I have seen a few shots of the engine in the IX and I cant seem to find the throttle cable. Was it relocated or did they change to Drive by wire and got ride of the cable like a VW or a Sti. I could have missed it in a pic but every IIIV I have seen has the big loop over the valve cover and this one doesnt.



Thanks Adam

 

I'm pretty sure they moved it. I haven't read anything about them changing to dbw

 

it better be not f---ing drive by anything

 

Well.... I hope it has drive by something

 

...

 

I hope its not drive by wire

 

Throttle-by-wire is great! BMW has had it since 1999 and I have come to really appreciate it. It gives the manufacturer the ability to have different sensitivities for different conditions. My car has a button labeled "SPORT" and when the feature is turned on, the throttle becomes incredibly sensitive. It takes a lot of getting used to, but the end result is worth it. You can hang the tail out and keep it there indefinitely with minute throttle input. It will litereally respond to tremors in your foot. The learning curve of that system helped me to become a far smoother driver than I had been prior to owning the car.

YMMV, just me $0.02.

 

Drive by wire sucks IMO, or at least for a car like this. I'd prefer to be completely in control. There's a lot of room for error on a drive by wire system, and the sensitivity and response just isn't like traditional setups. Not to mention drive by wire is the reason AEM doesn't have a standalone for a lot of cars out there. This could set back the aftermarket for the IX.

 

I partially agree - Throttle-by-wire (Drive-by-wire does not exist in production vehicles) is far more sensitive and responsive, but where is the room for error? Many safegaurds are in place and the DOT (an entirely stone-age and lethargic bureaucracy) has realized this and accepted them.

The fact that AEM cannot develop an interface does not mean that throttle-by-wire is a bad thing. Many folks in the BMW community have worked through the issues, albiet not with stand-alones. Nevertheless, the knowledge is out there.

 

Drive by wire...hahaha, I can't imagine the costs of such things. Another 10 years maybe...TBW, I find most lethargic in response...BUT, if BMW does it well...than...it can be done.

 

The STi has throttle-by-wire and I never once had a complaint with the throttle response. The feel was very natural.

 

DBW sucks ***. That's why I'm selling my 337 VW for an Evo as soon as I can. How much is a decent Evo turbo kit... ~$2,600? At a minimum it would cost me $5,000 to do a turbo upgrade for my car to make a maximum 300 whp. Why...because there's not one standalone or piggyback ECU out there that can control a throttle plate. We got all of 4 chip tuning companies out there that tune the Bosch Motronic and only one of those has a reliable turbo kit/chip tune combination. And none of them have user adjustable anything. Now that sucks.

 

I'm not sure why I said room for error. Thought I had gone back and changed it.


But the thing is, the best engine management for an EVO right now is without a doubt, the AEM. With a combination of EMS issues from drive by wire, and possible confrontations with the head and MIVEC, the EVO IX could turn out to be a ***** to mod after basic bolt-ons.

Of course Mitsu doesn't care how hard it is to mod.

Regardless, we don't even know if it will have drive by wire, so nobody should too roused up.

 

TBW is great for most people and it really helps companies meet emissions in that they can program the throttle plate from snapping shut too quickly which results in a rich condition. And you can do funny doodads as on the M5, that is have one throttle response curve for around town and another one for sport.

However, it always makes the car respond a bit more remote (and some STI owners do compain about that). A turbo car does not have the immediate throttle response of a normally aspirated engine anyway with repect to responding to throttle position due to the inertia of the turbo, BOV response etc. TBW makes this definitely worse. Also, as others have pointed out, it makes aftermarket mods much more difficult. Certainly, that has always been something in favor of the Evo rather than the STI. For the hardcore enthusiast TBW sucks

 

The Evo is raw sports car...there wont be any throttle by wire in it and you can quote me on that. Just go to the Heart Beat T.V. vidoes of the new IX; in the interveiw, a guy says that it is the closest the Evolution has gotten to the rally car yet. I'm sure the rally car doens't have TBW...