Who Did They Leave Off? Annual Top 10 Engine Awards Dominated By Fuel Efficiency And Emissions

Ward's 10 Best Engines, North America's only award program honoring engine excellence, have been announced for 2010. The list symbolizes the auto industry's swift movement toward downsized engines to attract consumers who now are making fuel efficiency a top priority.

Highlights: Two turbodiesels (one each from BMW AG and Volkswagen AG) and two hybrid-electric vehicles (from Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp.) made this year's list by achieving fuel economy of nearly 40 mpg (5.8 L/100 km) in the VW Jetta SportWagen TDI and up to 55 mpg (4.2 L/100 km) in the Toyota Prius in real-world driving.

This year's winners and the applications tested:

• 2.0L TFSI Turbocharged DOHC I-4 (Audi A4)
• 3.0L TFSI Supercharged DOHC V-6 (Audi S4)
• 3.0L DOHC I-6 Turbodiesel (BMW 335d)
• 2.5L DOHC I-4 Hybrid (Ford Fusion Hybrid)
• 3.5L EcoBoost Turbocharged DOHC V-6 (Ford Taurus SHO)
• 2.4L Ecotec DOHC I-4 (Chevrolet Equinox)
• 4.6L Tau DOHC V-8 (Hyundai Genesis)
• 2.5L Turbocharged DOHC H-4 (Subaru Legacy 2.5GT)
• 1.8L DOHC I-4 Hybrid (Toyota Prius)
• 2.0L SOHC I-4 Turbodiesel (Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen TDI)

"This year's list embodies how the industry is responding to demands for higher fuel economy and lower emissions without shortchanging performance," Ward's AutoWorld Editor-in-Chief Drew Winter said. "Auto makers are using innovative designs and advanced technology to boost horsepower and torque while downsizing engines and increasing efficiency."

To be eligible for the competition, each engine must be available in a regular-production U.S.-specification model on sale no later than first-quarter 2010, in a vehicle priced no more than $54,000, a price cap indexed to the average cost of a new vehicle.

Throughout October and November, six editors of Ward's Automotive Group tested 34 vehicles from 13 auto makers in their normal driving cycles in metro Detroit. They scored each engine based on horsepower, torque, refinement, technical relevance and comparative data. Each engine was evaluated because it was all-new, offered significant technology upgrades or was a returning winner from last year.

The awards will be presented at a Jan. 13 ceremony in Detroit during the North American International Auto Show. A full story on the Ward's 10 Best Engines is now available on Wardsauto.com.


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truckman - 12/9/2009 4:58:16 PM

+1 Boost

They missed the Civic, the article was great thanks! Imagine how good the engines will be in another 10 years.

ghosthunter - 12/9/2009 5:06:46 PM

+1 Boost

i guess i am the only one concern about Turbo's long term reliability. by long term, i mean 10 years.

but if you are going to lease audi or bmw, i guess it doesn't matter.

I95SPEEDINGTICKETS - 12/9/2009 5:33:48 PM

0 Boost

There is a 1999 Mk IV Golf 1.8GTI {That is Turbo} in my family. Done just under 95k miles and Engine still Revs Smoothly and we have had no problems in the 10 yrs of ownership. every once in a while i take it out and thrash it on the roads and it drives better than the 2009 2.0 TDI Golf {Engine is Smoother}.

Hope that answers your Reliability Question.

bmwdrvr - 12/9/2009 9:08:29 PM

+6 Boost

lol, sorry I had to laugh at that, VWs are horrendous cars on reliability sure they last a long time if you keep them up but so can any car...if you never any issue with your VW in 10 years either that is truely a fantasy as I have known enough owners to know that sounds like a lie, or either you got the one VW that actually isnt problematic.....

Agent009 - 12/10/2009 8:45:25 AM

+1 Boost

Our daily beater is a turbo that is 10 years old and is RAPIDLY approaching 200,000 miles. So far not an issue at all with the turbo motor. The key here is use of good oil and factory intervals on the changes.

Agent009 - 12/10/2009 8:47:03 AM

0 Boost

bmwdrvr - spoken like a true person that has never owned a VW product! Own one and you will see that the issue are minor if at all.

Agent009 - 12/10/2009 10:42:18 AM

+1 Boost

— Invisible ... Your luck mirrors my experiences with Lexus/Toyota products... Maybe neither one of us needs to buy a lotto ticket anytime soon.

chewy - 12/9/2009 5:23:25 PM

+1 Boost

For the most part all of those engines are at the top of their categories, but they do have a pair of duplicates.

Shredmo - 12/10/2009 3:16:14 PM

+3 Boost

Which are the duplicates?

chewy - 12/10/2009 4:49:33 PM

0 Boost

Somehow I thought that they picked the NA Subaru motor, hence I thought that the Chevy 2.4 and Subaru 2.5 were too similar and that they should have only picked one of them.

7msynthetic - 12/9/2009 5:38:42 PM

+4 Boost

Ummm 195speeding......ANYTHING is smoother than a diesel and 95K is low miles, I would expect nothing wrong with an enging with 95K miles.

AudiNewEngland - 12/9/2009 6:42:43 PM

-1 Boost

Nice job Audi for the double

Joe_Limon - 12/9/2009 10:16:44 PM

+3 Boost

Nice job Ford for the double