"Someone also told me that the standard exhaust glows in the dark at night. Either very cool looking or unnerving."
Very definitely cool, and fascinating.
Remember that the standard exhaust system is stainless steel, and the heat shields are aluminium, so, with metal polish, should always be easy to get back to a good finish. You can always coat the system later if you get fed up with a polished stainless look, and I daresay for a lot less than £400.
