What is the main purpose of a snorkel?

[Jeep Dave]

What is the main purpose of a snorkel?

 

[Mike Jones]

It has two purposes. One is to get cleaner air from up high in dusty environments and the other is the avoid water ingress when driving through rivers!

 

[Canadaexplorer]

Lets not forget the looks

 

[Frontier4x4]

It also provides the engine with slightly cooler air with leads to a small gain in performance