The stock intake is a factory designed cold air intake. It's designed to flow well, but it's also designed to be quiet. Aftermarket intakes are usually just designed to flow well. A lot of people buy them because they like how they look. Aftermarket intakes all claim to increase fuel economy and power. But in my experience with them (AEM, K&N, or AFE), all they really do is change the sound and remove cash from my wallet LOL. I have no experience with an OTR CAI such as Vararam, or with the Mopar ram air intake, so I'm not making any claims for or against them. But my advice would be to stick with the stock setup if your reason for looking at them is for fuel economy or power increases.
Agreed. I have the Mopar intake on mine, but have bought K&N, Volant, and S&B in the past for other vehicles. Some may give you a 5 HP increase or a bit more at high RPMs, but you aren't going to feel that. The slight increase in acceleration is nice, and the part you may feel, but its only slight (unless your old filter was really, really dirty).
I bought the Mopar kit for the looks and the slight acceleration increase. It is a good bang for your buck? Probably not, but I knew that going in. The slight increase in engine growl at WOT is an added perk.
One thing is for sure... if you are dead set on it, stay away from oiled filters. Look at any real test involving dust or other particles, and you'll see that oiled filters (like the original K&N) are made more for race day than they are every-day driving. They let tons of crap through, despite what they may claim on the box. Stick with dry filters for every day use, of which I believe most name-brand CAI kits have an option for now-a-days. Its the only way you can get the Mopar Airflow kit.