Comments on: BMW scores big in International Engine of the Year 2008 awards

By: frylock350

frylock350 — Mon, 19 May 2008 15:58:10 +0000

There is no justifiable reason for picking the M3’s engine over the GT-Rs.

By: A True Gear Head

A True Gear Head — Sat, 17 May 2008 04:38:24 +0000

foster what twin turbo m3 are you talking about? there is no m3 in existence that comes stock with twin turbos, it seems like they chose BMWs m3 v8 engine because a) its naturally aspirated b) it revs to 8400 and the powerband is awesome c) despite being larger than the S54, it weighs less. the skyline just uses a VQ slapped a couple turbos on there and called it a day, theres nothing phenomenal about that engine, the gt-r is awesome i love the thing, but i can see why the judges picked the bimmers v8 over it. the germans have that knack for engineering probably because they have nothing else to do over there hehehe now only if they improved on their electrical, they’d be unstoppable, they almost are.

but seriously, i agree with some of you on how they select these engines. what they should do is get feedback from the people that drive them, along with the judges driving it themselves. these “engine oscars” have only been around 9 years im sure as time progresses they’ll make it tougher to win one of these awards.

By: autonut

autonut — Sat, 17 May 2008 02:48:50 +0000

I drove 335 and engine is above and beyond anything else in the automotive world. Also, it mated with superb clutch and transmission. And considering it performance level it uses fuel niggardly. On highway it is near 30 mpg in about 80 mph driving.
.

By: foster1

foster1 — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:24:54 +0000

What the f*ck, 2.5L z4. don’t make the engine anymore. Also there is no twin turbo 3.0L in the X5 only in the X6 SAV’s not SUV’s. LEFT LANE NEWS PLEASE EXPLAIN!. Also how do you compare a NA motor to a Twin turbo M3 vs. THe GT-R. This is so wrong and far off on how it happens.

By: Bimmer

Bimmer — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:11:32 +0000

kitko,
if you check actual website (see my link above) then you’ll see that both Honda and Toyota are winners in sub 1-liter category besides Hybrid powertrains. Also there’s a Subary Turbo engine.

By: A True Gear Head

A True Gear Head — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:45:03 +0000

Guys, the only engine VW deserves an award for is the 1.9tdi, my buddy is a VW tech and every day he tells me how terrible their engines are. Swear to god, every day, new story, new car, the 1.8t is a piece of crap, the VR6 as much I love the engine, they got so many problems. They’re a mess, I see effort in VW, but they just dont get the big picture.

By: G

Fri, 16 May 2008 19:34:23 +0000

^^ Shouldn’t it be something like a mix of engineers and race drivers dishing out engine of the year awards, not journalists?

Engineers to judge the engines from a techical, and “on paper” standpoint, and race drivers to actually judge their in-world performance?

By: kitko

kitko — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:32:58 +0000

The award is pointless.

1.
This is the prestigeous award and these tend to be about personal opinions rather than tests, research and use penetration. More than often a car that utilizes the engine rather than the engine itself are rewarded. Most of journalists would like to have the BMW monster. But nobody judges how it is to live with the engine for more than few laps on the racing circuit in a car kindly donated for a test drive by the manufacturer.

2.
The jury composition raises few questions.

Two jurors from Japan and one from Korea doesn’t really reflect the reality of today’s automotive world. On the other hand, Britain (a sponsoring country) had 4 members on the jury, despite the fact that the country is absolutely meaningless when it comes to cars manufacturing. (I know, many manufacturers have factories in Britain, but using the same rule, Slovakia would be the world’s No. 1 motoring nation since it produces most of the cars per capita in the world.)

Japanese manufacturers are largely ignored in the main category, the only exception is real innovation (Toyota Hybrid Drive, Mazda’s Renesis) ignoring of which would emberass the Award and raised a few questions about biased approach.

By: 400horseSS

400horseSS — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:18:38 +0000

My bad Renton, I dont work for Motor Trend so I cant.

By: Impulsive

Impulsive — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:25:04 +0000

How did that 1.6L MINI engine win anything but last place? Go to any MINI site or YouTube and read up on or watch first-hand the FRIGHTENING start-up experience owners are having … many of them would have NEVER bought the car if they knew what they were in for. This award is absolutely meaningless when put in perspective.

By: Bimmer

Bimmer — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:13:24 +0000

LLN,
BMW won Engine Of The Year FORTH year in a row (2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008), not second! Get your facts straight!!! Source: http://www.ukipme.com/engineoftheyear/previous04.html

By: global_lightning

global_lightning — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:11:58 +0000

RaineMan, you stole my post. The LNF has a mind-boggle torque ‘curve’ that puts out a constant 260 ft lbs of torque from 2000 RPM. Anyone with a real engineering background would be amazed. Unfortunately this award is decided by journalists and has a very heavy European tilt. I’m waiting for Saab to wake up and drop the LNF into the 9-3.

By: RaineMan

RaineMan — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:11:30 +0000

I would really like to see VW bring their twincharged engine over to the states… that little beast would do wonders.

Also youngm7… gotta love the R32… one of the sweetest exhaust notes around.

By: youngm7

youngm7 — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:06:00 +0000

the GM LNF 2.0T makes more power than the VW 2.0T, but doesn’t win? It’s not GM’s fault VW is afraid to put a bigger turbo on there. A production engine that puts out 20 PSI no sweat is pretty impressive.

I drive a Golf R32, so I’m not a GM fanboy, I just call it like I see it.

By: xyunya

xyunya — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:24:46 +0000

Very interesting: 3.0L twin turbo I6 develops no more torque then 2.0L turbo diesel: 295 lbs. Question for intellectuals: if you can wait 1 second to get from 0 to 60 and get 40% more fuel efficiency which one will you take? Well one is not available in US at any cost. Engine Nazis!

By: RaineMan

RaineMan — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:24:34 +0000

Hmm… I see the LNF didn’t win anything like the LSJ did when it first hit market. Too bad. I can’t believe that they gave the award to the Audi/VW 2.0T and not to GM’s direct injected dual scroll turbo LNF.

By: jumpoffit

jumpoffit — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:03:39 +0000

man BMW just took all the awards, surprised Merc-Lambo or Ferrari didn’t win a thing

By: Renton

Renton — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:40:57 +0000

The actual figure of the twin turbo I-6 has been dynoed at around 349-360 lb/ft. The engine is ultra smooth as a regular Bimmer 6, but has so much thrust right off the bottom. Tremendous motor.

You must drive one to see how nice it is. What an engine. V8 levels of torque in a lightweith ultra smooth package.

Don’t critique this engine until you drive one. BMW does need to get their diesels here ASAP, but this motor is amazing.

By: 400horseSS

400horseSS — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:57:17 +0000

Where’s the torque in these engines, i’ll stick with my GM lS-2.