VW bags Engine of the Year

VW Golf 1.4 TSI engine wins top accolade

Shahzad Sheikh
30 June 2009

Volkswagen’s 1.4-litre TSI engine, has won the ‘International Engine of the Year’ award. The supercharged AND turbocharged TSI also earned the titles ‘Best Green Engine 2009’ and ‘Best Engine’ in the 1.0 to 1.4-litre engine category.

The what has won the what?

The International Engine of the Year Awards are judged by a panel of 65 motoring journalists from 32 countries from all over the world intended to acknowledge engine engineering excellence.

So what do they do? Take the engines apart?

Actually no, they just drive them, looking for driveability, performance, economy, refinement and advanced engine technology.

And yet they gave the award to a little 1.4-litre unit not a roaring V8?

Sign of the times I guess. Having said that, I did recently test the 1.4 TSI Golf – and it was way more impressive that miniscule capacity would suggest.

Apparently it all got really exciting as the final results were very close but VW’s Twincharger ended four years of BMW dominance in the overall category. BMW’s 3.0-litre DI Twin-Turbo was beaten by just four points – still it has been 2007 and 2008 champion.

How did they justify it?

‘TSI combines outstanding refinement with terrific performance and low consumption and emissions,’ said one judged. ‘It’s way ahead of the curve, sensationally over-engineered in all the right ways, and even makes the company’s fantastic 2.0-litre TFSI already look like yesterday’s tech,’ explained another.

Okay fine, so what else picked up these nerdy gongs?

Best New Engine: Porsche 3.8 flat six as fitted to the 911 Carrera S
Best Performance Engine: Mercedes-AMG 6.2 as fitted in AMG 63 models
Sub 1.0-litre: Toyota three-cylinder unit as fitted to the Aygo
1.4 to 1.8-litre: BMW/PSA Peugeot Citroen’s jointly developed Turbo petrol engine as fitted to the MINI Cooper S
1.8 to 2.0-litre: Audi 2.0 TFSI found in a multitude of applications from Audi’s A4, A5 and Q5 to VW’s Scirocco the new Golf GTI
2.0 to 2.5-litre: Mercedes 2.1-litre diesel from the new E-Class
2.5 to 3.0-litre: BMW 3.0 DI Twin-Turbo found in various Beemers including the 335, X6, Z4 and 730
3.0 to 4.0-litre: BMW 4.0 from the M3
Above 4.0-litre: That Mercedes-AMG 6.2 again!

Do you think the best engine won? Let us know below.

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sikhumbuzo khoza says

Re: VW bags Engine of the Year
Hi i m looking for a quotation of 1.6 VW must have air conditioner and can be old / new regards Reply

12 October 2009

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