K&N Engine Air Filter: Compatible 2003-2019 Subaru

I bought the K&N air filter for my 2016 Subaru Outback with 2.5i engine and installed it on 7-21-2016. It fits perfectly- as mentioned by others the only way it fits in this car’s air box is to turn the filter 90 degrees so the filter slats are running vertically, not horizontally as it does on the OEM filter. The filter looks square but is not a perfect square. Build quality is much better and more solid than the flimsy OEM or aftermarket paper air filters. The deep side of the filter (air input) faces the front of the car which I installed into the front portion of the air box. I noticed right away that throttle response was better and much more immediate, and the engine sounds and runs more smoothly. After 2 weeks of having it installed acceleration and power have really improved. The lackluster acceleration was a drawback I’ve had with this car in exchange for good fuel economy, but I love everything else about it. After having had the K&N filter installed for 2 weeks acceleration has really improved to where I am very impressed and am having even more fun driving it. This is my fifth Subaru with the 2.5i engine. I was thinking my next Subaru would be with the 6 cylinder but no longer, thanks to this air filter. Apparently the engine computer system needs time to adjust to the increased air flow. This is not imagined on my part, power and speed have considerably improved, as well as smoother acceleration. Feels like power has increased by several horsepower. The car also idles at a lower RPM. I have not yet determined any increase in fuel economy- I’ve been having too much fun driving this car faster and harder than before. This filter really does great things for my car’s performance! Don’t hesitate to try it.

Perfect fit, easy to install, pre-oiled and works perfectly

Easy to use. Easy to clean, easy to reuse. In some cases there is a noticeable bit of power difference because of the air to fuel ratio. In some cases you might not notice it. It’s not a huge jump in power but it can be noticeable in the right vehicle. I put them in everything. I got one in my outback. I had one in my RX. I had one in my Sequoia had one in my fusion. Every vehicle I’ve had I’ve put one in. I have not put one in my lx470 yet because it’s going to need much more work than an air filter can do right now. So I haven’t put that expense into it. But I will because I know how it performed in the Sequoia with the same engine. It was a noticeable difference and when you’re at about 6,000 7,000 lb of weight, a noticeable difference can be significant matter how small of a difference it is that it’s noticeable

Passt genau

Working great in my wife’s 2011 Outback 3.6R. Really enhances throttle response at all RPMs and the engine is definitely breathing better and making more power above 4500 RPM. Certified butt dyno on the same on-ramp. The 3.6 also uses the exact same filter as the 4 cylinder models…and you can’t tell me that Subaru put an oversized filter in every outback, legacy, forester, and impreza 2.5 and 2.0 vehicle simply because it was the proper size for the slow-selling 3.6 H6. The inverse is the vastly more likely explanation (that the stock filter is properly sized for the 4 cylinder cars and undersized for the 6 cylinder cars).

Unlike most modern motors, this panel filter removed/reduced a HUGE bottle neck for the bigger H6 engine above 4500 revs. Whereas it used to labor from 4500 RPM to redline during highway merges, now it races up toward the redline with a different and smoother tone to boot. The difference is stark and even my wife could tell from the passenger seat. My other car is a 1999 Porsche 911 also with a flat 6….so the likelihood of a placebo effect occurring in such a vastly slower car is unlikely. A .9 MPG improvement has been observed so far, in heavier-than-average traffic on my wife’s commute since installation due to some road construction.

I came from Denso (OEM), Mann, Mahle, and Purolator PureOne filters before, with proper pleat-counts. I am not so certain that this K&N would have the obvious improvement that this filter shows for the 3.6, but I am a fan of K&N regardless.