Very strange, usually you only need 2 posts before you can post pics!
As for ‘podfilters’, do you mean cone filters?
Basically…….. the deal is, the standard air box is fine, and doesn’t need changing at all really. You can smooth it out if you want to, and run a cold air feed into it instead of the standard restrictive Audi plastic snorkel. But generally, the standard box is fine.
Cone filters are almost always oiled, and oil will damage the maf sensor.
A cone filter straight onto the maf is the worst thing you can do, as the oiled filter will be right by the maf, so the oil is most likely to kill it. Also, due to very high under bonnet temps with the 1.8T engine, it will suck in hot air, and actually lose power.
Then you have cold air induction kits. These route a 3’’ pipe from the maf, down the inner wing around the battery, then down into the front bumper, and mount the filter on the end, inside the bumper, behind the lower grilles, this gives a cold air feed, and takes the source away from the under bonnet heat, which is great. The problem with a CAI is they almost always use oiled filters, and can still cause MAF issues, especially on newer cars (the older AGU engines seem unaffected!)
You could of course get a cheap CAI from ebay (a bit of 3’’ pipe is pretty simple, cheap ones are fine) and then invest in an apexi dry cone filter. Ive been running a CAI with an oiled filter for a year now without issue, but when I have my car remapped with a ko3S in a few weeks, ill be putting my apexi dry filter on, as I don’t want to risk having maf problems when the car is flowing a lot more air with the new turbo.
So, if you want to keep it quiet, keep the standard air box and smooth it out.
If you like a bit of noise, and a fairly loud DV sound on backing off, get a CAI and a dry cone filter.
