Long before the International Engine of the Year awards came to prominance, I remember one engine honouring award – Ward’s 10 Best Engines. This US based annual award is organised by Ward’s Automotive Group, a provider of auto industry news, data and analysis.
Back in the 1990s, Nissan’s VQ V6 engine was a serial favourite – in fact various incarnations of the VQ powerplant has been on Ward’s list since its inception in 1994, but its 14-year run ended in 2008.
In the 2010 list are two diesels (BMW’s M57 twin-turbo and Volkswagen’s 2.0-litre TDI), proof that American’s are warming up to the black stuff Europeans are in love with. The Toyota Prius’s 1.8-litre Hybrid Synergy Drive and Ford’s hybrid powerplant from the US-market Escape are also included. The VW Group was further represented by two TFSI engines (2.0-litre and 3.0-litre), as used in the Audi A4 and S4. Hyundai’s big 4.6-litre V8 was also honoured.
Six editors from Ward’s tested 34 vehicles from 13 makers, scoring each engine on horsepower, torque, refinement, technical relevance and comparative data. To be eligible, engines must be available in a regular-production US spec model priced no more than $54,000, a price cap indexed to the average cost of a new vehicle.
See the full list of winners after the jump!
This year’s winning engines and the cars they power:
2.0L TFSI Turbocharged DOHC inline-4 (Audi A4)
3.0L TFSI Supercharged DOHC V6 (Audi S4)
3.0L DOHC inline-6 Turbodiesel (BMW 335d)
2.5L DOHC inline-4 Hybrid (Ford Fusion Hybrid)
3.5L EcoBoost Turbocharged DOHC V6 (Ford Taurus SHO)
2.4L Ecotec DOHC inline-4 (Chevrolet Equinox)
4.6L Tau DOHC V8 (Hyundai Genesis)
2.5L Turbocharged DOHC flat-4 (Subaru Legacy 2.5GT)
1.8L DOHC inline-4 Hybrid (Toyota Prius)
2.0L SOHC inline-4 Turbodiesel (Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen TDI)
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only 1 japanese
54K (US) ….
2 japanese engines la..
but in malaysia.. ah beng said.. japanese engine is superior..
prrrfthhh japs wannabe
congrats to hyundai.
Biggest surprise is a Hyundai in d list….
Mayb petrol heads in Boleh-land ought to gv d Koreans a 2nd look.
Subaru is also Japanese… I like Subaru cars for their boxer engine & 4wd… But in Malaysia… Haiz… Tax..
Go Hyundai!!! biggest engine in the list.
Go Hyundai!!!!> Biggest engine in the list
yup.. biggest engine & the cheaper one…. It maybe due to conti car with bigger engine the price is more than 54k. But it a big achievement by korean..
Hyundai also make good engines, the 4.6L Tau (Hyundai Genesis) engine even beats the 1UR-FE (Lexus LS460) engine from Toyota… some achievement
Hyundai Boleh
wat happen to honda. i am a big fan of honda and sad to known that its engine is good enough in this segment to compete in. out of 10, 3 are asian. what happen also to the italian and french makes.
They were all hit by the economic crisis and cannot keep up…
What I am surprised in is the no show of French diesels…
Japanese engines still are a force. The probelm with them and lists like this is they don't exactly change much….more like evolves slowly, so once in a while you see them popping up.
Not quite sure why Peyno hates the japanese so much, because regardless which company name is there, you can owe it to the japanese for raising the bar.
Besides, even Ford has many years of Japanese knowhow with JVs with Yamaha for their limited higher performance engines. (I belive the old Taurus SHO's Yamaha V6 was in the list before as well). You will see the same Duratec engines in Mazdas…
Hyundai seems to be now the new player in bringing in top notch engines. Back a few years ago, the first glimps of thier engineering forte is the Lambda 3.3 engine, available in the Sonata. Their GEMA engines still lacks the refinement of Honda/toyotas but they are quickly catching up.
It is good to see forcefeeding finally coming back.
As for the italians…..its all about how it makes you feel, regardless of how crappy the car is. but FWIW, no one seems to be able to tune a 4 cyc to sound as good as an Alfa Romeo.
Hardly any Italian or French cars in US, except the horse and the bull.
No more simple NA engine….. all wit high tech yet complicated force induction, hybrid etc. Renault hv good & simple NA engine
Volkswagon group and BMW group are the REAL automotive makers, not only aiming at early money with easy way like the Japs.
Good, Hyundai is there. But, remember jangan jadi sombong dulu dan naikkan harga like i30 (not enough brand value yet), still a lot of thing to learn and improve, especially the durability of part in hot countries like us. Hope Genesis will be here in Bolehland, officially. Like it. Sonata YF, and Santa Fe, please come with moonroof.
