600rpm
Second Run: 116.6 (AEM CAI) @ around 4500rpm
First Run: 121.5 ft-lbs (stock) @ around 5400rpm
Second Run: 133.6 ft-lbs (AEM CAI) @ around 5400rpm

Which is better: eh, somewhere in between, but for "feel" the CAI, for streetability the short ram, either will make about the same power...just at different places on the graph.

- Nathan