My wife let me save up enough allowance to get a mod. Would I get more benefit from adding the Crawford plenum or the Crawford headers to my '05 5AT sedan? Which gives more bang for the buck? Thanks.

 

Thats a tough one. I dont know that any of the Crawford stuff has been tested on the '05. With a different tune and variable valve timing changes on the '05, messing with the flows could make the car slower. Whatever you decide, do a stock dyno run to baseline your car first. In my opinion, as well tuned as the VQ is on the '05, these N/A mods are getting less attractive from a performance to cost basis. The '05 VQ has some beefed up internals, so a FI solution is more attractive. You could be in the 310 RWHP range with some very conservative boost levels. If I had an '05, a TT @ 5 PSI is what I'd be running.

 

Are you runnng the OEM tires? If so, I'd look at a tire upgrade. Good bang for the buck that you'll really notice whether you're on the throttle or off.

 

LOL don't forget to save your allowance for that TT setup. now that you are 1/20 there you may want to just try the plenum. Not that much has changed and you won't need a dyno to tell how much better the airflow is. The airbox and airflow tubing seem unchanged from the previous years models as well.

 

Keep in mind the cost differences between the 2 mods you're considering. Plenum will cost about $400 for the new cast one and you can install yourself vs. the headers which will run about $1200 I think and cost about $500 to have professionally installed! I would think th ebest bang for the buck would be the plenum and high flow cats. All said and done you would be spending about the same as the headers alone and probably get more gains. From what I have heard, headers alone don't provide too much in the way of gains. They provide noticeable gains when used in conjunction with the plenum and high flow cats.