Thanks for your input! I figured it might be somewhat of a gimmick. I have already added a CAI and I did notice improvements with that. While I am pretty happy with the car as is, I can see myself swapping out the exhaust and tuning it in the next couple of years. That being said, I am going to add an oil/air separator this year. I've read quite a bit about those and it seems to me to be a necessity to preserve the car for the long haul.
Picking up on what you write above.
You say you have a CAI and you plan on having car tuned in next few years.
I deduce from that statement that the CAI you currently have does not require a tune.
Possibly something like a K&N or a BBK.
If that’s the case, there is where your money should be spent first. Part of that initial $1000.00 Trevor speaks of.
When you decide to get the car tuned, ditch whatever no tune required CAI you have there and replace it with a tune necessary CAI along with a tuner, and dump in a quality tune, custom or mail order. That will really wake up the car.
My top picks for a quality high flow CAI, which require a tune, would be JLT which has been bought by S&B filters, with honorable mention for Airaid.
The flow of a JLT is way more than a K&N or similar no tune required CAI.
That’s why they require a tune.
On the exhaust front, judging by your avatar picture it looks like your car is a 2011-12 vintage 5.0.
Those don’t have resonators like the 2015 and up cars.
It’s manifolds, catted H pipe and mufflers.
So the biggest return on exhaust work is long tube headers with high flow cats, which replace the factory H pipe with either an X or H pipe depending on the manufacturer you go with.
If you are not willing to do the long tubes because of the noise, and they do add noise or volume, the next best place to open up a bit is the mufflers, which still helps.
All the mufflers on the 5.0”s before the 2018 variable mufflers can be easily improved with a quality higher flowing muffler pack.
There are many muffler options but my favorites are Borla, Magnaflow and Ford Performance by Borla, with honorable mention for Roush.
Note: Although equal quality, the Roush units tend to be louder than the others.