Ford Achieves 2012 Top Engine Honours
In a packed assortment of very fine engines sat Ford’s little Ecoboost 1.0-litre engine. With just three cylinders, it was this tiny engine that was classed as being the best car engine in the world for 2012. It is the first time that Ford has won the ‘International Engine of the Year’ award; an award that has been running for 13 consecutive years.
Ford’s Ecoboost 1.0-litre engine was designed in Britain and also received awards for being the Best New Engine and the Best Engine under 1000cc. There were a number of factors that helped this engine achieve so well, however the engine’s ability to power the Ford Focus car se easily is impressive. The engine’s power, response and very good real-world fuel consumption figures were considered to be outstanding.
Joe Bakaj, vice president of Ford Global Powertrain said, “We set the bar incredibly high when we started to design this engine. We wanted to deliver eye-popping fuel economy, surprising performance, quietness and refinement – and all from a very small, three-cylinder engine.”
Christopher Congrega from ‘LAutomobile Magazine’ also stated, “With good torque at the very low end, this high-tech three-cylinder turbo gives the driving performance of a small turbo diesel, but without noise and vibrations.”
BMW had featured many times as a winner of the ‘Best New Engine’ and the ‘International Engine of the year’. This is, perhaps, not really a surprise here, as the performance of the smooth BMW M5 and 3.0-litre Twin Turbo engines are phenomenal. However, very small engines with much less horses under the bonnet have won this coveted award before. Fiat has featured twice. In fact, last year the best new engine was the Fiat 875cc Twinair. This tiny engine also took out the award for the 2011 Green Engine of the Year. Volkswagen, Toyota, Mazda and Honda have also shared the takings for ‘International Engine of the Year’.
For those one-eyed readers who only see to the redline, the Ferrari 458 boasted a 4.5-litre ,V8 engine that won the award for the 2012 ‘Best Performance Engine’.
BMW took out four of the twelve awards but, obviously, in other classes. I wonder when we’ll see an HSV or Ford Falcon’s Turbo six engine in the awards?
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