The 1ZZ-FE was a 1.8-liter inline four-cylinder gasoline engine out of Toyota's ZZ engine family. Replacing the old 1.8L 7A-FE engines, it was first introduced in 1998, and in December 2007, its production already was discontinued. This engine was offered mostly for the front-wheel drive vehicles such as the Toyota Corolla or Toyota Celica GT, but also for the rear-wheel-drive Toyota MR2 Spyder and Lotus Elise.

Instead of a cast iron block used in Toyota's 7A-FE, the 1ZZ engine has a die-cast aluminum cylinder block with thin (2.0 mm thick), chill-fitted cast iron cylinder liners. The engine block is equipped with a forged crankshaft with five journals and eight balance weights, lightweight connecting rods, and aluminum pistons with full floating-type piston pins. On top of the block, there is a twin cam aluminum cylinder head with four valves per cylinder (16 valves total). The 1ZZ cylinder head features laser-clad valve seats. The intake valve diameter is 32.0 mm diameter and its valve lift is 9.3 mm. The exhaust valves have a 27.5 mm diameter and 8.4 mm lift.

The overhead intake and exhaust camshafts are chain driven. There is an 8 mm pitch roller chain which goes with an auto tensioner. From 2000, the engine was produced with Toyota's Variable Valve Timing with intelligence' (VVT-i). That system provided variable intake valve timing only. The intake manifold was made from plastic and had long and straight intake ports. The TRD version of the 1ZZ-FE engine had its own cast aluminum intake manifold. The 1ZZ-FE engine got sequential electronic fuel injection (EFI) with twelve-hole injector nozzles and a distributorless, coil-on-plug ignition system (Toyota Direct Ignition). The exhaust side has a stainless steel exhaust manifold and three-way catalytic converters.

The 1ZZ engine did not earn big respect among buyers, and in 2007, Toyota replaced it by the new, for that period, 1.8-liter 2ZR