Jimmy said,
December 11, 2009 @ 2:41 pm
Volkswagon group and BMW group are the REAL automotive makers, not only aiming at early money with easy way like the Japs.
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You are looking at only the malaysian perspective. And why? good reason is the failure of proton. People here will pay good money to not drive one.
In other markers all manufacturers battle equally for the same piece of pie. I wont say the Japs are trying any less. They just have it easier now because they worked hard when everyone was slacking off (basically since 1970s to maybe 5 years back).
There is a reason why the European marks have difficulty goign into the cheaper segments of north american market. The Euro. Most north american VWs are made in south america and mexico, and the rest are all luxury marques…in a highly price inelastic market demographic.
YES! Germans make Real car~ everytime a new car comes out come with innovative features, which make japs follow only~~
TFSI go!!
hyundai in malaysia only looks bad because of inokom/sime darby…
and i30 pricing definitely coming from them, with the less effort in marketing from sime darby…..
go hyundai!
no french because not many french car in the US of A….same for malaysia….if they sell the Proton in the US of A…I'm sure the CAMPRO will be in the list…..that is according to one very optimistic TM…who rated the WAJA as the ASIAN BMW….he he he……
where is the CAMPRO ????
the best engine in MALAYSIA..
He He He….
zack said,
December 11, 2009 @ 4:50 pm
————————————————
Do your eye check up & try to understand the phrase "car that selling in US not in Malaysia".
oops
understanding now…
thank initial R …
Accent Driver said,
December 11, 2009 @ 11:41 am
Hyundai also make good engines, the 4.6L Tau (Hyundai Genesis) engine even beats the 1UR-FE (Lexus LS460) engine from Toyota… some achievement
Hyundai Boleh
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Lexus LS460L starts from US$73500 in the US..exceeded the limit of 54k..that's why it isnt in the list..
i heard tat the hybrid technology in the Ford Fusion is bought from Toyota..just like wat they had for the Escape Hybrid in US..
Accent Driver said,
December 11, 2009 @ 11:41 am
Hyundai also make good engines, the 4.6L Tau (Hyundai Genesis) engine even beats the 1UR-FE (Lexus LS460) engine from Toyota… some achievement
Hyundai Boleh
__________________________________________________________________________
Lexus LS460L starts from US$73500 in the US..exceeded the limit of 54k..that's why it is not on the list..
Heard that the hybrid tech in the Ford Fusion was bought from Toyota..just like what they had for their Escape Hybrid in the US..
zack said,
December 11, 2009 @ 4:50 pm
'where is the CAMPRO ????
the best engine in MALAYSIA..
He He He….'
Excuse me, this comparison is unfair…
I.e. Volkswagen Salzgitter produced 1,232,740 engines in 2008…
Audi Hungary is producing 6900 engines PER DAY…
And they have factories in China, Brasil, Mexico, Argentina too.
What I want to say: VW can disperse the high development costs on many engines the are producing worldwide.
Proton would be able to design a wonderful engine too, but they are simply too small… ;)
Great to see all the feedback about our 10 Best Engines list. Just a correction, however, the Nissan VQ didn't make the list last year OR this year. It had a good run, however, 14 years in a row, the longest run for any one engine, by far. There also was a comment about the lack of French diesels on the list. The reason is, the list focuses only on engines available in the U.S. market. When Peugeot or Renault begin selling diesels here, we'll be thrilled to test them. From the Ward's editorial team.
Hi Tom!
Good to hear from you. Thanks for the pointer, I got my years mixed up there! Send our regards to the Ward's team and have a good weekend.
kish said,
Lexus LS460L starts from US$73500 in the US..exceeded the limit of 54k..that’s why it is not on the list..
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The Lexus GS 460 use same Toyota's 4.6L engine. Lexus GS US price is $45,000 – $53,470.
So, Toyota's V8 4.6 engine is not good enough on the list.
btw, Lexus LS 460 Price start at $64,680 in US.
Tom Murphy said,
When Peugeot or Renault begin selling diesels here, we’ll be thrilled to test them. From the Ward’s editorial team.
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The Renault engine and powertrain share with nissan. so, this mean Renault engine is not on the list
haha Proton engine…becoz of proton made engine, proton can't do well.
japanese maker just like japanese in 50 years ago.
They are no inventor!
They are just copier then make it cheaper (but not cheaper anymore).
The world's worst engine meanwhile as usual the best engine in Malaysia only lah…it's called C… ok lah happy guessing folks!!
i tot Malaysia best engine (only in Malaysia ) is the engine inside Myvi.. best selling car maaa (but again) only in malaysia la
prrrtfhhhh