Can you prove your statement?
There are varying opinions when it comes to this. I am going to try to cover both aspects here.
Air Intake Tube:
A performance air intake replaces your stock intake tube with a wider pipe that has fewer bends. The result is a higher volume of air that flows more freely. The resulting effect fills your combustion chamber with more oxygen molecules for igniting fuel at a balanced, efficient mixtures that maximize power and an increase in fuel economy.
Cold Air:
Taking in cooler air for combustion means an air mixture that's denser with oxygen molecules for a better burn and ultimately more power.
Do cold air intakes increase mpg? The answer is Yes! performance air intakes, help your engine to work more efficiently. The power of an engine is directly proportional to the amount of air drawn into a cylinder and retained until ignition. To increase the engine power, increase the airflow capacity, and or the air-fuel charge which must be burned more effectively. Most factory engines "volumetric efficiency" is a compromise between fuel economy, efficiency, reliability,noise and performance.
Some cars' engine control units (ECUs) adjust the air/fuel mixture based partly on readings from the intake air temperature (IAT) sensor. The warmer the air, the leaner the mixture. Warm air is less dense than cold air.
"The air is less dense, so you get less horsepower at the same throttle opening, thus, you have to open the throttle wider to let in more air and get the horsepower that you need. That increases the efficiency because one of the primary causes of the well-known part load inefficiency of gasoline engines is the throttle loss."
I want to dive further into this, and put up some statistics and such, but I dont have time for it today, and thats a whole other thread to start.
The jist of what Im saying is this:
Higher volume air filter --> Better MPG
Air intake tube (more flow) --> Better MPG
Colder air entering intake --> Better HP
The "cold" air kits do increase MPG, but only because 90% of them dont provide cold air, just more air. Warm air is good for fuel efficiency, why do you think the only factory installed cold air kits are on high performance vehicles?
Increasing the efficiency of air flow in AND out of your engine will provide better MPG, how you go about increasing it is up to you.
. Most cold air kits will actually hurt your mpg unless you have modified and boosted the power on your vehicle. Switching to a K&N or similar filter will most definately improve your MPG if used properly.
