Excerpt: “This is undoubtedly the quickest vehicle we’ve ever tested with a cheesy underbody lighting system. It may the only car we’ve ever tested with said cheesy lights. With its launch-control system activated, the Urus leaps off the line and hits 60 mph in 2.7 seconds. The quarter-mile gets done in a blistering 10.9 seconds at 125 mph. That makes it not only the quickest SUV we’ve ever tested, beating the stock Urus by a half-second in both measures, but it’s quicker to 60 mph than a Porsche 911 Carrera and dusts a C8 Corvette at the drag strip. Keep your foot down and the 5140-pound SUV beats the stock Urus to 150 mph by nearly two seconds. For reference, Lamborghini’s first SUV, the 444-hp, V-12–powered LM002 that we tested back in 1987, hit 60 mph in 7.7 seconds and finished the quarter-mile in 16.0 seconds at 86 mph.”
Thanks for sticking with us! We’ve been heels deep in development on several platforms, and are working to bring new products and features to market rapidly.
Recently released OFT’s includes: – Mercedes AMG (C63) – Toyota Tacoma – Miata MX5 (ND2)
Soon-to-Market OFT’s includes: – 2015+ Ford F150 (3.5L) – 2020+ S1000RR – BMW M5 (F90)
Production development/exploration includes: – 2020 Toyota Supra – Chevrolet C8 Corvette
Miata ND2 Stage Tune Dev’
Miata MX5 ND2 Stage Tune Development is going really well! It was exciting to see the OEM mapping/engine hardware produce baseline power figures near that which the OEM states as crank figures (181hp). Our baselines were ~177HP. The cars are certainly underrated, making this a 200+ crank HP car from the factory. Impressive!
The Mazda engineers certainly put a lot of time and energy into developing a fantastic OEM header/exhaust, head porting, camshaft profile, intake manifold and induction system.
Mercedes AMG Tuning
Put our AMG back on the dyno for some additional testing after performing additional reverse engineering and ROM development. The results were fantastic!
On the dyno
557HP 637TQ
Custom e-Tuning
If you’ve been waiting for custom tune maps, we’ve been a bit delayed; due in part to new OFT tuning features and enhancement roll-out/testing. Thanks for you patience! We are working diligently to get all tune back-log caught up.
OFT Hardware Updates and Recovery
Most devices that were plagued by a past software update (which cause errors while reading/writing new tune files) have been recovered. If you’re one of the few still met with the trouble, we can easily get you back up and running. Please complete our online form by clicking here.
New OFT’s will be shipping soon! New offerings are for the following vehicles:
2016+ Toyota Tacoma (3.5L)
2019+ Mazda Miata ND2
In development:
Mercedes AMG GTS
BMW M5 (F90)
BMW (F-Series) M3/4 (Updated/New Bootloader Support)
New Software
In the new year, we had a software update roll-out that caused some issue with a select few OFT’s where they would no longer read/write the ECU, or interact with OpenFlash Manager to upload/download ROM files and Datalogs.
This was due to a system file verification error during the update process. The issues presence led to the development of an entirely new OS framework for the OFT , and will being to roll-out automatic via the OFT update process soon.
In the meantime we’re still working actively to manually update any customers effected by the past update issue via remote login to your PC. If you’ve been effected by the issue self-schedule an appointment so that we can remotely login to fix your OFT: www.openflashtablet.com/oft-recovery/
Where you’re asked for a ticket number, please enter “from website”.
Please try to use a PC with USB 2.0 port
Have the OFT, USB cable in-hand.
If possible, have the car available for ECU reading/writing as needed.
Since this is a legit luxury/executive saloon, I’m going to review it in context. It’s not an all-out sports car like the 458, M2c or GTS. So I guess it’s safe to say that driver/passenger comfort and amenities are the primary criteria to when choosing a car like this. If it performed wonderfully but had the discomfort quotient of an Elise, it would make no sense to own one. Fortunately this is not the case. I’ve never been in a car that has this many comfort and driver aid features:
Front seats with multiple massage modes (exercise and sports)… check!
Parking cameras ubiquitous enough to creep problem out… check!
Automatic steering correction for bad lane swerving drivers… check!
Ability to control the infotainment system with hand gestures and user-configurable gang signs… check!
