Can someone explain to me the benefits of having a drive by wire, over a normal cable throttle system? It seems to be that the drive by wire is a slower to respond system but electronic. Is it just a step in the way of making everything electronic? I searched and found a few threads with some info, but none clearly explained. Thanks everyone.

 

To my knowledge, most manufacturers move to drive-by-wire to help with emissions (if the user can never fully open the throttle unless the perfect engine conditions exist, the they can never put more gas into the system than necessary, thus increasing fuel mileage as well as giving the computer more control over variables in the emissions).

I know that it's been published that the 8 takes into account; engine load, rpm, actual throttle position, as well as some other variables I do not remember, when it determines how much throttle to apply in relation to where your foot places the throttle pedal. Supposedly they do this to "get the most out of the engine", as in, a cable throttled car requires a bit of finesse to avoid "over-throttling" (opening the throttle too much) and actually decreasing the power the engine makes at a given load and rpm, whereas the RX-8, supposedly, reads a full throttle signal from the pedal and translates that to the optimum throttle opening to get power, again, at a given load and rpm.

Whether this is just marketting spin or legitimate, I can't say, but that's how I understand it. I hope it helps.

 

Haven driven traction controlled vehicles equipped with throttle by wire and without, I can tell you throttle by wire allows for a more elegant implementation. The old fashion cabled throttles will pulsate and pop so hard sometimes it seems to throw your foot off the pedal. On the 8, it is not readily perceivable the throttle adjustments being made to maintain traction.