BMW was once again the star of the International Engine of the Year Awards this year taking the first ever back-to-back victories with the incredible 5-litre V10 (fitted to the BMW M5 and M6) taking overall honours ahead of Volkswagen's radical new 1.4-litre TSI engine.

As if that were not enough, the V10 also beat Ferrari's 4.3-litre V8 and the Mercedes-AMG twin-turbo 6-litre to take the Best Performance Engine Award and pipped the same engines to the Best Engine Above 4-litres Award. It doesn't stop there...

The 3.2-litre straight-six fitted to the M3 and Z4M won the Best Engine 3.0-litre to 4.0-litre Award, with two BMW six-cylinders at the top of the Best Engine 2.5-litre to 3-litre, including the twin-turbo diesel found in the 535d.

Volkswagen's new TSI engine, featuring both turbo and supercharger to mix high performance with low fuel consumption and emissions, was the other outstanding winner, taking the Best New Engine prize, and the 1-litre to 1.4-litre class. We should be getting our first taste of this engine later this year, so watch out for the review on the Volkswagen road tests page.

Shane O' Donoghue - 11 May 2006