A panel of 75 motoring journalists from around the world have named Volkswagen Audi Group’s 1.4-litre TSI twin-charger unit as the victor in the 2010 Engine of the Year awards, providing VAG with the award for the second year running. Yielding ample punch for little displacement, the 1.4-litre TSI is an option across the company’s varied range. Using both a supercharger and turbocharger avoids peaks and troughs in power delivery to give the impression of an unnaturally powerful normally aspirated engine. The TSI powers the warm Seat Ibiza FR and hot Ibiza Cupra in 148bhp and 178bhp tune respectively, as well as the new VW Polo GTI and Skoda Fabia vRS. Fiat won the ‘New Engine of the Year’ category with its innovative 1.4-litre Multiair turbo unit that provides power in the Alfa Mito and new Giulietta range. Other winning engines of note include the 6.2-litre Mercedes AMG unit, which took the ‘Above 4-litre’ category ahead of the Ferrari 458’s V8 and Jaguar’s impressive supercharged 5-litre V8, while the BMW M3’s 4-litre V8 took the ‘3- to 4-litre’ category, beating off various Porsche flat-sixes and the twin-turbo V6 from the Nissan GT-R. BMW also took the ‘2.5- to 3-litre’ category with its highly praised 3-litre twin-turbo unit found in models across the range. Audi continued the German success by taking the 2- to 2.5-litre category with its 2.5-litre, 5-cylinder turbocharged unit found in the TT RS. That was our engine of the year at the end of 2009… Overall it was a good run of awards for intelligent downsizing. Squeezing ever-larger power outputs from ever-smaller displacements is regarded, by many, as the future for petrol engines. It’s always nice to see some old-school, naturally-aspirated, large displacement gain favour from the judges though.
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