I just got a chevy cobalt and i was wondering if a intake was just the metal tube and the filter.....   a friend of mine has a 2 door v6 03 honda accord he bought used with an intake and the pipe is really long and snakes down into the front bumper.    is just a little tube with a filter on it enough?
 
Yup.  Your friend has what's commonly referred to as a "cold air intake".  But basically it's a piece of mandrel bent pipe with a filter on the end.
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