I got caught in a freak storm today, coming back from work. Seriously scariest rate of rainfall I've ever seen. As traffic built up I could see the water getting deeper. I'd say it was around 6" in the deepest areas. I got home as quickly as possible but I'm a little freaked out based on where the air intake is placed. The car isn't having any issues but is there a risk of engine damage without an obvious hydro lock? Rather scary because it was pretty unavoidable and these cars are irreplaceable.

 

Your likely okay as a lock would have happened already, but if it was me I would pull the two air filters and make sure they are dry. also take a air gun and blow any water out from crevices around the engine.

 

With the stock intake system 6" deep water is not a problem as the openings of the intake snorkels are a lot higher than that, around 18" above ground level.
But the air filter boxes sit a bit lower than that with the lower edges around 12" off the ground so the only worry is one or both of those filter boxes are not sealed fully.
This can happen when you change the air filters and fit the two halves of the filter boxes back together, they can seem to be right but not so leaving a gap of 2 or 3 mm, ask me how I know!

 

Yeah I assumed I was good cause it wasn't catastrophic but just wanted to check with you guys. Too late to check the air filters though cause I just drove somewhere else. If that was a concern wouldn't washing the car with a pressure washer make the filters wet too? Or even hard rain on the highway? I was more worried it they were fully submerged and then vacuumed water up into the engine.

 

Also pop the bonnet and leave it fully open. I went into a very deep patch of water in one of my cars during a flash flood, it surged up onto the bonnet and I nearly crapped myself. When I parked I left the bonnet up and the tech later said that was a good thing to do to let it air and dry.

 

I was more worried about water seeping in to the filter housings if it was that deep, If I recall there is an under tray that would prevent spray from causing any issue.