It could be different for cars / your country but in my experience, airflow arrows don’t really matter if there isn’t any electronic polarization in the filter. It’s really hard to tell without cfm numbers but it sounds like you’re on the right track
The higher efficiency the filter, the less airflow will be output. Big time misunderstanding for the average consumer.
Try a less dense / less efficient filter even
Residential =/= vehicular but I’ll give it a shot
Does the heat work?
Does AC work with the filer out?
Is there any condensation under the car while the AC is on?
edit: My early guess is that it’s prob out of refer. I believe it takes r1234yf?