It took me a second to realize that in that last picture/entire scene that it's a VF-171. Never be a mook in a VF-171.
The most major change between the preview version and the actual airing episode was, as mentioned, the extra scene at the end. Along the way there's some extra visual polishing, mostly in texturing and shading (such as that police car), but you won't miss much if you just skip to the 20-24 minute mark.