I beg to differ. I had one of these setups and it was a very noticable difference in response with a huge rush in the top of 1st gear. After an accident and I got a new HKS kit with the longer running pipes (across the top of the fan and radiator) it felt better, and the response even better again and it now chirps in the midrange of 1st gear. But then again, the HKS did flow better than the other one that it replaced which was a cut down truck intercooler
The HKS has less back pressure so it gives more midrange torque.
Didnt really answer anything, but I just wanted to disprove this.
Oh, and when the engine is running and the air is flowing, it dosent matter that much where the air is routed. The origional intake crossover pipe is always warm to the touch immediatly after driving and popping the bonnet, but let it sit for 5 mins and it becomes too hot to touch. If you want to be all pedantic about heatsoak, you can get a special gasket thing made from a material that dosent conduct heat and fit it between the throtlebody and the crossover pipe. It will still get hot because its sitting in hot ambient air, but its a lot lot slower than metal to metal transfer.