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Re:European crash tester says carmakers must bring back phys... by macNchz on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @02:12AM (#39600288)
There is a noticeable difference in feel between ICE cars with physical throttle cables and those with electronic throttles…the drive-by-wire models have a very small amount of lag between pedal input and engine response. If you’re attuned to it, or drive “spiritedly”, the effect is quite noticeable. I think mainstream cars mostly switched over around 20 years ago, I remember learning about it when I googled for why the accelerator pedals in new cars felt so weird to me.

I think there are a few reasons for it, one of which is simply increasing efficiency by smoothing the accelerator input a bit. I’ve only driven an electric car a few times, so I’m not sure if they also have this delay, but I would expect they do.

Re:European crash tester says carmakers must bring back phys... by magicalhippo on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @07:39AM (#39602543)
> one of which is simply increasing efficiency by smoothing the accelerator input a bit

Right, it feels very much like I'm just changing a set-point. Putting the car in eco mode makes it very noticeable, but even though it's less noticeable in sport mode it's still not the same.

Re:European crash tester says carmakers must bring back phys... by mythhabit on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @08:11AM (#39602869)
Many modern cars have a turbo that makes this almost impossible to tell. It almost feels irrelevant, compared to planning ahead for the inevitable wait for the turbo to build pressure.