An absurdly dynamic B&W audio system capable of shattering ear drums and boiling drums of water… check!
I haven’t been given a walk thru of all the features because I didn’t have AN HOUR to spend with the salesperson. Maybe I’ll actually read the manual sometime.
How it drives: Within the first 100 yards of driving the M5C, I immediately noticed how similar it was to my M2C in many subjective areas. Steering feel and weight are similar. The way it carries its mass into a corner is similar. The tightness of the chassis which contributes to quick reflexes is similar. Basically, it is nice to see that the two latest M cars share so much of the same DNA. It comforts me to know that BMW didn’t just luck out with the M2’s greatness. The new team at BMW’s M division not only know how to make a captivating car but also are able to work with the bean counters and desk jockeys so it is not diluted by the time it reaches production.
A few things jump out immediately: The steering ratio is surprisingly quick. And since the chassis is so rigid, the fast turn-in response doesn’t induce any creaks or rattles. Nor does it spring load the chassis as it did in the F10 M5. Instead it just takes an immediate set and diligently obeys your mid-corner intentions.
Brake pedal is firm and braking force is progressive. The car is not lacking in this department. Can’t say how they will hold up under track use but I’m not sure how many people will take a 2 ton luxosedan to the racetrack. Certainly no complains for aggressive street use.
Ride quality is what you expect from an M car running 20 inch wheels and low profile tires. It’s reasonably compliant in his comfort setting. Sport plus and sports settings are actually usable depending on situation and road surface quality. It still doesn’t come close to the compliance/handling compromise of the Ferrari 458 on my bumpy test road but it’s quite good considering the weight and mechanical grip of the car. I’m really impressed on how hard you can drive this car on tight technical bumpy roads with it never really getting out of sorts as you would expect from any 4000+lbs midsize sedan. In fact that is what separates current M cars from other sedans with sporty pretensions. It’s that last 2/10th of the performance envelope that make current M cars unique. Where as other cars become sloppy at the limit, the current M cars retain their cornering balance and steering precision. They didn’t have to do this with the M5 but I’m glad they did. If the current M2 and M5 are any indication of where BMW is heading, the new M3/4 is going to be killer.
Engine Power: It’s good but it could certainly be better. You can tell the the calibration team purposely limited the rate of torque rise with respect to pedal demand. Power rolls in smoothly instead of the in-your-face torque punch you would expect from a 4.4l twin turbo engine run its considerable boost pressure. This does lend to the almost NA-like power delivery but it does leave you wanting more. This is really obvious at times when the ECU determines that it is reasonable to give you the full, unmetered beans. When that happens, it’s as fast as you would expect a high 10s 1/4 mile car to be. But when not engaging in behavior that the ECU could interpret as instrumented testing (0-60, 1/4 mile, etc) it does seem to leave some on the table. It’s never anything less than impressively quick but those few times it’s incomprehensibly quick tends to raise expectations every time your right foot goes to the floor.
AWD/RWD: This is the area that interested me the most. Will the car behave like a typical poorly balanced AWD drive car that gets dynamically rescued by the all wheel drive torque distribution. Or will it feel like a real drive car with just that extra bit of forward traction when needed. I am happy to say that it’s the latter. In fact at anything up to aggressive driving it’s hard to distinguish between rear wheel drive and all wheel drive modes. Even in rear will drive mode the car exhibits a better balance in superior for traction than the F10 M5. So that extra drive from the front wheels is not a Band-Aid. It’s an enhancement! It’s clever in that it never tugs the steering wheel from your hands. It never suddenly changes yaw. The whole experience just feels very natural, forgiving and eminently drifty. Which is what an M5 is all about, no?
Took the 1100 Factory to Catalyst Reaction today for a suspension set-up just as I do with all my bikes almost immediately upon delivery. As I suspected the front end was too soft and the back end was too stiff. So appropriate adjustments were made to damping and preload. End result is a very nice riding bike with decent compliance over normal roads/highways. Also did the first oil change (150 miles) as I do with all my bikes. I do this because most of the break-in particles are shed in the first 50-100 miles. The next oil change will be done at just under 1000 miles. Both bikes will be run on a dyno in a couple of days (just want to accumulate another couple hundred miles on it). Those results should be very interesting because their engines, while both explosively powerful, couldn’t feel any more different on the road.
