autoevolution
 

Two BMW Mills Win Engine of the Year Award

If you’re an avid reader of Wikipedia you probably noticed that every statement comes with a foot note mentioning the source of the information. In the case of auto industry related articles, you’ll notice that these bits of information come from various publications around the internet.
BMW i3 electric motor 1 photo
Photo: bmw
Wards’s 10 Best Engines award has been used as a point of reference for many people for over 21 years. In BMW’s own corner, when reading about their engines, the foot notes often say that one or another have won this prestigious award. Well, this year, the Bavarian brand managed to walk away with two of these prizes.

The first one is not a conventional plant as we all know it. It doesn’t have pistons and cubic inches but instead uses solely electricity. That’s right, we’re talking about the electric motor fitted on the i3 that received the award for the best Electric Motor of 2014.

The second choice coming from Ward’s is the 1.5-liter turbocharged 3-cylinder plant also known by its B38 codename. That’s the one used inside the new MINI Cooper and on the 2 Series Active Tourer around Europe. Pretty soon, we’ll be seeing it used on other models as well from BMW’s line up. What’s even more interesting is that an upgraded version of this mill is used inside the i8, a car that won Top Gear’s Car of the Year award.

To be eligible for the Ward's 10 Best Engines competition, an engine or propulsion system must be all-new or significantly re-engineered and available in the U.S. market with a base price not exceeding $60,000. This year's pool of 37 nominees includes last year's 10 winners and 27 new entries.

To decide which one is the best in each category, the WardsAuto editors drove all the engines between October and November around Detroit, giving them scores based on power, torque, technology, mpg, and NVH (noise, vibration, harshness).

The awards will be presented to top powertrain executives from the winning automakers at a January 14 ceremony in Detroit during the upcoming North American International Auto Show.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories