1) Stick with a quality oem paper filter, the minor HP gains using oil type air filters or aftermarket CAI tubes are not really worth pros vs cons.
This is pretty much wrong. You can get sizable horsepower gains with drop ins, to say nothing of the cold air intakes available on the market.
2) Cons = oil damage to MAS sensors, high initial cost and replacement cost of oil type air filters, possible dirt transferred during cleaning process, less filtering ability than paper.
These are blown way, way out of proportion. If you were hoping your engine would last 500,000 miles, sorry to break it to you, many other parts of the engine will break down before particulate contamination becomes an issue.
3) Pros = minor HP gains, lifetime use ( if you want to clean and re use a air filter for the life of your vehicle)
Again, are you planning on having the engine last half a million miles? The filter needs to be cleaned very 40-60K miles, if the OP plans on keeping the car more than 120K miles, then yeah you might have to clean it more than once.
I'm not sure why you are even participating in this forum if your view on performance parts for the platform is filled with such disdain that you will suggest that a well established power adder like a cold air intake is inferior to an OEM paper air filter.
Please return to your motorcycles where gains can't be had with such things, because they're already running @ 9.9/10ths from the factory and changing intake components adversely affects the power output. Those viewpoints and observations don't really apply to a comparatively reserved engine like the VQ.
/rant
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