Modern Performance
Pictured is a 08+ Caliber SRT4 factory throttle body. Its a one piece sealed motor and throttle body.
It seems like more and more manufacturers are moving to drive by wire throttle now a days. It was a new feature in the late 90’s / early 2000’s, mainly used by a lot of high end manufacturers and was toted as offering a “better throttle response”.
Well, it seems like this technology has trickled down to lower priced cars now, with the 05+ Cobalt as well as the 08+ Dodge Caliber SRT4 coming equipped with drive by wire.
Heres some of the pros and cons of using drive by wire in our opinion.
PROS:
-Faster throttle response than typical drive by cable system
Cons:
-The biggest con we have experienced, is that the factory PCM now controls the throttle, and you as the driver dont always have 100% control over the throttle. This is a big issue with the 08+ Caliber SRT4 because the factory PCM was tuned for drivability, and to lessen torque steer. This is a problem because you can be giving 100% throttle but the factory pcm in order to limit torque steer, will only give 30-50% at certain times.
With the 08+ Caliber SRT4, the “Torque management” is reduced by installing the stage 1 pcm from Mopar, but otherwise, other methods like map clamps are needed to reduce the throttle control by the PCM by reducing the map sensor voltage going to the PCM, therefore the factory pcm thinks less boost is entering the motor.
