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Engine Oscars

Who makes the best engines in the world? 40 leading motoring journalists from 18 countries decide by Graham Johnson chairman, International Engine of the Year Awards 2002 The International Engine of the Year Awards 2002, presented by ETi, are designed to highlight and reward engine engineering excellence. In this, the fourth annual Awards, 40 journalists from leading motoring publications based in 18 countries joined forces to decide which auto marques design and build the best engines in the world. The winning criteria? To produce a powertrain that delivers exemplary on-road performance and driveability, as well as first-rate fuel economy and refinement. In 2002, technology held the key to success.

Best New Engine 2002: BMW 4.4-liter Valvetronic
First past the post in this class was BMW’s 4.4-liter with its Double VANOS variable valve timing. Codenamed N62, the gasoline-fed BMW V8 engine furnishes Munich’s finest with 333bhp at 6,100rpm and 450Nm of torque at 3,600rpm. Such outputs translate into superb flexibility and speed that would shame many a sportscar – the so-engined 1,945kg 745i dispatches zero to 100km/h (62mph) in 6 seconds and goes on to a (limited) top speed of 250km/h (156mph). Despite its pace, the 745i can use just 8.3L/100km (34mpg).

Among the many innovations featured in the 4.4-liter is BMW’s Valvetronic, a system that minimizes potentially noisy valve movement. The technology, installed to such great effect in last year’s International Engine of the Year Awards 1.4-liter to 1.8-liter category winner (the BMW 1.8-liter), will only lift the 32 valves as much as the driver’s accelerative needs demand, and thus does away with the need for a throttle butterfly.

Further know-how sees the world’s first application of a six-speed auto transmission. A ZF design, the electronic/hydraulic unit operates in three modes – drive, sport and manual.

2.5-liter to 3-liter: BMW 3-liter
For the second year running, the BMW 3-liter, gasoline-burning, in-line six cylinder narrowly beat the marque’s own 2.9-liter six cylinder turbodiesel. Impressive the brand’s category domination may be, but one should not be distracted from the gasoline engine’s triumph over the diesel. When housed in comparable 3-Series models, for example, the unit can crack the zero to 100km/h (62mph) benchmark in 6.5 seconds, while the TDi would take 1.2 seconds longer to hit the same speed. In addition, the 231bhp petrol engine can travel 100km on a mere 6.9 liters of gas (40.8mpg), a figure not too far adrift from the 2.9-liter’s potential 6.7L/100km (42.2mpg). And while the diesel is unquestionably impeccably refined, few drivers will disagree with a statement that declares that the gasoline 3-liter is far quieter and more willing to rev. Controlled by a Bosch-supplied electronic engine management system and featuring VANOS variable valve timing, the 3-liter is so flexible that it works in a saloon/coupé (3-Series); a luxury saloon (5-Series); an off-roader (X5); and a two-seater roadster (Z3).

3-liter to 4-liter: BMW 3.2-liter
The combination of raw power and advanced engine technology won the BMW 3.2-liter (last year’s overall International Engine of the Year) the Awards 2002 3-liter to 4-liter class. The 343bhp powerplant, which is housed in the M3 coupé and revs to a maximum of 8,000rpm, puts into practice know-how such as Double VANOS variable valve timing and cross-flow cooling for the cylinder head. Known within BMW as the S54, this 24-valve powerplant, which incidentally also won this category last year, boasts 365Nm at 4,900rpm and benefits from a bespoke engine management system with two 32-bit microprocessors that perform 25 million calculations per second. Once on the road, this eco-friendly engine – the vehicle is able to deliver 8.5L/100km (33.6mpg) – goes in hunt of supercars: while the M3 can’t quite keep pace with category rivals such as Porsche’s 3.6-liter 911 Turbo or Ferrari’s 360 V8, the vast majority of drivers are going to find the zero to 100km/h (62mph) time of 5.2 seconds more than satisfactory. The longitudinally mounted M Sport-developed engine also has race-car-like throttle response.

Above 4-liter: BMW 4.4-liter Valvetronic
BMW, the luxury and sporting car specialist, and the firm that, thanks its 4.4-liter Valvetronic, now also makes the world’s best Above 4-liter unit. This 333bhp/450Nm 4398cc is naturally aspirated and aided by the Valvetronic-Double VANOS package that works together to improve NVH and performance qualities. Valvetronic minimizes valve movement and thus noise, and is so advanced it scraps the throttle butterfly concept in favor of a system that does not depend on rocker arms to operate the valves. Intermediate arms with free-form contours at their bottoms (shaped like a boomerang) are arranged vertically next to the camshaft and have a roller in the middle running along the cam. Only when the angled part of this contour line acts on the arm roller, thus pressing the arm down, does the valve open. An electric-motor-driven eccentric shaft presses the upper roller of the intermediate lever towards the camshaft, and the effective part of the boomerang contour changes. The upshot of such trickery? The valves only open as much as the driver’s accelerator pedal inputs dictate.

And the overall winner is...
Refinement, performance, fuel economy, and driveability are highly desirable characteristics that are inherent in all of the International Engine of the Year Awards 2002 winners. However, there is one particular powerplant in this year’s competition that embraces all the above ideologies and gives them the extra twist of brilliance that it takes to create the best engine in the world – behold the International Engine of the Year 2002, the BMW 4.4-liter V8, the engine that fittingly powers the brand’s flagship vehicle, the 745i. Achieving the impressive feat of uniting the tastes, requirements and opinions of 40 motoring journalists from 18 culturally divided and geographically different countries, the success of the 4398cc has seen BMW take home its fifth 2002 trophy and its second consecutive International Engine of the Year title (12 months ago, the prize was won by the 3.2-liter M3 heart). That the unit was also voted Best New Engine 2002 and best Above 4-liter merely underlines the V8’s brilliance.