intakes, flat drop ins and cowel mods - R53

Hey all,

I noticed something disturbing in the Mini Cooper S we just bought.

WTF?!?!?! kinda half breed foam excuse for a filter is this?
shouldn't it be at least 2x as thick?








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And on a side note - do all the cars have these 2 holes in the side of the bottom half of the box next to the ECU in the last pic?


I'm looking to upgrade to a drop in, or depending on price vs sound vs gains.
I've seen stuff on international forums about ALTA, JCW, Dinan, DDM, Madness, Cravenspeed, BMP, etc, etc..
At the moment i'm leaning toward looking at something like a JCW with foam filter, or a Dinan (OEM looking)

aren't the extreme ones like Craven, ALTA etc expensive once landed..
and very NOISY?

Who's got what and what's the feedback?

Thanks.