(Wed 07 May 08)

For the fourth year in succession, BMW has won the outright award in the International Engine of the Year competition.

As in 2007, overall honours went to the three-litre twin turbo petrol unit used in the 135 (pictured), 335 and X6. In fact, the 2008 list looks very familiar, since there were repeat winners in most of the categories: these were the one-litre Toyota engine also used in Citroen, Peugeot and Subaru city cars, the Volkswagen Group's turbo/supercharged 1.4, the 1.6-litre turbo co-developed by BMW and Peugeot, the Volkswagen/Audi/SEAT/Skoda 2.0 TFSI turbo petrol and the multiple award-winning BMW five-litre V10.

The Hybrid Synergy Drive system used in the Toyota Prius was named Green Engine of the Year, having won the same award (previously known as Best Fuel Economy) consistently since 2004.

There were a few changes, though. The BMW V10 is no longer the Best Performance Engine, since that honour has now been given to the Porsche 3.6 Turbo. BMW also lost its 2.0-2.5 litre crown to Subaru's 2.5 Turbo engine, used in the Forester, Impreza and Outback.

BMW did reclaim some ground, though, in that the 2.0 turbo diesel from the 123d was named Best New Engine of 2008. Second place in that category went to the M3's four-litre V8.

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