I have had the Open flash tablet since the last week of June so I have had a little shy of three months. Installation was simple as plugging it in and following a few given prompts on the tablet. The only issue I ran in to was how short the OBD 2 connector is. I attempted to drive with the tablet to make sure nothing went awry. While driving the connector kept losing connection and made my car lose it's mind it seemed. My air condition went hot, nearly every light was on in the dash and it was not wanting to rev. I have no idea why this happened but after pulling over and redoing the tune all was fine. I have not driven with tablet plugged in and instead use my torque app.
I'm going break this in to two sections I ran E85 for about two months and been on gas since late August.
Your able to run E85 with this tablet so I decided to try it out. It is easy to do and there are great instructions located on this form for it. E85 is fun, there seems to be an upper surge around 5000 rpm to near redline. It made the feel fast, not as fast as Mustang or WRX but similar to Civic Si. That is not to say it feels like Vtec because sadly it dose not, rather there is just more drive in the upper rpms. The way the car stock has the torque dip and than that surge of power is how it feels but minus the dip. I loved running E85 the only downside is the drop in fuel economy. On E85 I averaged 16 mpg if I drove regularly shifting before 4000 and only going past 7000 on those highway curves. If I drove it like I stole I would get 14 mpgs. The difference in price between E85 and 91 (I am in California) makes them near the same price to run. It would cost me 27 roughly to fill up E85 using 11.9 gallons with a range of 190 and 33 roughly to fill up with Shell 91 using 11 with a range of 220. This all with a mix of about 60 city 40 highway. In short E85 makes the car a blast at the cost of your fuel mileage although it is less cost issue but more a inconvenience. I would have to fill up about every 4 to 5 days using E85 where as on gas I can go about a week. There is a lot controversy around E85 claiming it is problematic for the car and worse for the environment than pump gas. In all honesty I don't which is true all I know is that more routine maintenance is required.
I decided to go back to 91 because I am going down to LA and weary of my car running out of fuel. I was worried that the tune would not feel as good as running E85 and just like stock. After the first fill up the car did feel different the top surge is no longer there. The tune did make the car feel more linear, the dip is still there but is not as pronounced as in the stock tune. I feel that this tune is a good compromise because it has a lot of potential and it reduces the dip. The redline is increased on the tunes for the tablet allowing you to hit 60 in second gear. I liked this tune a lot I feel this a great mod it makes the car feel better and adds this mechanical growl at 5000 rpm as did the E85. There is also small little crackles in the exhaust note with a header it should sound vicious. If you want a tune to smooth out the car a tad this should be perfect for you.
Overall the open flash tablet is extremely worth it, whether you are running 91 93 or E85 the added benefits can be felt. Not to mention open flash being active in the forums with answering questions and providing updates on the tunes. There is also support for Vortech supercharger and headers . I recommend this if you are looking for an affordable way to give your car more pep.
