Thursday 8th May 2008

BMW Wins Engine Award

BMW named outright winner of International Engine of the Year awards for fourth year

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3.0-litre twin-turbo used in 135i

BMW has been named the outright winner of the International Engine of the Year awards for a record-breaking fourth year in succession.

The top honour went to the 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged petrol engine that powers the 1 Series, 3 Series and X6.

The BMW 3.0-litre twin-turbo petrol engine also won ‘Best engine 2.5-litre to 3.0-litre’ and the previous International Engine of the Year winner, the 5.0-litre V10 powerplant, won its category of ‘Best engine above 4.0-litres’.

Klaus Kibsgaard, Managing Director of BMW (UK) Ltd, said: ‘To win the International Engine of the Year is an immense achievement and underscores the technical expertise and dedication of BMW’s engineers and designers.’

Meanwhile Subaru’s 2.5 litre turbocharged ‘boxer’, fitted to the Impreza 2.5 WRX and WRX STI, was voted the best in the 2.0 to 2.5 litre class.

Volkswagen's dual charged TSI engines won the ‘International Engine of the Year Award’ in the category ‘1 litre to 1.4 litres’.

[mc_blue]

This doesn't really surprise me at all. I am curious however, are these new generation of engines reliable? Why does BMW seem to keep getting it right with engine designs?

[clarencegi77]

what? why would the newer engines be less reliable than the older ones? expected quite the opposite to be honest... good job to BMW, then, well... it's sort of expected, actually, and what happened to the twin-turbo 4.4 V8? surely that will clinch something next year? or the newest diesel which supposedly can do 100 horses to the litre?

[alfa_male]

Personally I think Alfa Romeo's 2.4 turbo diesel should have won.

[DamoLLb]

I have never experienced the twin turbo 3.0 from BMW, however i wonder if it would win if it was in a fwd chasis, or if it was installed in a car of less dynamic ability. It must be very difficult to subjectivly test something in which there are so many variables? It would be interesting to see competitors engines installed in their counterparts cars... a waste of time,expensive and in some cases not possible.....but interesting

[RB Will]

DamoLLb said:

I have never experienced the twin turbo 3.0 from BMW, however i wonder if it would win if it was in a fwd chasis, or if it was installed in a car of less dynamic ability. It must be very difficult to subjectivly test something in which there are so many variables? It would be interesting to see competitors engines installed in their counterparts cars... a waste of time,expensive and in some cases not possible.....but interesting

I quite like that idea. Happy that Subaru have won something, although was expecting it to be for the diesel not their normal engine.

[Milks]

well done I suppose, where's the green category?

[DamoLLb]

Milks said:

well done I suppose, where's the green category?

Green Engine of the Year: To qualify for inclusion in this category (new to the Awards for 2008), an engine must have been housed in a passenger car that was on sale in more than one country as of 7 May 2008, have been designed with fuel economy as a priority, and employ intelligent technologies to reduce emissions (such as diesels with a DPF, hybrids, etc).


1. Toyota Hybrid 1.5-litre (Prius) 269

2. BMW Diesel 2-litre (118d, 318d) (Stop-start) 266

3. Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger (VW Golf, Touran, Tiguan, Jetta (140/170bhp)) (small capacity, high output) 150

4. Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI (Audi A3, Seat Leon, Altea, VW Golf, Eos, Jetta, Passat (125bhp)) (small capacity, high output) 140

5. Fiat 1.4-litre Turbo (Bravo) (small capacity, high output) 108

6. Honda Hybrid 1.3-litre IMA (Civic) 101

[mat205125]

mc_blue said:

This doesn't really surprise me at all. I am curious however, are these new generation of engines reliable? Why does BMW seem to keep getting it right with engine designs?

Not had personal experience, but the Evo 3 series needed a turbo replacement at a silly short mileage. What are the factors used to judge these engines?

Is it like the italians winning the car of the year every year? Do the germans always win the engine of the year? Is there enough car industry in the uk to keep winning the pointless militant walkout of the year award?

[pagani1]

Shame the current design of the BMW bodywork is SO ugly!
By the way when is PH going to announce the end of Ken.

[havoc]

mat205125 said:

Not had personal experience, but the Evo 3 series needed a turbo replacement at a silly short mileage.

Try that sentence again with some details that actually make sense...

[nrayner]

Who's doing the judging ? and why ?

[minicab]

Also worth noting that BMW also won the 1.4 to 1.8 litre category with the 1.6 turbo engine found in the current MINI Cooper S - co-developed by BMW and PSA.

Excellent results for them....

[serjames]

N54 is a stunning engine alright...

Nightmare to work on - and when it goes wrong (!) but mine's pumping 400bhp with just an ecu tweak and with the new mods should be good for 450 to 480, just not sure yet till it's dynoed...

Surry Rolling Road here we come !

SJ

[layabout]

I agree with a earlier commenter about BMW styling,if they can get that right,with the engine line up they have,that would be amazing.They seem to have shaken off the old stereo type of BMW owners at last, so it can only get better for BMW.

[GingerWizard]

very re-affirming for the BMW brand, it shows right through to there current F1 car...... deserves a pat on the back and a knowing nod in anyones book.

Gingerwizard

[Webber3]

mc_blue said:

This doesn't really surprise me at all. I am curious however, are these new generation of engines reliable? Why does BMW seem to keep getting it right with engine designs?

I've got the 3 litre non turbo engine in my car. At 2 years old and 20k miles it sounds like an old mk2 Escort some mornings. It's been in the workshop twice now, but they can't reproduce the fault. Maybe I've just been unlucky?

[funwithrevs]

Just checked out the website.

The judges are all motoring journalists, may as well be hairdressers to my mind

This is probably why the winning motors are almost all turbos. There are some utterly stunning engine developments out there, but stuff it just add a turbo. Are we back in the 80's or something?

Take the 1 to 1.4 litre section. The runner up was the VAG 1.4 turbo engine, beaten soundly in votes by the same engine but with an additional supercharger. Hmm, yep that is another old idea and all it adds is power not design finesse.

[robwales]

Good to see BMW getting great results once again.
Although I doubt it that people will be doing bangernomics with 150k mile 335is in 15 years as is done with old beemers today.

I disagree with the Prius winning the green category though - doesn't take into account the crap out of town economy or the pollution of manufacturing batteries and disposing of them.
Maybe instead of "green" there should be "general green" and "city green" or similar.

[MatteoB]

Petrol twin turbo straight six a lovely engine but the twin turbo 2.0 diesel is my candidate. No matter what think about Diesels 100 bhp/litre, 50 mpg potential and 150 mph are pretty impressive.

Still a lot of anti Diesel bias out there but coming from an engineering perspective the lates engines are terrific IMHO.In response to some other comments on here is a cambelt change for the Alfa 5 pot Diesel still an engine out job? Also I don't like the 2.5 Subaru boxer, the 2.0 was much sweeter. I would have thought their Diesel should have been considered.

Edited by MatteoB on Thursday 8th May 15:13

[ZesPak]

Webber3 said:

mc_blue said:

This doesn't really surprise me at all. I am curious however, are these new generation of engines reliable? Why does BMW seem to keep getting it right with engine designs?

I've got the 3 litre non turbo engine in my car. At 2 years old and 20k miles it sounds like an old mk2 Escort some mornings. It's been in the workshop twice now, but they can't reproduce the fault. Maybe I've just been unlucky?

I have a boss who has had problems with the engine in his 1yr old 520d, and a customer with loads of problems on the engine in his X5 3.5d.
Could be coïncidence...