I have an Injen Cold Air Intake for a 2004 matrix XRS and it fit perfectly. Many others at www. 9th gen corolla .com (without spaces) are using this intake, it has been privately dyno'd to give 10-12 more whp. A few others are using short ram intakes from AEM or K&N, most parts for the Matrix XRS will work, but the Injen has been proven. There is also a nice install post with pics, very very helpful when installing the intake. You do have to remove your bumper to install the CAI but it is easy and kinda fun. I did my whole install in 90 minutes. Oh and with any intake on the XRS, if you take off before the car warms up and the smog pump is still running you will get a CEL. ALso be sure to reset your ECU by pulling the EFI fuse for a few minutes.
A few guys over there put on crappy ebay intakes and got a CEL right away or a few weeks down the road. The injen is worth the money because it has the smog pump hose needed to not throw a CEL. It is also two pieces so it installs very easily.
As for other aftermarket you are pretty limited. I have a Flowmaster muffler spliced onto my factory 2" piping, and it sounds great and pulls very hard, much better than from the factory. A few guys have had custom piping (2.25" or 2.5") put together with a flowmaster muffler, but I don't see the point in going over the stock 2" diameter on a NA car. You can get a Camcom computer to tune your motor, usually good for 5-10 whp depending on other mods. Now there is a LIFT controller out that allows you to lower lift to kick in at 6K rpms as well. Some japanese company makes a big motor kit that ups your displacement to 2.0L but it costs something like $2K and only adds 25 hp or so. Some people have custom made turbo kits for their XRS but had a nightmare of a time tuning it and getting things to work with the stock ECU and lift.
The XRS is best left NA. With an intake, exaust, camcom, and maybe a lightened flywheel you will have a badass street monster that will be solid competition even for turbo/supercharged honda/acuras. The 1.8L VVTL-i is very competitive with the Integra GSR motor, also a high reving NA monster.
Just don't put cheap parts in a $5K motor and wreck it. Buy quality name brand stuff and you should be fine. The injen intake looks great, sounds great, and gives peace of mind knowing it was not made by the "Billy Bob and the Car Parts that he Done Builted himself" car shop. No CEL here
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