It's award season again in the automotive world and it is time to embrace ourselves and get to know who is winning what in the industry. As usual, leading the list of announcements and awards is the Ward's 10 Best Engines, a truly one-of-its-kind award honoring engine excellence. The list of 10 Best Engines for 2012 has just been announced and the winners will be crowned at a gala event to be held at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Jan-11-2012.
This list all but proves that Direct Injection is the way forward for the industry as no less than 7 out of this year's 10 best engines has this tech integrated into it. Direct Injection started gaining popularity roughly a decade back with common-rail turbo diesels and now, it is the turn of high-pressure gasoline direct injection. Whether deployed in diesel or gasoline engines, Direct Injection has proved to reduce fuel consumption and improve low-end torque, which aids better acceleration.
Ford and BMW has two entries each while Chrysler, GM, Mazda, Infiniti and Volkswagen (for its Audi brand) take home an award each. Having been in this elusive list now for three years in a row for its high-end Tau V8 engine, Hyundai is represented this time around with the 1.6 liter GDI 'Gamma' engine, the smallest displacement engine in the list. Infiniti's Direct Response Hybrid system in the M35h is the only hybrid-electric power-train here and it is noteworthy that this engine has trumped the other German luxury hybrids to this spot.
The following are the winners for 2012 along with the applications in which the engines were tested:
* 3.0L TFSI Supercharged DOHC V-6 (Audi A6)
* 2.0L N20 Turbocharged DOHC I-4 (BMW Z4/528i)
* 3.0L N55 Turbocharged DOHC I-6 (BMW 335i Coupe)
* 3.6L Pentastar DOHC V-6 (Chrysler 300S/Jeep Wrangler)
* 2.0L EcoBoost DOHC I-4 (Ford Edge)
* 5.0L DOHC V-8 (Ford Mustang Boss 302)
* 2.0L Turbocharged DOHC I-4 (Buick Regal GS)
* 1.6L DOHC I-4 (Hyundai Accent/Kia Soul)
* 2.0L Skyactiv DOHC I-4 (Mazda 3)
* 3.5L DOHC V-6 HEV (Infiniti M35h)
This list all but proves that Direct Injection is the way forward for the industry as no less than 7 out of this year's 10 best engines has this tech integrated into it. Direct Injection started gaining popularity roughly a decade back with common-rail turbo diesels and now, it is the turn of high-pressure gasoline direct injection. Whether deployed in diesel or gasoline engines, Direct Injection has proved to reduce fuel consumption and improve low-end torque, which aids better acceleration.
Ford and BMW has two entries each while Chrysler, GM, Mazda, Infiniti and Volkswagen (for its Audi brand) take home an award each. Having been in this elusive list now for three years in a row for its high-end Tau V8 engine, Hyundai is represented this time around with the 1.6 liter GDI 'Gamma' engine, the smallest displacement engine in the list. Infiniti's Direct Response Hybrid system in the M35h is the only hybrid-electric power-train here and it is noteworthy that this engine has trumped the other German luxury hybrids to this spot.
The following are the winners for 2012 along with the applications in which the engines were tested:
* 3.0L TFSI Supercharged DOHC V-6 (Audi A6)
* 2.0L N20 Turbocharged DOHC I-4 (BMW Z4/528i)
* 3.0L N55 Turbocharged DOHC I-6 (BMW 335i Coupe)
* 3.6L Pentastar DOHC V-6 (Chrysler 300S/Jeep Wrangler)
* 2.0L EcoBoost DOHC I-4 (Ford Edge)
* 5.0L DOHC V-8 (Ford Mustang Boss 302)
* 2.0L Turbocharged DOHC I-4 (Buick Regal GS)
* 1.6L DOHC I-4 (Hyundai Accent/Kia Soul)
* 2.0L Skyactiv DOHC I-4 (Mazda 3)
* 3.5L DOHC V-6 HEV (Infiniti M35h)
I think Fiat's Twinair engine should have been on this list as it is a small wonder with superb fuel-efficieny. It is doing wonders for Fiat just like their MJD engine did few years ago.
ReplyDelete@ Above - Though I agree that Fiat's Twinair is a brilliant engine as has been said my quite a lot of journalists who have driven it, the engines in the Ward's List are no slouches either. I am sure that they had validated each of these entrants before letting out the final list.
ReplyDeleteI don't want a super high pressure gas direct fuel injection system, I want Orbital's LOW pressure system.
ReplyDelete