Volkswagen has walked away with the International Engine of the Year 2009 gong, in a competition acknowledged as the closest ever by judges. The 1.4-litre lump - which debuted back in 2006 - is both supercharged and turbocharged, which allows it to perform like a much bigger engine while returning fuel economy of a small capacity unit.
BMW's twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre diesel came a very close second, with Audi's 2.0-litre TFSI engine third. But VW's TSI unit was just too good for them, impressing all of the 64 judges from 32 countries that made up the panel. Chairman of the awards, Dean Slavnich, said: "the fact that it wins both the overall award and our Best Green Engine prize indicates that you can have performance and efficiency in one package."
Porsche's 3.8-litre direct injection flat-six engine from the
Porsche 911 Carrera S won best new engine, seeing off competition from the ubiquitous BMW 3.0-litre diesel unit from '30' monikered cars and Jaguar's impressive new supercharged 5.0-litre V8 found in the XKR and XFR. The panel of judges chose Porsche's lump for its combination of fuel economy and response, as well as its significant decrease in CO
2 output compared to the 3.6-litre engine it replaced.
Best performance engine goes to AMG's 6.2-litre unit, which can be found in various states of tune in a variety of flagship Mercs - and which we'll be sampling in 518bhp form shortly in the E-Class E 63 AMG. Categories are separated by capacity, from sub-1.0-litre up to 4.0-litre and above, with this year's winners including Toyota's 1.0-litre engine from
the iQ, BMW's 3.0-litre twin-turbo diesel, and the BMW/PSA 1.6-litre turbo found in the
MINI Cooper S. Here's a full list of the winners:
- International Engine of the Year 2009: Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger
- Best New Engine of the Year: Porsche 3.8-litre flat six
- Green Engine of the Year: Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger
- Best Performance Engine: Mercedes-AMG 6.2-litre
- Sub 1-litre: Toyota 1.0-litre
- 1-litre to 1.4-litre: Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger
- 1.4-litre to 1.8-litre: BMW-PSA 1.6-litre Turbo
- 1.8-litre to 2-litre: Audi 2-litre TFSI
- 2-litre to 2.5-litre: Mercedes-Benz Diesel 2.1-litre
- 2.5-litre to 3-litre: BMW 3-litre DI Twin-Turbo
- 3-litre to 4-litre: BMW 4-litre V8
- Above 4-litre: Mercedes-AMG 6.2-litre
Mark Nichol - 19 Jun 2009