Range Rover

BMW has once again played the dominant role at the International Engine of the Year Awards, whose 2008 edition have just been announced. The Munich-based company took the honours six times in what appears a one-sided contest skewed in favour of the blue and white-propeler outfit.

To top it all, the coveted International Engine of the Year was part of the six that BMW scooped. This category was taken by the 3.0-litre twin-turbo for the second time in a row. It beat Volkswagen Group’s 1.4 TSI powerplant almost by a 100 points to the post and BMW was represented no less than four times in the top 8 for this main award. The awards are presided over by a panel of 65 international motoring journalists from 32 countries across the whole world. They serve to recognize engineering excellence in many of the cars that we all love.

In the categories section winners included the VW Group’s 2.0-litre turbo found in such luminaries as the Golf GTI and SEAT Leon Cupra. Subaru won the 2.0-litre to 2.5-litre category with the 2.5 turbo. But a sigh of relief must have gone to Porsche who took the Performance Engine of the Year Award. This was a hotly contested category with engines like Audi’s 5.2-litre V10 twin turbo, Nissan 3.8-litre twin turbo GT-R and two M engines in the V10 and new 4.0-litre V8. In fact, so close was the competition in this regard that the top three nominees – 3.6 Porsche, 5.0 BMW and 4.0 BMW respectively – were separated by a mere four points!

Other prominent engine makers like Ferrari, General Motors, Ford and Mercedes-Benz (especially AMG division) will now have to take serious stock of their wares to catch up to the ever-dominant BMW and Volkswagen.

Here’s the list of the 2008 winners:

International Engine of the Year 2008
BMW 3-litre Twin-Turbo (135i, 335i, X6)

Best New Engine of 2008
BMW 2-litre Diesel Twin-Turbo (123D)

Green Engine of the Year
Toyota 1.5-litre Hybrid Synergy Drive (Prius)

Best Performance Engine
Porsche 3.6-litre Turbo (911 Turbo, 911 GT2)

Sub 1-litre
Toyota 1-litre (Aygo, Yaris, Peugeot 107, Citroën C1, Subaru Justy)

1-litre to 1.4-litre
Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger (Golf, Touran, Tiguan, Jetta)

1.4-litre to 1.8-litre
BMW-PSA 1.6-litre Turbo (MINI Cooper S, Clubman, Peugeot 207, 308)

1.8-litre to 2-litre
Volkswagen/Audi 2-litre Turbo (A3, A4 Cabrio, A6, TT, Eos, Jetta, Golf GTi, Altea, Leon, Skoda Octavia)

2-litre to 2.5-litre
Subaru 2.5-litre Turbo (Forester, Impreza, Outback, Legacy)

2.5-litre to 3-litre
BMW 3-litre Twin-Turbo (135i, 335i, X6)

3-litre to 4-litre
BMW 4-litre V8 (M3)

Above 4-litre
BMW 5-litre V10 (M5, M6)