International Engine of the Year
Aug 8, 2013
- Best New Engine of the Year: For best new engine, the jury selected the new Fiat 1.4-liter Multi-Air inline-four. The Multi-Air technology was developed Fiat as a mechanism to provide infinitely variable valve timing and lift control and it can be easily adapted to existing engines. Fiat has plans to add Multi-Air to most of Chrysler's engine lineup in the next couple of years.
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- Best New Engine of the Year: For best new engine, the jury selected the new Fiat 1.4-liter Multi-Air inline-four. The Multi-Air technology was developed Fiat as a mechanism to provide infinitely variable valve timing and lift control and it can be easily adapted to existing engines. Fiat has plans to add Multi-Air to most of Chrysler's engine lineup in the next couple of years.
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- Green Engine of the Year: The top green engine award again went to Toyota for the 1.8-liter hybrid powertrain that debuted in the third generation Prius last year. Toyota has managed to get both improved efficiency and performance out of the latest iteration of its pioneering powertrain.
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- Sub 1.0-liter: The 993cc inline three found in the European market Toyota Aygo, Citroen C1 and Peugeot 107 weighs in at a remarkably svelte 147 pounds and produces 67 hp. It's far more refined than the similar sized triple in the Smart and easily won the category.
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- 1.8- to 2.0-liters: The BMW twin-turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four diesel delivers 204 horsepower and a stump-pulling 295 pound-feet of torque. It powers the 123d to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds and delivers 37 mpg even when being thrashed. What more could you ask for? How about a 323d Touring?
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- 2.5- to 3.0-liters: The BMW N54 has been one of our favorite engines ever since it debuted with 300 horsepower and 300 pound-feet of torque. It provides seamless power delivery from its perfectly balanced inline-six layout and uses two turbochargers to give quick response and torque everywhere. The N54 is being phased out of most applications this year in favor of an equally powerful N55 with a single twin-scroll turbo, direct injection and valvetronic for even better response and fuel efficiency.
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- Overall best engine and best 1.0- to 1.4-liter: For several years now Volkswagen has offered a range of 1.4-liter TSI inline-fours in much of its European lineup. These boosted and direct injected engines deliver surprisingly robust torque for such small engines with great fuel economy. At the top of the range is the engine selected as overall best by the jury, the 1.4 TSI TwinCharger. While the lesser engines rely on just a turbocharger, this unit adds a mechanically driven supercharger to a larger turbocharger for an even broader response curve. The maximum output is 178 horsepower and combined fuel economy in the Golf is 38 mpg!
