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I was looking around and I noticed that for my civic there are price ranges from 50$ to 490$ for a cold air intake. I was wondering what can be the difference between the 50$ one and the 490$ one ? its just tubing for airflow is it not ?

 
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that is correct. its nothing but a hollow tube. some people say that the actual shape and way the tube is bent makes a difference....like how the air bounces through it, which in theory makes does make sense, but not in the case of our car. between the 'best' intake and the 'worst' intake you will see barely a decimal point in performance hp.

there is absolutely nothing different between a cheap ebay tube, aem, fujita, injen, k&n etc etc. thats only the tube itself though. the air filters are all made different, and some people prefer the dry-flow filter, and some people prefer the cloth and mesh type that requires it to be oiled.

either way, if you arent concerned about having a 'name' on your intake pipe, get the cheapest one you can find and just buy a good quality filter.

 
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Untuned is right, there is no real difference. I heard that cold air intake cold could suck up water since the filter is placed lower and cause harm to the engine tho. because of that I ended up buying a short ram air intake. I chose AEM Short ram with a Dry-flow air filter.. I just got the new dryflow filter last week and it is great. My friend also bought the dry-flow filter for his weapon r short ram too and he is satisfied with it.

 
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thats correct. i think about 80% of guys on here go with short ram intakes compared to a cold air. it prevents water being sucked up and hydro-lock. the last thing you want to do is get hydro-lock and bend a rod in the engine.

i can almost bet my 'no name' intake with good filter performs better than most brand name intakes simply because its way bigger and fatter. the filter is bigger and the tube is a 3" diameter. even still, i have an aem short ram intake with dryflow filter coming in the mail right now that i got a good deal on. its blue so it will match my engine bay. other than that i dont think i ever would have gotten one.

 
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so you guys wouldn't suggest the cold air intake but rather the short ram intake ? would it take a lot of water to to that or what i have no idea about it thats why im asking you guys

 
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I would personally go with the Short ram.. Factors for me: I live in Michigan, so the weather all seasons. So sometime we get deep puddles and winter slush.. Also my civic is my daily driver.. I would consider getting it if I lived in a state that has less precipitation or it isn't my daily driver.. so if you live in like Arizona or something you might not have to worry.. and I don't know if it sucks up a lot of water or not since I don't have one.. but I chose not to chance it either.

 
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to have it suck water into it you have to get a huge amount splashed on it or it literally has to be dipped into a puddle. a light spray or mist like youd get during typical rain wont do much, and will just dry off as more are is getting sucked past it. where i live we get foot after foot of snow so i would never ever go with a cai. its still not worth the risk though especially when you get almost no hp increase compared to the sri. our grills get pretty good air flow as it is and with the location of most sri, its more than enough for us.

if you really want to get a cai anyway, there are certain systems that have a bypass valve installed to prevent hydro lock, but again...its going to be a more expensive system like an aem and you wont see any increase in power at all.