After I came back from my ride, I hopped on to the Ducati V4S and took it for a 20 min ride while my riding impressions of the Ape were still fresh in my head. While I’ll have a far more exhaustive and detailed review posted up in a few days (after the dyno test) and then again in a couple of weeks (after the track test), here are some take away thoughts after using both bikes in the real world where 95% of the time you are just cruising around with only 5% of the time when you are actually attacking a corner. All while doing so surfaces that are not always as smooth as that of a racetrack:
1) The 1100 Factory exhibits more mid-corner stability It is less upset by rough inputs. This partly has to do with how much input it requires from the rider. Counter-steering to initiate a corner takes maybe 50% more force than it does in the V4S. The Duc feels like a lighter bike. Almost like a 600 but with the power output of a nuclear reactor.
2) The 1100 Factory’s engine is a masterpiece. It makes all the right sounds and has a power curve that feels as flat as Nevada. It builds speeds at an absurd rate without much drama. The Duc, on the other hand, really lights your hair on fire when you open it up. Especially in the first few gears were the longer swing arm and reverse spinning crank make it more wheelie resistant and able to put more power to the ground before wheel/traction control intervenes by cutting the throttle. The taller 60 profile tire on the Duc also gives it a bigger contact patch which helps. But the taller tire also gives a subtle “balloon-y” effect where the rear of the bike doesn’t feel quite as connected to the ground as it does on the Ape. I’ll be curious how they feel in a couple of weeks at Thunderhill Raceway when they are both shod with the same Pirelli slicks. The Duc’s engine is definitely adopts more of a Jekyll and Hyde personally. At lower engine speeds, it feels and sounds like any other Ducati v-twin in the way it lopes smoothly and pleasantly. No harshness. Just a lot of character. But when it spins up it adopts an almost manic presence devoid of harness but full of fury. It’s certainly the more dramatic feeling engine of the two. Where it takes a distant second to the Ape is in sound quality. But then again, the Ape is probably the best sounding bike I’ve every heard. It revs like the 1000cc RSV4 but with the snap, crackle and pop of the 1100 Tuono which, quite frankly, is the perfect combination.
3) Aprilia’s focus on racetrack prowess has ever more clear by how out-of-its-element it feels riding over rough back roads. Even after setting up the suspension, you can tell that it wants to live on nothing short of a smooth and polished race track. The dynamically adjustable Öhlins on the Duc really shine in this environment. While no super bike is meant to perform in these conditions, the Duc still gets the job done while the Aprilia needs to be ridden 10-15mph slower in order for the rider to feel as confident. But when a nice smooth corner arrives, you can almost hear the Ape “hold my beer” and attack the corner in a way that few other bikes can. Utter confidence and predictability.
Ran out of time! A lot more info to come as time permits 🙂
It’s been a LONG 2 weeks on the dyno, but we’ve got a lot of -well, everything- to show for it!
We’re proud to present our v2 F10 M5 Off-The-Shelf maps!
The new mapping brings some additional refinement and enhancements to our already fantastic v1.2 mapping.
These maps contain additional TQ management operations, while still retaining OEM safety mechanisms: Such as CAT over-heat protections, boost control strategies, combustion temp control (fueling), and much much more. There is no reasonable need to sacrifice OEM control strategies for power — it just ins’t required!
In the graphs below, you can see the direct difference between the new v2, and previous v1.2 mapping (v2.0 is bold):
Test Vehicle #1- F10 M5 (Non-Competition) Fuel: 93 Octane (USA) Mods: Aftermarket Downpipes with Performance Catalytic Converters Only
As we’ve touched on in post before, limiting TQ is key here. Keeping the heat out of the engine assembly at the lower RPM really allows the twin-turbo 4.4L v8 to sing up-top!
Like I said, its been a BUSY 2 weeks! We’ve completely re-worked and updated our website in an effort to make it easier to navigate and find what you need.
After a custom alignment and corner-weighting, it’s getting really good! So much better than it was when it was stock with ridiculous spring rates. The difference is so profound that I don’t think I can sell it now.
Next up: Toe links to remove some bushing deflection in the rear suspension. Might even experiment with slightly softer springs up front depending on results from next weeks testing we Laguna Seca.
