Review: Invidia Gemini exhaust
08-15-2017, 12:04 PM
#1
Registered Member
Thread Starter
Review: Invidia Gemini exhaust
I wasn’t sure if I was actually going to the pull the trigger on an exhaust but the more I read about exhausts for the g… I ultimately couldn’t resist. It has been a few weeks now since I got the Invidia Gemini installed on the whip and I am definitely happy with it. I initially contacted my local shop about ordering up the Injen exhaust but he said that the invidia sounded almost the same and would save me $200+ in the long run so I went with it. I initially put the order for the exhaust in back in June but one of the guys in the shop failed to double check part numbers before placing the order and got the wrong one. Fast forward 5 weeks and I was finally getting it installed. I have never really done a review like this before but I will break down the exhaust into a few different categories.
Aesthetics: I LOVE the look of the burnt titanium exhaust tips. It really sets the car off in my opinion. Every time I am walking to my car in the parking lot I can’t stop staring at them. Same goes for when I park my car… I turn around and look at it a minimum of 2 times when I am walking away from it. Bonus view: the stainless steel resonators poking out underneath the rear bumper. It gives such a smooth aftermarket look that probably has the mustang behind me doubting his abilities to surpass me on the highway. Even from the side when you’re looking at it you can catch a glimpse of the stainless steel pipes through the spokes of the rear rims. Super happy with the look overall and would highly recommend the burn titanium tips to anyone looking at getting this exhaust.
Sound: This was probably my biggest concern when I was shopping for exhausts. I didn’t want something that would drone on the highway. I didn’t want anything “ricey”. And I most certainly didn’t want something that I would love for a week only to be annoyed by it later. This exhaust has a very nice balance. It was pretty loud at first but it seems to have mellowed out a bit now that I have had a chance to put some millage on it. It has a significantly deeper tone than stock and might actually be less raspy than stock to be honest. It is very smooth sounding. If I the only thing that bums me out a bit is that once you surpass about 4k rpm the engine noise drowns out the exhaust much like with the stock system. Not a huge deal but I was kinda hoping it would scream when I put the hammer down getting onto the highway. I’m sure it is more noticeable outside the cabin but I can’t tell much of a difference from the driver’s seat once the rpms get higher. Under 3.5-4k rpms though is so nice. I still have barely listened to any music since I have gotten it. Why would I when I have the awesome VQ mixtape on replay? One of my favorite aspects is downshifting. There’s this slight little pop that is really only noticeable with the windows down but I almost get giddy every time I hear it. To sum it up… If you want something loud, get a different exhaust. If you want something that has a sportier tone to it with a pinch of added volume, get this one. The best way to ultimately describe the sound is that this is how the car should have sounded when it left the factory.
Price: Short sections ahead. Best price for any cat back exhaust I had seen for the g. Despite maybe thinking the lower price point would have this exhaust lacking in one category or another, it doesn’t. Great vroom for your buck.
Did I miss a section? I don’t think so…? Onward!
(Bro, what about performance!?!?! *see next section*)
Non-exhaust related:
Dyno Tune: Well… well… well…. Performance you ask? Let’s dive in. I don’t know how the performance would have been impacted by the exhaust alone because dyno. The follow thoughts may be a bit scatter-brained so I apologize ahead of time. I think the dyno is truly what made the difference in the way the car drive post exhaust operation. I can tell the automatic shifting feels significantly smoother than before. When I was stock, the shift between 1 and 2 and sometimes even 2 and 3 seemed a little hard if I was really pushing the car. Not the case anymore. The car has always felt to me like it wants to just go fast at any given second. This has only been further accentuated since the recent upgrades. My driving experience as a whole is like the last year of driving this car up until now has been only a preview of how the car truly drives. Night and day difference in how it drives overall and especially accelerated compared to stock. Here’s what was confusing to me about the actual numbers though… They seem very low compared to others that I have seen on here. Granted it has been awhile since I have looked at other results but still. I was expecting to see 290s maybe even close to 300 (with intakes, exhaust, and tune). But max hp only clocked in at 267.73. I was visibly shocked when I saw this. I’ve seen 350zs with the same mods clock in the 280s. The guy at the shop said this was normal for a g37 and with my bolt ons I probably gained 20+ hp overall. It certainly drives like a car closer to 300 though so I’m taking the numbers with a grain of salt especially since they didn’t do a stock run since it would have been more money and I already had intakes installed. I’ll post the results and if anyone wants to weigh in, please do. It was tuned on a dynojet with uprev.
Overall, I am very happy with the purchase. Now I’m ready to finish paying the car off and dream of getting it supercharged. Emphasis on the dream. Thanks for reading!
Aesthetics: I LOVE the look of the burnt titanium exhaust tips. It really sets the car off in my opinion. Every time I am walking to my car in the parking lot I can’t stop staring at them. Same goes for when I park my car… I turn around and look at it a minimum of 2 times when I am walking away from it. Bonus view: the stainless steel resonators poking out underneath the rear bumper. It gives such a smooth aftermarket look that probably has the mustang behind me doubting his abilities to surpass me on the highway. Even from the side when you’re looking at it you can catch a glimpse of the stainless steel pipes through the spokes of the rear rims. Super happy with the look overall and would highly recommend the burn titanium tips to anyone looking at getting this exhaust.
