Product Review - iDrive
By Nas Foscarini #1933
For me, throttle lag is a pain. When I put my foot down, I want the car to respond. There are a number of reasons
that throttle lag was introduced by car companies. In my opinion though, the main reason for introducing it was
because it was an easy and slack way of ‘improving fuel economy’. Thankfully for us though, there is a way to
override it. And it may not be as expensive as you think. Several companies have introduced their own version of
throttle controllers. These are aftermarket gadgets quite simply designed to eliminate lag.
‘As always, I spend too long researching for the best deals available. But it always works out.’
Truth is, I am not generally very mechanically minded. So it did take a while to get my head around the concept of
throttle controllers. One cheap version I found was from the 4wd Supercentre. They charge less than $100 and have
received a lot of mixed reviews. Mostly negative. One name that kept popping up with good reviews though was
the iDrive. This was more than double the price of that offered by the 4WD Supercentre. No product though got
perfect reviews. Nor were people generally convinced the idea of a throttle controller was even worth the cost or
effort. I held off on my purchase for years mainly because of negative reviews and because there really was no
cheap way of finding out for myself if throttle controllers really did work.
I was representing the Pajero 4WD Club of Victoria recently at the Lardner Park 4WD show. While on a break, I
came across a stand promoting the iDrive throttle controller. I’d never seen them up close so I made sure I had a
look. The iDrive stand was part of the No Limit / MCC stand which is a 4WD accessories company based in
Dandenong Australia. I already had quite a bit of No Limit’s gear on my car, so long story short, a couple of the guys
recognised me and after listening to their spill on the iDrive, they convinced me it was worth a try. I also knew I was
not going to get a better price than what they were offering me.
‘I did know from the beginning that the iDrive was one of the more respected brands and I was finally
grateful for the opportunity to try one for myself.’