Volkswagen has snapped up the International Engine of the Year award again this year. This is the second year in a row that their new 1.4 litre TSI Twincharger engine has won the annual engine award scoring 384 points ahead of BMW’s 3.0 litre twin turbo direct injection engine with 365 points and the normally aspirated 6.2 litre AMG V8 engine trailing with 258 points.
International Engine Of The Year
In its highest state of tune, Volkswagen’s twincharged 1.4 litre TSI engine is able to produce 178 horsepower (180 PS) thanks to a combination of forced induction using both a supercharger and a turbocharger.
Best New Engine
The best new engine award goes to another turbocharged 1.4 litre engine – this formula seems to hit the sweet spot with the judges. Fiat’s 1.4 MultiAir turbo uses an electrohydraulic system to independently and infinitely control each cylinder’s inlet air charge. There are five modes of inlet valve timing and lift which are selected according to driving style.
Green Engine Of The Year
Toyota’s 1.8 litre Hybrid Synergy Drive system is available in Malaysia in the latest generation Prius. At first exclusive for the Prius, the system is now also installed in other Toyota cars like the Auris HSD. The engine sips just 5.65L/100km on a combined cycle.
Best Performance Engine
The winner for this category is AMG’s 6.2 litre normally aspirated V8 found in their “63” cars, which also won this award in 2009. In case you were wondering, Nissan’s 3.8 litre twin turbo from the GT-R comes in at 5th place. This may be the last year the AMG engine will be in this competition though as it is likely to be replaced across the range by a new 5.5 litre turbocharged V8.
Under 1.0 litre Engine
For the smallest engine category, Toyota’s 1.0 litre motor weighing just 67kg found in their Japanese-French Aygo, the iQ, the 1.0 litre Yaris, and the Subaru Justy takes home the honours. This engine has won for the fourth consecutive year!
1.0 litre to 1.4 litre Engine
The twincharged engine that won the overall award naturally takes the top honours in this category, and it is followed by Fiat’s “best new engine” in second place and the single force inducted version of VW’s 1.4 litre TSI in third place. A smaller 1.2 litre turbocharged Volkswagen engine is in fourth place.
1.4 litre to 1.8 litre Engine
This category’s winner is none other than the 1.6 litre BMW-PSA Prince engine found in the MINI as well as most Peugeot vehicles. For a long time this engine was only accessible to Malaysians in expensive MINIs but Naza has managed to make an award winning engine affordable to the masses in the form of the very attractively priced Peugeot 308 and subsequently its recently launched 3008 crossover sibling.
1.8 litre to 2.0 litre Engine
This category’s winner is an oil burner – a twin turbocharged inline-4 to be exact, from BMW stables. The engine makes 204 horsepower thanks to its two turbochargers, each of a different size taking care of different engine speeds. This twin-turbo 4-potter diesel beat competitors such as Mitsubishi’s Evo X turbo engine, Audi’s 2.0 litre TFSI and the Civic Type R’s high-revving screamer.
2.0 litre to 2.5 litre Engine
The winner of this category is only found in one car – the Audi TT RS. This engine is a 5-potter, which is a relatively unusual configuration in modern days as car companies usually jump to a V6 when going up from an inline-4, likely because of packaging reasons. Judges described the engine as having it all – torque, power and a beautiful sound. While turbocharged 4-potters might be impressive in the torque and power department, a four cylinder will always be a four cylinder.
2.5 litre to 3.0 litre Engine
BMW’s 3.0 litre twin turbocharged engine wins again in this category, and second in place is another twin turbo BMW 3.0 litre engine, except burning diesel instead of petrol. In third place is Audi’s new 3.0 litre supercharged V6, which is a rather curious engine as it was announced very recently in a time when most are switching to turbos instead, including Mercedes-Benz which recently abandoned the Kompressor for the new CGI tech.
3.0 litre to 4.0 litre Engine
The 4.0 litre V8 with individual throttle butterflies that wins in this category is sadly only available in the E90/E92/E93 M3, as there is currently no Z4 M to use it. If you don’t count BMW, it’s also available in a few Wiesmann cars. It’s an amazing engine, one of the rare cross-plane high revving V8s around, and its lighter and shorter than the 6-potter in the E46 M3!
Above 4.0 litre Engines
The best performance engine award winner and the winner of the largest displacement category is one and the same, another large normally aspirated V8 just like the BMW engine before this that will soon be replaced by a downsized turbo engine. It produces 525 horsepower and a punchy 630Nm of torque.