Sound: This was probably my biggest concern when I was shopping for exhausts. I didn’t want something that would drone on the highway. I didn’t want anything “ricey”. And I most certainly didn’t want something that I would love for a week only to be annoyed by it later. This exhaust has a very nice balance. It was pretty loud at first but it seems to have mellowed out a bit now that I have had a chance to put some millage on it. It has a significantly deeper tone than stock and might actually be less raspy than stock to be honest. It is very smooth sounding. If I the only thing that bums me out a bit is that once you surpass about 4k rpm the engine noise drowns out the exhaust much like with the stock system. Not a huge deal but I was kinda hoping it would scream when I put the hammer down getting onto the highway. I’m sure it is more noticeable outside the cabin but I can’t tell much of a difference from the driver’s seat once the rpms get higher. Under 3.5-4k rpms though is so nice. I still have barely listened to any music since I have gotten it. Why would I when I have the awesome VQ mixtape on replay? One of my favorite aspects is downshifting. There’s this slight little pop that is really only noticeable with the windows down but I almost get giddy every time I hear it. To sum it up… If you want something loud, get a different exhaust. If you want something that has a sportier tone to it with a pinch of added volume, get this one. The best way to ultimately describe the sound is that this is how the car should have sounded when it left the factory.
Price: Short sections ahead. Best price for any cat back exhaust I had seen for the g. Despite maybe thinking the lower price point would have this exhaust lacking in one category or another, it doesn’t. Great vroom for your buck.
Did I miss a section? I don’t think so…? Onward!
(Bro, what about performance!?!?! *see next section*)
Non-exhaust related:
Dyno Tune: Well… well… well…. Performance you ask? Let’s dive in. I don’t know how the performance would have been impacted by the exhaust alone because dyno. The follow thoughts may be a bit scatter-brained so I apologize ahead of time. I think the dyno is truly what made the difference in the way the car drive post exhaust operation. I can tell the automatic shifting feels significantly smoother than before. When I was stock, the shift between 1 and 2 and sometimes even 2 and 3 seemed a little hard if I was really pushing the car. Not the case anymore. The car has always felt to me like it wants to just go fast at any given second. This has only been further accentuated since the recent upgrades. My driving experience as a whole is like the last year of driving this car up until now has been only a preview of how the car truly drives. Night and day difference in how it drives overall and especially accelerated compared to stock. Here’s what was confusing to me about the actual numbers though… They seem very low compared to others that I have seen on here. Granted it has been awhile since I have looked at other results but still. I was expecting to see 290s maybe even close to 300 (with intakes, exhaust, and tune). But max hp only clocked in at 267.73. I was visibly shocked when I saw this. I’ve seen 350zs with the same mods clock in the 280s. The guy at the shop said this was normal for a g37 and with my bolt ons I probably gained 20+ hp overall. It certainly drives like a car closer to 300 though so I’m taking the numbers with a grain of salt especially since they didn’t do a stock run since it would have been more money and I already had intakes installed. I’ll post the results and if anyone wants to weigh in, please do. It was tuned on a dynojet with uprev.
Overall, I am very happy with the purchase. Now I’m ready to finish paying the car off and dream of getting it supercharged. Emphasis on the dream. Thanks for reading!
08-16-2017, 01:37 AM
#3
Go with other tuner, they want extra $$ for baseline tune? What a bunch of ripoffs.. others could do better than those numbers.. you did not mentioned if you still have oem cats? They're the most restrictive.
Here's pic of mine paired with berks hfc
Here's pic of mine paired with berks hfc
08-16-2017, 02:29 PM
#4
I feel like you should have gone with sebastian at specialty z to do e tune. I only had IPL exhaust back then and he was able to get about 4-6hp out of my car. Q300 should have opened up your car even more than IPL exhaust.
I wouldn't be too worried about the lower numbers you made on their dynojet though. Every dynojet is different and weather/atmosphere can make a huge difference as well. It's more important to just look at the baseline and the tune and compare the two.
I wouldn't be too worried about the lower numbers you made on their dynojet though. Every dynojet is different and weather/atmosphere can make a huge difference as well. It's more important to just look at the baseline and the tune and compare the two.
08-20-2017, 10:29 PM
#5
Registered Member
Thread Starter
Yeah OEM cats. That's potentially my next upgrade just not sure how I feel about making the car too much louder at this point lol how does it sound with the berks?
08-20-2017, 10:34 PM
#6
Registered Member
Thread Starter
I feel like you should have gone with sebastian at specialty z to do e tune. I only had IPL exhaust back then and he was able to get about 4-6hp out of my car. Q300 should have opened up your car even more than IPL exhaust.
I wouldn't be too worried about the lower numbers you made on their dynojet though. Every dynojet is different and weather/atmosphere can make a huge difference as well. It's more important to just look at the baseline and the tune and compare the two.
I wouldn't be too worried about the lower numbers you made on their dynojet though. Every dynojet is different and weather/atmosphere can make a huge difference as well. It's more important to just look at the baseline and the tune and compare the two.
08-21-2017, 12:24 AM
#7
My car is not loud right now with berks hfc, no drone, rattle and rasp. You could hear the deep throaty sound when you punch it pass 4k, still keeps the sweet vq sound. I'd say this exhaust and hfc combo is tamed but the satisfaction is there when you push it.
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02-06-2018, 01:13 PM
#9
Hey Brock, it's been a few months since your post---still happy with it? I had berk hfc's + invidia Gemini exhaust on my previous g35 and loved it BUT took one round trip 3. 5 hrs each way and THE DRONE! !!!!! Was gonna do this same setup on my g37; but am worried about that drone again. .... Have you put any substantial highway miles on?
02-06-2018, 02:37 PM
#10
Registered Member
Thread Starter
Hey Brock, it's been a few months since your post---still happy with it? I had berk hfc's + invidia Gemini exhaust on my previous g35 and loved it BUT took one round trip 3. 5 hrs each way and THE DRONE! !!!!! Was gonna do this same setup on my g37; but am worried about that drone again. .... Have you put any substantial highway miles on?