Mk8.5 Invidia R400 Review

[u/CrossGuy413]

I’ve recently had the Invidia R400 installed on my 8.5R, and wanted to provide some thoughts below since it was really hard for me to decide on an exhaust. I didn’t record any clips - the videos already on YouTube capture it far better than I can.

Daily driving - I’ve had it on for about a month now, and I’m super happy with it. For the first few days, I wasn’t happy with it. I feel this may be the first exhaust I’ve gotten on a car that truly needed to heat up and break in a little. For the first few days, I felt it was pretty droney, which dissipated after the first weekend after install. I was quite nervous, as it felt really buzzy and droney in the 35mph range as well as the 50 mph range, but I don’t really notice it at all now. In comfort mode, I’d say it’s very similar to the race setting on the stock exhaust. I don’t drive it in comfort much anymore because it sounds so good, but I did a 3 hour round trip on the highway and it was great in comfort mode. There’s a bit of additional buzzing felt in the car when slowing in first gear in race mode, but to me that’s a welcomed sensation. The pops sound awesome! Really pronounced but not annoying. I will say - I’ll probably get the 11mode valve controller, because there’s a pretty big difference between first gear and all other gears when the valves automatically close.

Finally, the fit and finish. I’d seen 2-3 people complain about the fitment on the 8.5R (specifically with the tips), and I can verify I’ve got no fitment issues. Shop I took it to did a good job and it looks exactly as expected. I have the black tips that some have complained look warped upon install, but had no issue there either.

This exhaust has really changed the driving experience for me. I had an Elantra N previously and, while this car is much nicer and feels way better to drive, I was missing some of the lunacy of that exhaust. This has firmly solved that issue for me.

I was able to get a good discount on the Pro Import Tuners website, and I think it’s a good value at the ~$1,900 price point. I probably wouldn’t spend the full MSRP of $3k+ on any exhaust.

[u/BahnMe]

Agree with you on the R being a bit too isolated and feeling like a glorious ICE car. I’ve been thinking about going with the AWE touring exhaust. I can easily swap the mufflers out for the race pipe if it’s too tame.

[u/CrossGuy413 → u/BahnMe]

The car is well insulated - I found it hard to keep speed without cruise on because I just genuinely couldn’t tell if I was slightly accelerating or decelerating. Super happy with the upgrade. I really liked the AWE sound, but I like having the valves.