Given what it's celebrating, the International Engine of the Year awards must be quite a dull affair. Lots of company bigwigs collecting accolades like any other ceremony (apart from the 'I'm snogging an engine photocalls), when what we're really after is on-stage performances from all the contenders. Maybe next year...
Boxster 2.7 earned a prize; save £3K in classifieds
Anyway, there were few surprise in 2013's winning line-up. Ferrari won the over-4.0-litre category and performance engine with the 6.3-litre V12 from the F12 Berlinetta, whilst Ford took top spot overall and the sub-1,000cc prize with the
999cc Ecoboost
. Between those two, there were victories for the BMW/PSA 1.6-litre turbo as seen in the
208 GTI
2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
VW's Twincharger 1.4
. Audi took its fourth consecutive triumph in the 2.0-2.5-litre section with the
RS3
's 2.5 turbocharged five cylinder, and Porsche's latest direct injection 2.7 flat six from the
Boxster
Cayman
won the category above. Finally, McLaren fended off strong opposition from the VW Group's
turbocharged 4.0-litre V8
with success for its 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 in the 3.0-4.0-litre group.
This is all well and good, but we wanted to celebrate the real-world applications of these award-winning engines. So we've spent some time in the PH classifieds to dig out a few interesting cars with these renowned powerplants.
Ecoboost Fiesta could be a fun runabout
Now the 999cc Ford Ecoboost is a fairly new engine so the market isn't littered with used examples. Moreover, given it can be found in the B-Max OAP wagon, there's not much to light the PH fire. Despite that, we found this
125hp Fiesta Zetec S
which is surely the most enjoyable Ecoboost application this side of a
Formula Ford
. It promises 65mpg too...
VW's Twincharger 1.4 was much easier to source, given it powers everything from the VW Touran to the Audi A1. Installed in a Fabia vRS estate is perhaps our favourite use of the supercharged and turbocharged engine, but this remapped Ibiza Cupra also looks pretty fun. A 220hp Fabia estate, meanwhile, could be excellent...
The BMW/PSA 1.6 turbo has been around for a while now, so there was plenty of interesting cars to choose from. Best of all was probably this one-owner Mini Cooper S for just £5,395, with plenty of service history to support its 99,000 miles. JCW Minis boosted power from the 1.6 further to 214hp. Dropped in a Clubman should offer some oddball thrills.
If this is downsizing then sign us up
Represeting the BMW 2.0-litre turbo is a
328i M Sport
, just because it looks fabulous in Estoril Blue. It should probably also be noted that this engine produces 244hp whilst retrurning 43.5mpg in a 3 Series.
Before the RS3, Audi's 2.5-litre turbo also powered the TT RS. Not the most engaging coupe ever, but the engine is eminently tunable, as proved by this stunning 480hp car. A standard 2011 TT RS was the cheapest available at £26,950.
As with the Ford Ecoboost, Porsche's latest direct injection engine only arrived last year. Having said that, this Guards Red Boxster 2.7 looks great value at £3,000 less than any other 981 in the classifieds. And it's a manual...
Finally, the MP4-12C and its 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8. The earliest 2011 cars are nearing £130,000, which represents a significant saving over the £168,500 new price. The MY2013 cars are now £176,000, although its tweaks (including the 625hp power upgrade) can be retrofitted.