Throttle by wire. . . how bad?

[ozone]

I'm researching dropping a V6 engine into my 1988 Corolla GTS. The obvious choice is the 1mzfe from the gen 1, Solara. However, I plan on buying a whole wrecked car in order to get a lot of other parts and it seems like all of the cars I find with 1mzfe's have a ton of miles on them. I have found a number of candidates with the 3mzfe in them, which is nearly the same engine and I believe would be about the same amount of work from a mechanical point of view. But the big obstacle seems to be the throttle by wire. I have been doing a lot or research and I'm just not sure I like that.

Those of you that have the 3mzfe, can you tell me your opinion of the throttle response. I've heard that there is often a hesitation and that it is virtually impossible to spin the wheels on launch. Do you actually notice any issues while driving the car or does it feel just like any other car?

Thanks.

[NightRider]

It sucks, the electronic throttle body is the one thing I dislike with my car. The response is not a true throttle response because it's electronic. Coming from a 5-speed honda prelude w/ a manual throttle body, I wish I can take off this one that comes on the solara and put a manual one on there. Be so much better IMO

[kingkakyle]

well for toyota yes
but like BMW i know uses drive by wire and it doesn't seem to be much of an issue....
but yes the 3mz has problems with lag

[Nitin]

Yes there is a "delay" but it is just a learning curve. Once you learn to drive the car/engine in terms of getting used to it; when and why throttle lag occurs. The throttle response occurs, mainly its because people just pressing on the accelerator to deep, sounds weird but you will realize how the engine responds.
The wheels do spin when you launch, that is in my 2004 SE V6 but note that the SLE has traction control and i would not know if it allows wheel spin during launch.

Hopefully this might help you, you gonna have one bada** celica.

[ozone]

Thank you for being candid about that. Many people do not like to admit that their car has anything they don't like. After reading up on it, I feel that I need to stick with the 1mzfe afterall. It is hard to pass up a nearly new engine with less than 30K miles on it though.

I'm not really willing to "learn" how to drive it. The reason I only drive manual transmission cars is because I hate the way an automatic responds.

Getting a 3mzfe electrically castrated to accept a manual is hard enough without having to delve into an actual eprom flash or something. Think I'll just keep searching for the right 1mzfe.

I have one in the garage right now, unfortunately I can't use it. My wife is using it in her car right now. LOL. But it did allow me to make quite a few measurements.

[Jakecallun20]

Personally I'd go with the 1MZ, even with a ton of miles. The 1MZ is a very durable engine. Grab your motor, pull the valve covers and check it out. Make sure there isn't any sludge. If there is, plug up the holes and I'd use a shop vac to suck as much out as possible. I'd also say to change your crank and cam seals while its out. As well as your valve cover gaskets, timing belt, and water pump. Might not be a bad idea to add a new thermostat. Oh and do the plugs and wires while its out too. It can be a b!tch once its in the car.

[PXLpainter]

DBW = pure merde