TRD Intakes & Intake Alternatives for 5th Gen 4Runner

TRD Cold Air Intake and TRD Intake Alternatives – 5th Generation 4Runner

With years of research behind TRD (Toyota Racing Development) USA, the TRD CAI serves as a proven accessory HP (horsepower) gains. 

There are many reasons why the TRD CAI is heavily installed beyond the big red pretty letters. This intake along with other intakes provide increased HP, torque, fuel efficiency and allow for enhanced airflow which keeps your engine cooler than the stock airbox.

If you don’t want to install a TRD intake, there are plenty of alternatives for the 5th gen. We broke down everything you need to know about the TRD CAI and we have the complete step by step install that we did on a 2014 4Runner. Hopefully, those two pages will help answer any of the questions you might have about the system.

If you are looking for alternatives to the TRD, you have a few options. Look at K&N and the aFe intakes for a couple of options that will also produce similar benefits to the TRD.

Why Cold Air Intakes?

Cars run on air. An engine has to have plenty of cool, oxygen-rich air to be able to run. While people spend plenty of time thinking about the quality of gas they are putting in their cars, many people don’t think about the quality of air that their engines are getting.

Air intake systems give your engine free-flowing, cold, oxygen-rich air for optimal performance. Independent testing has shown that air intake systems combined exhaust systems and performance air filters give your vehicle more horsepower, torque, acceleration, and pulling power.

Everyone knows that cars run on gas. Many people don’t realize that cars also run on air. The more air,  the better the air, the car gets, the better the car will perform. This is why air intakes can be so important for creating better airflow. 

Importance of Intakes

The physics behind air intakes are really simple. Car engines need air to run. They also need oxygen-rich air because of the way the combustion process works. The challenge for car manufacturers is how to get plenty of oxygen-rich air to the engine.

Cold air is more oxygen-rich than hot air because it is denser. The physics behind this are also really simple: cold things have slower-moving molecules that are closer together, while warm things have faster-moving molecules that are farther apart.

So in a cubic foot of air, cold air has more oxygen molecules, because they are closer together than hot air does. The colder the air that goes into your car’s engine, the more oxygen there is to support the combustion process.

The challenge is that, except in the dead of winter, the air the car intakes is often really hot. Even if the weather isn’t particularly hot, the combined heat of other cars on the freeway and the sunlight on the pavement all result in a lot of really warm air right at the level of your car’s air intake.

TRD Cold Air Intake Airflow

TRD Intakes pump copious amounts of cold air straight into your engine. This improves your car’s performance. Your horsepower is enhanced, you can accelerate faster, and you have more power for towing. But, installing an intake is not going to help your 4Runner tow a brand new 4000lb Wakesetter boat. Don’t buy an intake if you are looking for more towing capacity. Maybe you should look at a Tundra. 

These intakes are designed to work with the mass airflow sensor, which is important because this sensor is critical to the engine management system. 

Toyota’s intakes are rigorously tested to ensure that they work exactly the way they are supposed to. The intake is also emissions legal in 50 states. The horsepower and torque increases you get from TRD air intakes are thoroughly tested and proven, so you can rest assured that your aftermarket air intake will significantly increase the power and performance of your 4Runner, Tacoma or Tundra.