1997 accord 2.7l -- noticed my air intake tube is ripped.. Replacement for OEM is 47.00 --- One of those "cold air intake kits (metal tube, clamps, filter)" is 27.00

Now, question is.. Im on a budget, if I went with the cheaper one, will there be any difference in the way the car drives, sounds, etc? Or should I spend the extra and go OEM?

or should I just glue together my factory one and go on about my business?

 

As a general rule, aftermarket intakes are louder and yield significantly degraded filtering; you won't notice any difference in performance unless your Butt Dyno equates the extra noise with extra power.

 

Installing a cold air intake puts you at risk for pulling a slug of water into the engine if you went through a big puddle.

I'm a fan of going OEM. You could probably get away with heavy duct tape on the intake tube to fix the problem.